Intercooler question

T-bird Tim

Registered User
Well the time has come to start looking at a better IC for my car. Car is a 92 5-speed with bolt-on mods and exhaust. I have been looking at the MP front mount or a double IC with a fan and shroud. I would love to hear from anyone who has had either of these installed in their cars. My biggest concern with the front mount is the restriction it has on the air going through the radiator and I am not going to delete my A/C. The double IC looks like a good choice but seems too small and it still uses the smaller factory IC tubes; then there is the heat soak from the bottom tube running so close to the exhaust manifold. The double is way cheaper and easier to install but will it provide the same performance boost as the front mount. If I were to have some different IC tubes custom made so i could have them larger and rerouted away from the exhaust manifold would this greatly increase the efficiency of the double IC to about the same level as the front mount? The plans for the car is to get it into the high twelve second range. I am getting the head/cam package next year as well as the MPX package. I want to do the intercooler now since I am already running the MP2 blower, MP intake plenum, 10% overdriven, UD pulleys, 76mm MAFS, 75mm T-body, 3.5" CAI. At high RPM it's creating alot of heat. I'm looking for the best way to beat this and still be cost effective for my future plans. Thanks
 
Well the time has come to start looking at a better IC for my car. Car is a 92 5-speed with bolt-on mods and exhaust. I have been looking at the MP front mount or a double IC with a fan and shroud. I would love to hear from anyone who has had either of these installed in their cars. My biggest concern with the front mount is the restriction it has on the air going through the radiator and I am not going to delete my A/C. The double IC looks like a good choice but seems too small and it still uses the smaller factory IC tubes; then there is the heat soak from the bottom tube running so close to the exhaust manifold. The double is way cheaper and easier to install but will it provide the same performance boost as the front mount. If I were to have some different IC tubes custom made so i could have them larger and rerouted away from the exhaust manifold would this greatly increase the efficiency of the double IC to about the same level as the front mount? The plans for the car is to get it into the high twelve second range. I am getting the head/cam package next year as well as the MPX package. I want to do the intercooler now since I am already running the MP2 blower, MP intake plenum, 10% overdriven, UD pulleys, 76mm MAFS, 75mm T-body, 3.5" CAI. At high RPM it's creating alot of heat. I'm looking for the best way to beat this and still be cost effective for my future plans. Thanks


Hey Tim, I just recently installed the magnum powers front mount. I havent run the car yet since installing it, so I don't have a comment on the heat issue. Using this intercooler makes the car much easier to work on though and is a well designed package. Buy the optional pusher fan for sure though. If I ever bought another supercoupe that I wanted to keep stock, the only thing I would do to it is the front mount with the pusher fan. You can fab your own for cheaper, but I'm not much into re-inventing the wheel.
 
Are you still keeping your A/C compressor in the stock location? How hard is the installation? And are you running a aftermarket radiator? I want it to be something I can do in a weekend at the house with common tools. I've never taken the bumper cover or any of the front end parts off so dont know how labor intensive it is. Once you get the car running let me know how your temp reads.
 
Are you still keeping your A/C compressor in the stock location? How hard is the installation? And are you running a aftermarket radiator? I want it to be something I can do in a weekend at the house with common tools. I've never taken the bumper cover or any of the front end parts off so dont know how labor intensive it is. Once you get the car running let me know how your temp reads.

My car will be running sometime this week, and I'll let you know. I bought a new stock radiator, and I also bought a new ac condensor while I was at it. I need to get a new ac compressor so I don't know how it will run with ac working putting off heat from the condensor.

