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Side Mount Intercooler That Supports 500HP

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DashLaflash

15+ Year Contributor
311
7
Jul 4, 2007
Millbury, Massachusetts
Hey guys I recently came across the vertical flow intercoolers. The treadstone TRV125 Series Intercooler has an overall size of 12.5" X 12.25" X 3.50" and is rated to support 500hp TRV125 Series Intercooler- TREADSTONE PERFORMANCE. When upgrading to a FMIC you have that huge core blocking radiator flow but with the SMIC you don't have to worry about that. Of course the trade off is the SMIC doesn't get as much airflow and can become heat soaked. Well with clever placement and ducting I think this intercooler can fit and offer some good cooling. It has superior fin design to the cheap ebay intercooler cores giving it double the cooling as it has double the fins.

I came across this thread recently http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/bolt-tech/224201-how-i-lowered-my-coolant-temps-6-degrees.html. It's used for ducting air into the radiator from the low pressure zone beneath the car. I was thinking of something similar for the SMIC ducting as well as capturing air from the stock intercooler duct hole. The duct would dip an inch or so below the bumper to capture all that cool air. However it might create scraping issues over speed bumps which I'm slightly concerned about.

Of course custom intercooler piping would need to be made but its the perfect opportunity to switch to speed density and a TIAL blow off valve. I'm mostly just entertaining the idea right now as I already have the VR Speed FMIC but that thing is insanely big. You can't keep foglights easily and half the core is blocked by the bumper. I'm looking for feedback and I know some people on here are die-hard SMIC fans.

I mocked up the intercooler using cardboard and tried to fit it up under the car. My coolant overflow reservoir and horn are in the way so I couldn't get it quite as high as I would have like to but I think it'll fit great. Of course if I actually went through with it i would move things out of the way its just still a little cold outside. Also keep in mind I made a square cardboard box. The actual intercooler slants on the top and bottom allowing more room. I also didn't make the nubs for the intercooler inlet/outlet. I simply made the box at the maximum dimensions. If that fits then the intercooler should definately fit.

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I ran a big SMIC with a Garrett core before my FMIC and had a lot of problems with heat soak. Even running E85 it would still get a fair bit of knock up top, and I definitely couldn't make a full pass. This was on a S256 at ~24 psi.
 
Damn that's not good news. Well I'm only running a 16g right now so I'm not making too much power. Did you guys read the thread I posted a link to? I think a duct like that would help or maybe something like AMS has on their track Evo.
 

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Would the ducting help with cooling? Yes, a little bit. If you plan on keeping the 16G, this looks like a pretty good option other than buying a FMIC. But if you upgrade to something bigger in the future, you will probably just start having heat soak issues like mentioned before.

Meth injection will be your best friend at high boost pressures.
 
how about running water cooling?

You can keep that sleeper look that comes with the sidemount.

With watercooling, there is no possible way (unless the charged air is beyond normal temps) to heat soak a liquid intercooler. The fact that fluid is constantly traveling and absorbing the heat will not allow the core to heatsoak. There have been may set up that are located int he engine bay allow you proper air flow to the radiator.

I have the ETS Street FMIC, never had a problem with cooling in my car (bumper still installed). Even on the hottest days in the summer. I am also using an aluminum radiator, PR design.

goodluck
 
Why wouldnt you just buy a supra sidemount for less than half the price of that and get the same result?
 
Or just say screw sidemounts that constantly heatsoak, and get the liquid cooled intercooler and use meth injection!! :D
 
how about running water cooling?

You can keep that sleeper look that comes with the sidemount.

With watercooling, there is no possible way (unless the charged air is beyond normal temps) to heat soak a liquid intercooler. The fact that fluid is constantly traveling and absorbing the heat will not allow the core to heatsoak. There have been may set up that are located int he engine bay allow you proper air flow to the radiator.

I have the ETS Street FMIC, never had a problem with cooling in my car (bumper still installed). Even on the hottest days in the summer. I am also using an aluminum radiator, PR design.

goodluck

Sure there is; you heat soak your heat sink (the water)
 
Sure there is; you heat soak your heat sink (the water)


Okay, you are technically right. Think about how hard it would be to do this if you had a reservoir system. In fact you can utilize a cooler with a fan, like most water intercooler setups without a reservoir system to keep temps constant. Or you can use both in your systems if need be. Bottom line, water removes heat better than air.

