Front Mounted Intercooler

[frankyboy]

how much more power do you usually get from a fmic

thinking of getting 1 but not to sure to get other mods first

any comments peeps would be appriated

[supremeweb]

Depends on other mods. FMIC without other changes can cause lag.

[nightmare]

depends on your power goal and year of car really.

Top mount

For: Very little lag between gear changes.

Against: Prone to heat soak from engine bay making them less efficient, especially on high boost/power cars.

Front mount

For: Not prone to heat soak and far more efficient due to higher surface area.

The safest option on high boost/power cars.

Against: Increased lag between gear changes.

Edited April 14, 2010 by nightmare

[paul555sti]

It depends what year car you have and what mods you have planned? The early slanted top mounts are gash but the later sti intercoolers can handle decent power without the need for a front mount.

[colin_ross]

As has already been mention it depends on what your final goals for the car are.

If it'll accept it an stil 7/8/9 topmount will see you to 400bhp with minimal expense and hassle. I never bothered fitting one as I knew it would only been on for a year or so and I wanted to go over that level so I went straight to front mount.

Just so you're clear the intercooler wil not give you more pwer as such just allow you to effectively cool the ACT when you do.

[frankyboy]

the mods a have so far are

Yellow injectors

HKS mushroom filter

exhaust

the car is a 1997 wagon face lift the tmic is squar rather than slanted like the older 1s

just looking for a bit more power without selling my kids to pay for it

any other idears will be appriciated would like to hit the 300 bhp