NB intercoolers?
 

What's the best NB intercooler for the front? I got no AC, FM rubbery pipes, and a customer for my Flyin' Miata FMIC.

I was looking at this:
http://www.cxracing.com/mm5/merchant...gory_Code=INCO

But maybe a 3" would fit? There are 3x11 ones I could get... I don't want more than I need, but enough for a healthy 16 psi would make me feel better, esp with these rubber insulating lines.

Let's see, I have a 20x12x3 CORE intercooler mounted in my NB and it's invisible with the hood shut. Can't see it as it's behind the A/C condenser and in front of the radiator. No pipes down low and all factory plastic undertray and front bumper support and all that stuff fits with no modifications. Intercooler is mounted upside down such that the charge pipes exit up high and go around the headlights. Pics in my SC thread

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damn thats a badass install Pat

No kidding. I can't get him to break his AC system just to take a pic without it, though. :-(


I wonder if it's bigger than I need? At least I'd never wonder if it was "enough", and I wonder how to route the remaining tubing.... But it does seem close, and $100 over FM's 750.... Well. :-) It'll require more investigation.

Even without the AC, that's a sweet setup... glad I saw this.

It makes routing the IC pipes a snap providing there's room for a 90* coupler at the inlet/outlet against the stock radiator support. I'm very interested in how this is going to turn out with the coldside... please post more pics as progress continues.

What's the stock you used for the mounting brackets... looks like 1/8" stainless? How does the bottom of the radiator get support?

Slimline fans? Which ones?

Looks like you'd need a 180 followed by a 90, all pretty sharp. I might concider a narrower IC for my car, with more room for bends.

Remember the old Track Dog set up (FM4 I think) which had part of the rad missing so the charge pipe could go through the rad? Don't imagine it helped cooling much, but it was cool.

There are several examples out there of guys running a Honda radiator that's only half as wide as ours and advertises the same cooling. Stick that baby in the middle with a large 12" fan??? They're all 2" cores but you can get cheap aliminum ones w/fan for $115.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/KOYO-...spagenameZWDVW

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/96-00...spagenameZWDVW

Used 1/8 aluminum for mounting the bottom of the condenser and the intercooler. Bent the top condensor mounts over and used them again. Used the factory radiator mount and made new top mounts to space the radiator 1/2" further. I used 5/16" foam to seal and space the heat exchangers from one another. Never drilled a hole in the car, just used existing bolt holes and ran my metal to them. Stock fans for now since they fit but I have a pair of 12's to (ebay special) use if I ever get a bigger radiator.

I'll put more pics when the charge pipes are routed.

That's the IC that I have. It is possibly a little too long for the FM pipes, but you can just barely make it fit.

FM said to trim their pipes if need be. I'm still looking at pat's "turn the world of intercooling on it's head" approach of upsidedown intercooler. Though really that quickly leads to an IC with vertical outlets, and that leads to a (not-un-inspired) track-dog-racing-like intercooler set up, which might take the cake. Though I don't know how much trimming I want to do on that cross member.

This looks good, but only 11x11 front face?
http://www.cxracing.com/product_deta...-a/image/1.jpg

http://www.cxracing.com/mm5/graphics...u-ic0047-b.jpg
24x12x3.5, 3.5"
That also looks good, but those 90* bends aren't magic there, so I might as well do them myself on a bigger radius.

Which puts me right back at this one:
http://www.cxracing.com/product_deta...t_images/1.jpg with 11"x12"x3"

Ok, I guess the last is no better than the first. Sigh.

Pat, finish up your install so I can complain about it!

Yeah but there is obviously a limit on how much you can trim, and with an IC that is 12 inches wider than the FM one, it can be tough.

I used one similar to your last option above in an NB, but in an over-the-top configuration. The one I used from CXRacing has a 4" thick core.
Core Size: 11"X12"X4"
Overall Size: 18"x12"x4"
3" Inlet & Outlet
4" Core
https://www.miataturbo.net/forum/sho...931#post267931

But I think you said above you already have the FM hoses, which would not work with an over the top of course.