I hope no one thinks I am utilizing the engine coolant in this method, it would be a separate reservoir and pump system.
 
The problem with this becomes additive losses from compounding cooling systems (yo dawg I heard you like losing efficiency so I put a cooling system in your cooling system so you can lose efficiency while you lose efficiency). The main benefit from A/W cooling has been and always will be the ability to run sub ambient cooling media, but this is digressing quickly. I'd be glad to talk about this over PMs if you're interested.

no ####
 
Speaking of water cooling I got another crazy idea. Does anybody watch the show Son's of Guns on the Discovery Channel? They did a water cooling system for a constant fire m16. They wrapped a coil of copper tubing all around the barrel and ran water through the system. Without the cooling system the barrel reached temps of 725 degrees. With the cooling system they had a 40 percent reduction in temperature. Now keep in mind that reduction is after firing 300 rounds constantly. After firing only one clip the barrel stayed at 82 degrees. They also used a water box. On a water to air system you use a radiator for the water which would reduce temps more than just a bucket of water would. We already have water to air intercooler set ups but they use a tiny intercooler integrated into the intercooler piping. You also have to pack the system with ice between runs to truly get it cool. If you had a hot pipe set up like the one pictured below and wrapped the whole pipe with copper tubing would it cool the system enough for a street car? I was thinking of trying it out but that's a lot of money to spend if it fails. Someone that already has a water to air intercooler set up could easily go out and buy 50 ft or so of copper refridgerator tubing, and wrap it around their intercooler pipe. Then just hook up your water pump to the copper tubing and send the water through the system. Here's a link to a quick video in case you haven't seen the show before.

YouTube - Watercooled M16

And Lucas English's Car:
 

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Has anyone ever used a Supra sidemount and put a more efficient core in it ?
 
Why wouldnt you just buy a supra sidemount for less than half the price of that and get the same result?

They sell big cores that would fit way better under the hood that can very easily support 500awhp, put the battery in the trunk and ditch the cruise control, also couple that with a huge front mount radiator and you have a water cooling system that can easilt support 500+ hp.

Don't believe me? Why do you think NRE uses water cooled intercoolers on their 2000-2500hp monsters? Because watercooling is very efficient when done right.

My bad, didn't see that wasn't water cooled, yeah that's not gonna work out for ya buddy LOL
 
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It's interesting to see that some members claim they can't complete a pass with their heatsoaked smic, yet some of the fastest cars on the track don't even utilize a charge cooler.
 
They sell big cores that would fit way better under the hood that can very easily support 500awhp, put the battery in the trunk and ditch the cruise control, also couple that with a huge front mount radiator and you have a water cooling system that can easilt support 500+ hp.

Don't believe me? Why do you think NRE uses water cooled intercoolers on their 2000-2500hp monsters? Because watercooling is very efficient when done right.

My bad, didn't see that wasn't water cooled, yeah that's not gonna work out for ya buddy LOL

This is not true at all, street cars and race cars are 2 totally different applications.

OP I've been toying with the idea of trying out a dual side-mount setup. One side-mount on each side. I would weld all of the piping that I could to eliminate turbulence and minimize bends would be a must. Having put anything to paper yet so I couldn't give you any hard data.
 
OP I've been toying with the idea of trying out a dual side-mount setup. One side-mount on each side. I would weld all of the piping that I could to eliminate turbulence and minimize bends would be a must. Having put anything to paper yet so I couldn't give you any hard data.

Wouldn't this be more useful for a compound turbo set-up (one for each)? I'd figure you'd get more pressure drops out of 2 different intercoolers. Not downing the idea, just doesn't seem efficient, not to mention long tubing.
 
Nobody ever suggests a more efficient radiator. Nobody ever gets a more efficient radiator either. They get a stock one made out of aluminum, or a honda. Ever wonder why the stock radiator only has one fan, the 2nd one only turns on for the AC.

I don't run a fan on my scirocco radiator with a front mount. Haven't pushed it yet, but I'm not convinced I will need one. Typically a radiator overheats in stop and go, and that's all I've done with it so far.

2 side mounts will have a big pressure drop.

