JeremyL

what is a safe threshold for a DSM IC front mounted? not front mounted?

ion_four

your question is more than vague. Do you mean how much they can cool the charge air? How many psi it can hold before blowing? Something else? An intercooler is always going to cool the charge air, but it's a question of how much it cools. It's a good intercooler (thick) but, small. It will hold more boost than you will ever use, assuming it's in good shape.

GOLDBERG

i think hes wondering how much power its good for...such as the drag intercooler is good for up to around 330hp

JeremyL

basically instead of spending $800 for a greddy IC kit, would i be safe to run a DSM IC not front mounted, i would probably put it in the front bumper where a CAI cone filter would go. i will most likely be running 8-10 lbs out of a T3/4

B20LS-T

your safe at about 3 psi, maybe 100hp On a more serious note, I boosted my custom jb welded starion to 10 psi on a stock b18b, prob not making anymore than 250 hp. The only time I had a problem is when I hit the pot hole at denny's

liam821

general rule in the dsm world is its good for about ~250whp...after that is starts to become a restriciton. Run race gas its good for another 50hp. Ive heard of a 1g running a low low low 12 with a stock sidemount and a 14b.

They are quiet efficient for their size. Their major drawbacks are they get heat soaked quietly. Its not going to be a good choice on a long freeway race for instance...or on a hot day..stop and go traffic..stuff like that.

Any intercooler is better then no intercooler. For a low boost cheap turbo setup a dsm sidemount is a great and super cheap intercooler. If you wanna do some ghetto fab work, you can weld two stock sidemounts together and make a frontmount. This works amazly well.

liam

diamondstar36

You do have a few options with the stock side mount... You can send it to Dejon Tool and for an extra $75, they'll increase the inlet and outlet to 2.25-2.5 inches. Which is a big improvement over the stock 1.75.. Still though, the thing is tiny. Honestly I'd suggest maybe a TT Supra sidemount. They flow much better, with about 60% more surface area.

Hybrid

Starion baby!

I got rid of my side mount. Can you say heat soak?

My starion FMIC will be going on the summer.

SimonsTeg

if the dsm ic was mounted as a front mount, would that help prevent heat soak since it'll be getting more air flow? instead of fabricating two into one, how about just using two? one as a fmic and the other in the regular smic area

Joseph Davis

Sounds too complex. Have the two SMIC's joined together properly to make a FMIC, and enlarge the inlet/outlets bigger than the stock joke size of 1.875"

I have one intact DSM SMIC and two SMIC cores... can you say triple width FMIC? Should work pretty well, I'll have around $75 in the setup.

liam821

The 2g has a larger inlet/outlet i believe. So you can use that. But the super sidemount is great!!! Nice and big.

liam

liam821

Dont take this the wrong way. But the starion FMIC is a pos. If you can pickup one that already has its end tanks modified for cheap...good buy its better then a sidemount. But if you need to get the end tanks modified...you could spend almost $200. You can pickup a new/used huge front mount spearco for $300 and its a billion times better.

Two dsm sidemounts welded together in the front are worlds better then a starion. The dsm sidemount is an awesome ic..its just sorta small

liam

fsp31

Hey Liam. Y'all listen to him. He's the reason I'm boosted today.

I recently switched to a custom FMIC from the DSM side mount IC. I think the main problem with the DSM IC's on Hondas is finding a suitable mounting location. They are a bit prone to heat soak on DSM's, but look at the way a DSM bumper/fender is designed. It creates a very nice flow across the IC, but it still suffers compared to a FMIC. On a Honda it will be 10x worse unless you're willing to really hack up the bumper. I've got a 98 Civic, pre bumper vents, so I really had no option. I guess you may be able to do something with one of those bumper vents but it would still be tough to get near the design of the DSM's. As for making the DSM IC into a front mount, that would be a serious pain. Not worth it IMO.

blufke

a friend of mine just blew the top off his smic(a stock dsm one), but he was running 30psi.

liam821

This is true and all. It really depends on the bumper and the car. The 92-95 bumper you can easily turn the fog light space into a huge vent to the SMIC. There is alot of different options. Im just talking about how well the intercooler works..not where to put it (thats your job).

liam

liam821

Two DSM sidemounts welded together...



liam

X2BOARD

Why do you say the Starion I/C is a POS ?? Have you had one flow tested ? It's a stock quality i/c and I'ved used one b4 myself and they go for around $250 with the end tanks modified.

Just wondering if you have an actual reason for this.

X2

liam821

Because for another $50 ($300 total) you can get a big spearco core which is 10000 times better then your $250 starion. The starion does flow well but they dont have alot of cooling. They have larger fins which arent as efficient designs as the spearco cores, or even the DSM sidemounts design.

Im going to agree that the starion is better then a dsm sidemount, but a spearco for a little bit more is worlds better [then both].

liam

X2BOARD

I hear you...didn't know spearco's go for that cheap.....

X2