I am an owner of a euro spec impreza STI with the Prodrive Power Package and uprated exhaust. My cars produces 339 crank hp on cold days but is very sensitive on warm Greek days as the Prodrive ECU lowers advance and boost in warm days in Greece.



Will the APS Top mount Intercooler help with my performance in warm days or will it make things worse as it is larger and gets heated easier and/or takes longer to cool down.





Will my boost increase after I install it? Will I have more lag or less lag?



Thanks for your replies in advance

 

the subaru intercooler is considered to be superior to aftermarket ones. unless your prepared to go for a front mount.
ken

 

i dont believe this is a valid statement specially for the APS unit which has a different design and has higher flow.
The question is does this flow provide enough cooling for the I/C core?
I know that I will have more heat soak but will flow help this out?

 

DimitrisSti8,
There is truth in what Scooby-K says..... well at least for the specific kit that you are referring to (Vs the later STi deisgn top mount).

Put it this way, I have actually witnessed a back to back test that concluded this.

Regards,
Shaun.

 

You have two issues. Heat soak, and ambient air temps.

You will suffer from heat soak regardless of how good the top mount is, but where temps would fall very quickly with cooler climates, it will be far slower with your very hot ambients.

A better top mount will help overall, but personally, I would look at using water injection too. This won't help with heat soak, but will help cool things down once you're on boost.

Mark.

 

Shaun,

Have you got any info comparing the "before", and "after" of both units. By this, I also mean comparative figures of temps taken before, and after the "intercoolers".

Comparative figures taken only "after" the intercooler are not representatve.


Mark.

 

my car has an amazing difference when the I/C and intake gets hot while I am in traffic. Once this happens it takes very long to drive around town with no stop to get max performance again. I get 0.5 bar through the gears while I have 1.4 bar or 1.5 in cold days or when the intake is relatively cold.

Its not just my car it happens to every PPP STI I know.

 

Dimitris
I can understand where you are coming from living in Greece some of the time myself.
I wouild say that you have to consider the following:
a) Using the IC waterspray more or having automatic control of it with perhaps a water/methanol mix for efficient evaporation.
b) Fitting an additional spray system using CO2 or NO2 to chill the intercooler.
c) Fitting a front mount intercooler.

I am afraid all considered I believe option c) has to be the way to go in Greece. Temperature difference (drop) over a top mount is the largest with a front mountand intake temps can drop substantially.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I am afraid of using the CO2 sprayer. the word is that they damage the I/C i dont know how exactly this happens.

I think that the APS I/C comes with a splitter that is larger than the STI one and uses 2 or 3 nozzles for the waterspray.
Maybe the larger core together with the nozzles will help with my problem.
The APS unit also has higher internal flow so maybe there will be a gain in performance just from that?

I will try out the APS unit and will report my experience soon.

 

by the way for those who are interested in this topic they should read this.
http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthread.php?t=396531

 

OK I installed the APS TMIC yesterday.

first impressions. that thing is huge. i realised it when i saw it in my engine bay.
On the road: when it was installed and the core was cold there was an increase in low end and generally there was a very small rise in boost when overboosting. it was 27 celcius outside and the car performed like it was winter. no knock at all.

NOW. when it hetsoaked. thats another story, the entire core got heated and i mean the whole I/C. its so big, i dont think it is possible to get it to cool down. i didnt have the APS splitter and I will not bother to install it because only the top surface got cold from the waterspray and when hitting the highway to cool it down. i never managed to cool it down even on highway.

The big dissapointment was that it got SO hot in the city that i got knock in 5th gear pull from low rpms on the highway (after trying to cool it down of course). i even heard the knocking sound. i got so dissapointed that i am installing my STI I/C today. my car never knocks with that.

i guess i would buy it if i lived in the north pole because even if it is cold out once this thing gets heatsoaked thats it.

 

Like Beastie said, For Greece, only a FMIC is the go.

See you soon Beastie.

 

And for the UK ??

 

I would have thought a charge cooler for Greece?

 

Aquamist ERL water injection