You may have to take the bumper cover off to do the extra fan because it mounts to the condensor, i had to fabricate a couple brackets to get that to work. I just hooked the pusher fan up with the condensor out of the car. I could do it in a weekend just because I have done it before, just depends how meticulous you are, there is a lot involved. Read the directions completely and be sure you know what you need to do before you start and that will speed things up
 
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what is the status on this. Because im contemplating on double ic or front mount!!

if u wanna keep ur a/c then go with a dbl IC and a shorter condenser. cuz with a front mount in front, followed by the condenser and the radiator, the radiator may be hurting for air even if u did do the #14 wire mod for the fan. a dbl IC will give the air plenty of space and time to cool off. i wouldnt even worry about heat soak of the lower tube cuz of the air travelling so fast thru the pipe, its not gonna make a difference i dont think.
 
if u wanna keep ur a/c then go with a dbl IC and a shorter condenser. cuz with a front mount in front, followed by the condenser and the radiator, the radiator may be hurting for air even if u did do the #14 wire mod for the fan. a dbl IC will give the air plenty of space and time to cool off. i wouldnt even worry about heat soak of the lower tube cuz of the air travelling so fast thru the pipe, its not gonna make a difference i dont think.

I agree.

Even though I can't run the AC when I need it most (above 90 degrees), if doing it over again, I would still buy the MP FMIC.

David
 
I agree.

Even though I can't run the AC when I need it most (above 90 degrees), if doing it over again, I would still buy the MP FMIC.

David

Makes the car so much easier to work on.

I have the stock size condensor on my car, just cruising on the highway at 65-70 my temp gauge pretty well stays at the "N" at least with the 25-30 mile trips that I run across the highway at around 75 degrees. If I try to run much faster then that or want to "hit it" on the highway it gets a little hot for my liking. I bet I would really run into problems with the a/c on or a 90 degree day.

I am going to do everything I can to be able to use the a/c in my car, but when it comes down to it, I'm going to have to find a way to get more air to flow through the radiator if I want to feel ok with driving on long trips and/or using the a/c. On a 60 or below degree day I can run on the highway with no problem.

I have a couple ideas to help this heat thing out that I'll be working on this winter. Main idea will involve spacing my stock radiator away from the intercooler and fabbing up something from the bottom of the car and/or through a ram air type of hood between the intercooler and the radiator. tough thing to do if you have a griffin, tough enough with the stock radiator but it will work.

Chris
 
The MP FMIC works ok ,but It needs some improvments.

The flat steel fan shroud,holding the puller fan bolted to
the radiator is flat. It sets around a 1/8 to 1/4 inch from
radiator surface. The fan shroud needs walls on all four
sides to help offset the fan farther away from the radiator.
This would help the puller fan pull air though the radiator
& FMIC .

The flat MP FMIC shroud has gaps around the outside
diameter. You will need to seal these gaps with rubber
gasket.So the puller fan can pull air though the FMIC &
radiator only. These gaps cause air leaks and lessin
the effect of the puller fan greatly.

The shroud has a flat design because of lack of room or
clearance between the back of puller fan to waterpump.
To gain room between the puller fan and water pump.
I am moveing the MP FMIC & radiator forward, to where
the MP FMIC rest against the front opening on chassis
bracket radiator opening. By mounting the MP FMIC 3.5
inch farther forward, this will releave room for a fan shroud
with a more funnel shape to help the puller fan to work easier.
To move the MP FMIC/Radiator unit forward you need to
cut and extend the IC tubes with silicon hose.

I don't like the return IC tube going across the front of
motor. It is always in the way of working on my car.
I am going to reverse the flow of the IC tube air path.
I will need to fab a new blower hat, and run a Ic tube from
the blower to the MP FMIC on the passenger side of
MP FMIC. And then on the drivers side of the MP FMIC,
run this IC tube straight to the intake manifold plenum.
Changing this part of the MP FMIC would get rid of a
couple bends in the IC tube system, and make room
for easier working on car.

The MP FMIC is a nice setup. But If I had it to do over
again. I would buy all the parts and weld up my own
IC FMIC system. But I bought my MP FMIC from a member
that desided not to install his MP FMIC. When I got this
bandnew MP-FMIC I did not get all the parts.And had to
make some of my own parts to make it work. So this is
a hugh part of why I would just build my own FMIC if
I had to go though getting another one.

You can run in the 12s with a stock or double stock
intercooler. I would reroute the stock IC tubes though.

