Hi,

Can anyone tell me if they have fitted one to a wrx and seen/felt any difference? At high rpm i occasionally get an amber light or two on my detalarm. The ecu does its job and fixes it instantly but i assume it may be "dipping its feet" every now and again? I thought if i could get the air cooler with a bigger top mount, and automate my water spray i might be able to reduce the det? I'm using v-power, decat and panel filter...

Cheers
Nicky

 

I did some Ecutek delta dash logs after putting one on a std WRX PPP.
Peak boost came in about 200 rpm earlier and the injectors maxed out to 106%, but that was all. You may be picking up the std WRX map upper limit for injector duty.
I've never seen charge temps above ambient plus 20 degrees, so there is little point in getting another top mount - you won't get one that is any better.

Nick

 

Whilst talking to various peeps, i was advised that swapping my 03WRX top mount was pointless for the cash as you wont gain much over the already decent standard one. I also enquired about this when i had my latest mods done and was also told similar for the mods i had done. I could get what i wanted without swapping the tmic.
All said and done it depends what you are going for, and imho if i was gonna change i would go mad and get the APS dogs danglies fmic myself.
Especially for the WRX as the APS allows you to keep the foglights and in doing so keeps the car looking totally standard.
Anyway, i am dreaming now! Ahhh, APS,

 

lol, sounds nice,

gonna put things on hold anyway till after xmas, need to decide which way to go, handling first or power first...

 

If you're gonna put the time and effort into fitting a new bigger intercooler, just get a front mount. By all accounts, even the cheapest ebay special front mount does a better job than the £1000+ top mounts that you see. It's fundamentally the wrong place for an intercooler. IMHO

 

Pretty much what I'd heard. Don't get a cheap one though, chances are it'll be a complete b**ch to fit and not be as good as some very good reasonably priced FMIC kits out there e.g. the Hybrid one.

Ns04

 

What's the fixation with front mounts?
The STi top mount will be more than adequate for 350 bhp and higher, costs only £250 off Ebay and takes 30 minutes to fit.
Compare that with a FMIC - there's just no comparision.

Nick

 

I'd like to see one fitted to a pre-99 classic in 30 minutes...

 

So isn't this question about a newage WRX -If not then you're quite right.


Nick

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not fixated with front mounts. I don't have one myself and don't intend to because I like my car to look standard. But I have spent a long time grappling with the problem. My 98 WRX is running roughly 300bhp with a Power FC and supporting mods, and the standard V4 intercooler (which incidentally is exactly the same as the v4 STi one except the piping which I have replaced with Samco anyway).

But the thing is that although it is a capable little IC for short bursts, I wouldn't be confident taking it on track or on long runs at wide open throttle. When the Power FC was being mapped, the fact that it just gradually heats up on long thrashes is a reason why for the engine's safety, it's not making much more than 300. A good 10 second burn through the gears at full boost will see it way over 50 degrees C, and every subsequent caning just adds to it, unless you give it half a minute to cool down in between. All top mounts will suffer from this problem and fitting a bigger one just puts it off for longer. And of course the one we're talking about it a newage so bigger than mine anyway.

But fitting bigger top mounts than standard is, AFAIK, almost as much hassle as fitting a front mount. I looked at doing an STi7/8 TMIC conversion, and it's just a monumental pain in the ****. IMHO

 

Am i right in thinking you have to have an IK to fit a front mount?

 

Nickyrhodes

what MY is your car as the newage boys (me included) are all itching to tell you to go for the STi TMIC

Shaun

 

lol,

i have an MY98 sorry...

 

V3/4 TMIC is slightly different to yours but doesn't make a huge difference in power output.

Depending on what turbo you are intending to use I can confirm that a new age WRX TMIC is nice upgrade and will let you get more out of a TD04 than your UK98 TMIC.

Andrew...

 

Cool, thanks,

I'll keep an eye out for one...