First, look at the picture bellow:



Then, imagine mounting a small electric fan (which IS available to fit this size of radiator/intercooler) to this thing that flows alot of air. I could wire this electric fan to a fan toggle switch.

See, I could also make an underhood divider which would separate the boundaries of the intercooler from the rest of the engine bay such as on a newer model GM truck (I think so.). This would reduce the transfer of heat from the engine to the intercooler significantly, and not too mention the fact that it would have its own independent electic fan.

I suppose the only arguement against this idea would be the fact that the front mount intercoolers have oncoming frontal airflow blowing on them. However, this thing has lots of airflow from the electric fan.

What do ya'll think?

 

putting a puller fan on that SMIC is a good idea....i doubt you're the first one to think of that, but its a good idea nonetheless

 

ive seen that picture before....it was on install guide i believe. But ya that would be a good idea if u didnt want to get a front mount.

 

Yeah, the picture came from g2ic.com's turbo guide.

Do you think that this combo would be as effective as a fmic? I mean, lets face it, a fmic can only get the same airflow going across it when the car is going really high speeds. Then again, where the fmic may come out on top is due to the longer flow travel time. In other words, the charged air is inside of the intercooler a little bit longer on the fmic setup versus the smic.

 

if you're trying to be stealthy, just black out a fmic and keep a grill over it...far more effective

 

I just don't want to get rid of a/c or power steering.

 

or imagine getting a fmic and get a shitload more air than a fan, plus no heat soak. and safe yourself the hassle

 

i agree with 96blkgsr, just paint a fmic black and dont cut out your grill....if your that serious about stealth, weld a tube from your BOV to your exhaust..kind of like those dump tube setups lol J/K

 

back in the day i put a DSM intercooler in the side of my turbo civic AND i strapped the puller fan from a honda cbr 900rr on it and wired it to a switch. it worked really well, i noticed the biggest difference during the summer when i was taking off from a light or a stop where there hadn't been air flowing through the intercooler in the first place. it's a good idea yeah but even when i did it 3+ years ago i knew i wasn't the first to do it.

def an easy stealthy mod though, do it!

 

installing a front mount while retaining p/s and a/c is not a problem. i understand youre looking for super efficiency. the best bet would be to do a front mount with an intercooler sprayer.

if you want to be "sleeper", paint the intercooler and the spray bar black. then, rather than mounting the solenoid directly on the spray bar, use an extra piece of -4 an line, a male/male coupler and a 90 degree coupler to mount the solenoid up in the bumper... then just leave your OEM grill on the car ( may require just a BIT of cutting) ultimate sleeper

 

Depends on why you want to do this. I have ran a side mount like that for a couple years now. Only mine was down in the passanger side wheel well. I like how that is mounted for simplicity, keeps the charge pipes nice and short too. However, if you are trying to use one for the same power levels as a front mount, i think you'll loose. It's been documented plenty of times the power gains from side mounts to front mounts. So, like i said depends on why your doing it. I ran my sidemount at 15 psi on my d-series, no dyno's but 13.003 @ 109 mph on street tires. So you can make power with them.

 

puller fan is a good idea

 

Remember that cooling efficiency isn't as easy as how big and how much air flows through it. What type of core it is, fin density, placement, etc. A lot of times people also forget that cooling doesn't take place through out the IC. 80-90% (I believe the last time I read an article and no I don't have the website ) of the cooling happens within the first few inches of the intercooler.

Start with this. What is your Horsepower goal?

I don't see many problems with people not using a FMIC because of power steering or AC. That's more the turbo size and placement.

 

i too agree with your statement, i also think that higher end intercoolers with high end cores and fins and whatnot are better efficent in cooling charged air, faster and cooler.

with the correct intercooler ie: power and core size, the efficenty IMO will be greater

 

The problem that we face with the Gen2 integras is the simple fact that there isn't any room for a typical turbo setup that would traditionally be put on a civic. Something has to go, there is a lack of space for everything so something has to go. My a/c works great, and this hot and humid Louisiana weather cuts you no slack whatsoever.

But it's not about being stealthy. I feel that I could remove my battery to the trunk and have room to mount the intercooler in its place. There are SMIC's larger and more efficient than the DSM SMIC. I can mount both an aftermarket high flow pusher or a puller fan. Not to mention, I will be able to get boost faster with lesser charge pipe length and volume (HA HA, I guess i'm sort of quoting Ken Duttweiler. Not really though!).

As far as the power figures that i'm looking for, well, for now, I just want to run consistent 13's. Which I think translates to 250-300whp. I plan on doing this to a stock B16a1 (OBD0).

Heck, we can hardly get a turbo larger than a T28 in there without having a slimline radiator fan. Believe me, if there wasn't a problem associated with room under the hood, I would have a front mount, and I would probably already have finished my turbo project.

If I cannot hang with the FMIC crowd, then maybe I will have to get a FMIC setup. But for now, it's SMIC (I guess not if I can be told otherwise.).

Am I wrong for assuming this? Are my assumptions wrong?

 

U can use a fan off a bike GSXR1000 have small fans

 

I might have to look into this setup as i have OEM fog lights on my 97 civic so a frontmount would interfere with the fog's since they go so far back into the bumper.. Looks like a good idea tho.

 

weld up a box over the top of it and throw some ice on it. it will be the most bootleg awic ever but it would prolly work ok.

 

decent idea...try it out and give us results -=P

 

thats exactly what forcedfed does with their turbo elises. It should work fine, but It is not going to be better than a FMIC

 

Haha, umm no. You would block the air more then cool the fins. Just get a water/air IC if you want that benefit, plus they are small.

 

ive had a fan on my intercooler for years works great,,especially for a daily driver

 

The smic in the photo is alot smaller than what I had in mind. Just as everyone knows, there are smic's alot bigger that could still fit where the intercooler in the image is. If a larger SMIC than the DSM isn't desired, then you could always double up with two DSM's. That's right, have them placed one on top of the other. The outlet for one of them should have a U-BEND going directly to the inlet of the other.

The only problem that could arise when stacking SMIC's is hood clearance. Then again, if there is enough clearance, I will have nearly the same surface area of an fmic, except only now I will have alot shorter charge piping. This in turn will produce a better performing car.

Well?

 

I can confirm a 13 second car on a sidemount for ya. Mine was in the wheel well though, but no fan. I might try this setup on my new project though.

 

If you mount that in the engine bay, ANY fan you get will be useless. The fan won't be useless just because the heat is being recirculated to it, but because an fmic - even a sidemount - gets a shitload of air when its placed to capture air from the front. Even if you manage 30mph air to a 8" x 8" sidemount, thats over 1150 CFM of ambient air to that intercooler. A more typical 6" x 22" fmic will see 29,000 CFM of air through it at 30mph. If you care to contenst my math, its MPH X 5280 / 60 X [intercooler width X height] = CFM. Try getting a 10" slimfan to blow 1000 cfm, as well as maintaining air veolocity throughout the entire intercooler.

As far as stacking smic's - having a 5-6" thick core is just plain stupid. Its going to act like a brick and <U>stop</U> air, rather than let it flow through it. It would probably be okay for 1 run down the track, but need 10-15 mins to cool down after due to the heatsoak at the end of the quarter.


BTW you can take any force-inducted Honda into 13's without any intercooler on street tires - its called a supercharger. You don't gauge cooling ability with timeslips, you do it with IAT's.