Randy
 
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as u can see i did my own FMIC. it works great dont get me wrong. i can grab onto the lower tube after doing maybe 5 wide open runs. its not even hot, just a bit warm. and thats without a fan on it. :)

but if i were to do it again, (and keep my a/c) i would buy the shorter condensor and see how well a dbl IC would do. its not that its a bad IC, its just restricted by its position in the bay. a shorter condensor and fan will help a single or dbl IC greatly.
 
Makes the car so much easier to work on.

I have the stock size condensor on my car, just cruising on the highway at 65-70 my temp gauge pretty well stays at the "N" at least with the 25-30 mile trips that I run across the highway at around 75 degrees. If I try to run much faster then that or want to "hit it" on the highway it gets a little hot for my liking. I bet I would really run into problems with the a/c on or a 90 degree day.

I am going to do everything I can to be able to use the a/c in my car, but when it comes down to it, I'm going to have to find a way to get more air to flow through the radiator if I want to feel ok with driving on long trips and/or using the a/c. On a 60 or below degree day I can run on the highway with no problem.

I have a couple ideas to help this heat thing out that I'll be working on this winter. Main idea will involve spacing my stock radiator away from the intercooler and fabbing up something from the bottom of the car and/or through a ram air type of hood between the intercooler and the radiator. tough thing to do if you have a griffin, tough enough with the stock radiator but it will work.

Chris

Chris,

An alumunim radiator made a huge improvement on my car. Even with a recored (thicker) stock unit, GM air dam, 180 t-stat, water wetter, dual fans running constantly, I couldn't keep it running cool at highway speeds, and using the AC would overheat it at pretty much any speed.

Now even without the water wetter it stays between the Cold mark and the N no matter how hot it is outside or how hard I run the car. Using the AC when outside temps are 90 and higher won't overheat it, but will cause it to run around 210-215 which is way too hot for my liking. In the winter I have to adjust the fans to stay off until around 185 just to get the gauge off the Cold mark.

Did you see the prototype aluminum radiator that Duffy brought to the Shootout ? If I didn't already have a Griffin I would buy it, mainly because it doesn't use epoxy.

David
 
Did you see the prototype aluminum radiator that Duffy brought to the Shootout ? If I didn't already have a Griffin I would buy it, mainly because it doesn't use epoxy.

David


Nope didn't see it out there, looks like I need to start looking into it though. Are you running the short condensor on your car?
 
Nope didn't see it out there, looks like I need to start looking into it though. Are you running the short condensor on your car?

No...still using the stock condensor with about 25% of the fins smashed flat from rocks and other junk off the road. It might help, but I've gotten used to not running the AC so I would be more likely to do an AC delete than change the condensor.

Airflow thru the condensor doesn't seem to be a real problem (with optional pusher fan), it's the heat coming off the condensor when using the AC that is causing me problems. Being able to bypass the condensor with a portion of the air going to the FMIC and radiator would help, but I don't think it would be enough, because I'm still going to get the same amount of heat coming off the condensor.

David

PS: Contact Duffy Floyd for details on the new aluminum radiators.
 
I did do the AC delete, but kept everything if I want to hook it up again. I went with a larger aluminum radiator and it has helped keep my car running nice and cool.. The most I see it get to is around 195. I did take out my old radiator mount and put this one in but it wasnt that big a deal.

I went with a larger FMIC but I put it in a differant location than the MP set up. I have a lot of room in front of my engine to do any work that may need to be done. IRA was talking about how much room I had due to the FMIC and how I had it set up.
 
I'd say run a dbl with a fan and shroud get a nice one like Ken makes.It seems the mp unit causes some overheating issues.And for the price diffence you could by a dbl,fan,and a nitrous kit and still be ahead of what you'd spend on a mp front mount.And you would't have to worry about having to get a alum rad.Oh if you're shooting for high 12's you won't need a mpx either you can get then just fine with the mp2 you have now.Especially after you put heads and cam on your car.


Jay
 
Short a/c condenser, double intercooler with fans. Works quite well.

Front mount are always going to be nice but you can get buy with less.
 
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