The faster cars without intercoolers are normally running alcohol based fuels that can remove lots of heat from the intake charge and have a very high octane number. A 14b can heat soak a stock side mount by 2nd gear, at that point you'd be better off with out an intercooler.
 
you can make that pressure drop all but disappear if you split your output from the compressor. Run one pipe to each IC and make them rejoin before the intake. By flowing half the air to eac IC, you will lose less pressure because you will not over load the turbo side of the IC's. Pressure drop comes from trying to force too much air through the IC. By dividing this volume in half, you drastically lower the air velocity throught he IC as well, which in turn allows the air more time to make contact with the cooler aluminum core.

I think this is a good idea that could work well, if done properly. I may have to try this one myself...
 
you can make that pressure drop all but disappear if you split your output from the compressor. Run one pipe to each IC and make them rejoin before the intake. By flowing half the air to eac IC, you will lose less pressure because you will not over load the turbo side of the IC's. Pressure drop comes from trying to force too much air through the IC. By dividing this volume in half, you drastically lower the air velocity throught he IC as well, which in turn allows the air more time to make contact with the cooler aluminum core.

I think this is a good idea that could work well, if done properly. I may have to try this one myself...

If done that way, yes I can see it work, but a one pipe (1 pipe joining one intercooler to the other) system wouldn't be good in pressure drop. Plus if you have 2 of these

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I could see that idea supporting quite a bit.
 
you can make that pressure drop all but disappear if you split your output from the compressor. Run one pipe to each IC and make them rejoin before the intake. By flowing half the air to eac IC, you will lose less pressure because you will not over load the turbo side of the IC's. Pressure drop comes from trying to force too much air through the IC. By dividing this volume in half, you drastically lower the air velocity throught he IC as well, which in turn allows the air more time to make contact with the cooler aluminum core.

I think this is a good idea that could work well, if done properly. I may have to try this one myself...

Exactly. The trick is going to be not having any more bends than you would normally have. The length of the tubing isn't going to make much of a difference at all but what you might pick up by being able to keep temps lower might be well worth it in the end.

I have no problem cooling or anything right now but I would like to see if I could make it work and it certainly would be different.
 
Well I have 2 Dejon super sidemounts...I might give this a try in the course of summer if I can manage the cash and welding help (I've never welded one day in my life so can't do it myself). Plus the air I would get due to the nature of the kit I have now would definitely improve from that kind of set-up.

Would the length of the piping (driver side) bring up issues since it will always be longer than that of the passenger side? I figure that at least, spool time would be affected unless the piping was made with a smaller diameter (or one really big turbo capable of flowing a lot of air) Shortest route would be separation from the compressor, to both intercoolers and the driver side intercooler piping from it's exit going through the bumper (kind of like the original Greddy piping for the 24v) directly to the exit of the passenger sidemount just before the uicp. Just thinking of that, that's quite a bit of piping.
 
For the VAST majority of people overheating, I firmly believe it is not because of a FMIC. Many people run giant FMICs without any problems--hell I have a 4" core on top of an exposed, uncoated tubular hot side setup and a SINGLE fan and I'm not overheating in 90*+ weather.

To go to the extent of running what is essentially intercooling for a twin turbo setup as described to avoid running a FMIC sounds to me like you're trying to build an elevator instead of using a ladder. Time and effort would be better spent figuring out why your car is overheating (clogged radiator, bad radiator cap, water pump even, etc) in my opinion.
 
For the VAST majority of people overheating, I firmly believe it is not because of a FMIC. Many people run giant FMICs without any problems--hell I have a 4" core on top of an exposed, uncoated tubular hot side setup and a SINGLE fan and I'm not overheating in 90*+ weather.

To go to the extent of running what is essentially intercooling for a twin turbo setup as described to avoid running a FMIC sounds to me like you're trying to build an elevator instead of using a ladder. Time and effort would be better spent figuring out why your car is overheating (clogged radiator, bad radiator cap, water pump even, etc) in my opinion.

Well the twin sidemount's basis, I believe, is not in reducing the radiator temp, with a sidemount, you're already leaving that a large amount of air to freely go through the radiator. I'm pretty sure their basis is running colder air to the intake manifold. Either way, even if it's not the best of ideas, it's still a fun one to try out. Not to mention I personally don't ever want to run a FMIC, main reason that the big sidemount I have does the job I need it too. I'm not overheating either by the way, just curious on this particular idea.
 
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