--- FMIC Ducting

[tsunari]

increasing the size of my radiator inlet helped my airflow problems quite a bit and it still looks acceptable to me. I removed my A/C condensor with the FMIC install, so our setups differ slightly (I only use the main fan also), but I can now make back to back 1st-
4th gear pulls and I would feel confident in pushing it onto 5th now that I can make more than 2 1/4 mile passes without the needle starting to climb....

Yeah, getting rid of the A/C condenser will definitely help get cooler air to the radiator- no doubt about that. But I enjoy having the A/C when it's hot, humid, and rainy outside

 

[turbosax2]

Any updates to report on your setup? If you were to do it again, would you change the design at all? I ask because I plan on copying your setup soon

 

[mavisky]

Very clean work. Many kudos to you for a job well done.

 

[tsunari]

Many thanks!

As for performance . . . the setup is doing phenomenal! A few weeks back I was at Road Atlanta for the weekend and while on-course, I never saw coolant temps above 90C (194F) and they actually tended to stay down around 84C (183F). I was also running both fans while out there just as a precaution as I was really beating on it throughout the weekend in 15-20 min sessions.

Oil temps never got hotter than 104C (220F) . . . right where I was hoping to have em . . . and that oil cooler doesn't even have ducting yet!

So - yes . . . overall I am very pleased with the setup and would highly recommend anyone with a FMIC do something similar. The only sacrifice is the FMIC has to be pushed further forward to make room for the air to ramp-up over the radiator support . . . so a bit more of the bumper needs to be trimmed (and I dont even really consider that a sacrifice).

Let me know how your setups turn out, and definitely post up pix of the finished product!

PS- I'm going to have to give credit to Cory Bell and his book "Maximum Boost" for providing the theory and background as to why ducting is so important. Before reading that book cover-to-cover, ducting for the FMIC was just an idea that I figured would be something good to do (the stock setup has it. . . it's gotta be there for a reason), but that book lit a fire under my butt to get it done

 

[D_Eclipse9916]

To be honest you should post up dimensions of everything you did if you ever found the time, or convince some shop to make em with you getting the royalties, it would cost them very little as you already took care of R&D and you can get like 10 bucks royalties off of a 100 dollar product (they gotta rip us off somehow )

 

[turbosax2]

Ok, I just finished sealing the radiator to the ac condenser and completely sealing the FAL fans to the radiator. This is on my brothers 1995 GST with stock radiator and brand new SSAC fmic. To seal the fans to the radiator I wedged a piece of vacuum hose between the shrouding of the fans and the radiator on the sides. I think I'm also going to glue the shrouding and hose together just so the hose doesn't decide to move around. I used water pipe foam from Home Depot to seal the radiator to the condenser. I opened the tube up and laid it flat, then cut off about 1/3 of the width of the tube - this allowed the foam to keep somewhat of a tube shape but flex a lot so it makes a tight seal. First, I tried cutting the tube in half width-wise but then the foam didn't completely fill up the gap between the condenser and the radiator. I did this on the sides and the top. All of this work was done with the radiator, condenser, and fans in the car. It was really easy too and looks like it will definitely help.

The fmic ducting is probably going to have to wait for awhile seeing as my brother is already back at college and I leave in a few days. Maybe I'll come home a few weekends to try and fab something out of cardboard.

I know you said to use .04" aluminum, but all I can find is .019" and .025". Can you think of any reasons why I shouldn't use that thin of metal?

Here's some pictures .........

 

[ILLiCliPSE]

This might not be on the exact topic of this thread, but it might be. Heres a custom piece I made since my FMIC sits a bit high on my bumper. I used a piece of aluminum to a) bring more air to the fmic and b) to cover up the gap between the bumper and the bottom of the fmic. I think it turned out pretty cool. I havent seen anyone else do it

Here's the link to the thread I made about it. Pics inside.
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=259795

 

[tsunari]

D_Eclipse9916 -- I had thought about both posting up some dimensions and/or selling these, but with all of the different FMIC setups out there, the ducting/air dams would all be fairly custom. Some of the biggest factors would be:

1) How low the bottom of the intercooler sits below the radiator support
2) How far away the FMIC sits from the radiator support
3) Is the A/C condenser still installed
4) Is the power steering cooler line still installed

But then again, I guess I could just not concern myself with these details . . . Honestly, there just hasn't seemed to be much interest in this type of setup- most people are looking for the "quick fix" and doing this may involve re-mounting their FMIC, which would also make them re-do their charge pipes, etc . . .

turbosax2 -- looks good . . . should definitely help make sure more air is actually making it to the radiator. As for the thickness of the aluminum, you're going to want something thick enough that it's not going to bend/flex/flap around when you're driving at speed. You could probably go ahead and try some of the .025", but I wouldn't go much thinner.

ILLiCliPSE -- Definitely looks fine and will help your particular setup. But it will only help direct air up into the FMIC . . . it wont do anything about directing the air up into the radiator after it passes through the FMIC.

Not sure how you have the FMIC mounted, but I would definitely (were it my car) drop the FMIC a bit lower so you can get rid of that metal flashing, and then create some ducting like I made. But if you cant/dont want to do that, see what you can do to put some duct work between the FMIC and your A/C condenser or radiator.

 

[tsunari]

Quick update: (dont think I've done one lately)

Ran her hard a few months back at Road Atlanta and had no over-heating issues what-so-ever . . . oil or coolant

Highest coolant temp I saw (while on track) was . . . ~ 185-190F -- temp sensor is in the thermostat housing (1G)

 

[D_Eclipse9916]

wow come down and make some ducting for me!

 

[gixrman]

wow come down and make some ducting for me!

its not that hard I made one up for my FMIC out of fiberglass and foam board. very light, very strong.

 

[turbosax2]

its not that hard I made one up for my FMIC out of fiberglass and foam board. very light, very strong.

Got any pictures?

 

[gixrman]

Not really, I forgot to take them after I made it. I can layout the steps for you if you like.

 

[ceedawg]

I can attesf for this as it all works very welll as I set up my ducting as the op states. Temps dont get over 190 degrees while cruising. As a bonus I added bumper cutouts.