Any pics? Is it in the links in your sig?

I might sell off my FM stuff, or some of it. Might not.

Yes. Same pictures as in the link I put in my post above. C'mon dude you are not a noob :)

I really like my TDR i/c.
Abe, have you seen my TDR fan-aiflow vid?

Mine is too short, 18x6x3 core 21" wide at the endtanks. Centered outlets. I wish it was 3" taller.

^Is three what you think it would take before getting tight on space?


No! Do share!

Heh, a noob is wolf's clothing. :-) Nice looking set up. Seems like the slim fans are not optional. :-) Still, seems like something could be made of it. Did you get a BOV on there?

Nope it would not work with the stock fans. The slim lines are a must for sure, though there is plenty of room behind them even with the radiator tilted. Yep I have a BOV on there. You can see a tee fitting at the outlet of the compressor right after the 90 deg bend. the BOV is attached to the underside of the tee. It fits with a little room to spare, but not much.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/john.malcolm.ro...JPG?imgmax=640

See sig for BOV details. It is basically a knockoff of a Forge 007.

I used a 24x11x3

http://www.cxracing.com/mm5/merchant...gory_Code=INCO

But I went over the radiator. I have A/C, P/S as well.

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Looks good as well. A lot of bends, but maybe it's not so bad. I don't have a good feeling for the effect of 1 foot of straight pipe verses 1 90* bend.

What are those red circles I can barely make out in your grill?

Do you have a pic from the top, showing where the rad is compared to stock? Think it would work with a thicker, race radiator

^I need to see more pictures of that over-the-rad setup. Can you show exactly how the pipes turn down in front of the radiator. How far back is the rad? Any cutting of the rad support? Any cutting of the hood?

Not sure if you mean mine or coastertravs or both. But here is the web album
http://picasaweb.google.com/john.mal...ataIntercooler
No hood cutting.

Abe:

https://www.miataturbo.net/forum/sho...&highlight=tdr

I really don't think that this is any more restrictive than an around the radiator setup, actually it is probably less restrictive.

The red things were a set of hella horns, didn't really have any other good place to put them, but they have since been relocated.

I don't really have the picture you want, but they are 2.5 inch pipes with only four couplers comprised of 1 90* for the cold side (cut at a 45* angle to get that odd twist in there), and 1 180* and 1 45* bend for the hot side to get it up high enough to clear the radiator then back down enough to hit the turbo. The hood has not been modified in any way, and the radiator support was notched slightly on the driver's side similar to the way it already is on the passenger's side. The radiator has been moved back about 1-2 inches, and down about 1.5 inches, and there is enough room for an aluminum radiator but you have to get slimline fans even to fit the stock radiator.

Here are some more pictures.

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I wonder about "drilling" giant holes in that cross member. Cutting out a big section of it, and then even adding steel bracing across the back. Of course, the hood is pretty low there, so it wouldn't buy you much. Dropping the rad might be ok, though I'd hate to bump it on anything, snap off my oil-cooler-drain-valve.

Guess those are some options I have to look at...

Guys, those pictures are awesome... but I'm having trouble visualizing how much lower the radiator/condensor are than stock. How much are they lowered? Any?

Whatever my '99 ends up being, the AC and PS will be pulled (cause I'm silly) so the only thing I'm really looking at is the most efficient design... both with the size of the IC and the routing of the piping.

A minimum number of bends and material is ideal. Those two nice gentle curves coming over the top are perfect... the 90* reducing coupler out of the compressor is unavoidable. The coldside is perfect... you could even go a little stealthy and mount the BOV on the IC under the plastic shroud. I'm gonna have so much fun building this next car, it's making me a little wet.

I ran a 18x6x2.5 on my NB and retained the crash bar and all the accessories.

http://gallery.wewt.net/albums/2006-...2030.sized.jpg