joemathews
15+ Year Contributor
- 490
- 0
- Mar 16, 2004
-
St. Pete, FL/Cville, VA,
Florida
I never thought I would actually get around to doing this, but I finally bought and installed my frontmount. For a very long time I thought the hassle of rounding up all of the parts, or the expense of a manufactured kit, or even the difficulty of the install would prevent me from ever doing this mod, but the stock smic was just not enough for my EvoIII 16g. Rather than continue to drive on a heatsoaked smic, I decided the $300 was worth it for a new smile and less of a risk of knocking my engine to death.
The total cost for the project came in just over $300. The core was $215 shipped from JohnnyRacecar.com (core dimensions 2.75x7.75x25, not including endtanks, 2.25" inlet/outlet). 5 couplers and clamps cost me another $30 shipped on ebay, and 3 mandrel 2.25" U-bends of aluminized steel piping cost $60 shipped from JC Whitney. Then I spent another $20 or so on miscellaneous items like paint for the pipes, having one piece of straight pipe welded to a ubend at a muffler shop. All in all, $310 for a full fmic that has made 500hp on other customers' cars is good enough for me.
I did not bead any pipes, just tightened the clamps very carefully and very tightly--no blown couplers at 20 psi. Needless to say, I did 5 or 6 hard pulls (never exceeding the speedlimit, of course, and certainly not doubling or tripling it) on the way home from my buddy's at 3 a.m. When I got back to my house, the inlet side of the IC was warm to the touch, but the outlet was nice and cool, just as everyone who reviewed it in the past has said
I just wanted to share that I am very pleased with the results of this purchase, and to encourage those of you who do not have a lot of money to spend toward an intercooler setup. It can be done well for a fraction of what most vendors want for a kit.
You can see that, although we did trim about an inch wide strip from the inside of the bottom of the front bumper cover, it still presses against the endtanks of the intercooler. I actually kind of like it--it doesn't look SO much like the smiley; to me it looks like a subtle cross between the smiley and the 97+ Talon front 8) Feel free to give praise/criticisms.
The total cost for the project came in just over $300. The core was $215 shipped from JohnnyRacecar.com (core dimensions 2.75x7.75x25, not including endtanks, 2.25" inlet/outlet). 5 couplers and clamps cost me another $30 shipped on ebay, and 3 mandrel 2.25" U-bends of aluminized steel piping cost $60 shipped from JC Whitney. Then I spent another $20 or so on miscellaneous items like paint for the pipes, having one piece of straight pipe welded to a ubend at a muffler shop. All in all, $310 for a full fmic that has made 500hp on other customers' cars is good enough for me.
I did not bead any pipes, just tightened the clamps very carefully and very tightly--no blown couplers at 20 psi. Needless to say, I did 5 or 6 hard pulls (never exceeding the speedlimit, of course, and certainly not doubling or tripling it) on the way home from my buddy's at 3 a.m. When I got back to my house, the inlet side of the IC was warm to the touch, but the outlet was nice and cool, just as everyone who reviewed it in the past has said
I just wanted to share that I am very pleased with the results of this purchase, and to encourage those of you who do not have a lot of money to spend toward an intercooler setup. It can be done well for a fraction of what most vendors want for a kit.
You can see that, although we did trim about an inch wide strip from the inside of the bottom of the front bumper cover, it still presses against the endtanks of the intercooler. I actually kind of like it--it doesn't look SO much like the smiley; to me it looks like a subtle cross between the smiley and the 97+ Talon front 8) Feel free to give praise/criticisms.
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