I'm a little confused I'm considering upgrades and one of them is intercooler some say sti top others suggest front but having a front mount will surely affect throttle response as there is a lot of pipework for the air to go through before getting to the turbo? At which point in tuning is it no longer conceivable to have a top mount as the Impreza cossie has a top mount

 

From recent conversations I believe the TMI suffers a lot of heat absorption from the engine which can lead to detonation.
I agree with the comment about the FMI but I'm sure plenty will say differently, I'm not sure exactly why Subaru stopped using the chargecooler, these have proven consistent lower intake temps.

 

What sort of power are you looking for? That could dictate wether you need to go fmic or not

 

I was told by Bob Rawle, if your not running more than 350bhp a FMIC will do you no favours at all. He recommended STI intercooler up to 350 bhp

 

yeah i was told top mount till 400bhp.

allot of people make a mistake by running on lower power ap. i have an aftermarket top mount which is a little bigger. You dont have to look at just the sti model, some other aftermarkets are very good too.

 

+1 for the above, bob said the same to me when he mapped both my cars.

 

I'm running a Sard top mount intercooler, FMIC is required if you're pushing past the 380bhp mark but anything less than that the top mount will be fine.

Just be careful, there are loads of cheap unbranded top mounts on ebay which are really poorly made and have been proven to be less effective than the standard intercoolers, despite their size, it's all about the quality of the core.

 

What make top mount have you got?

I'm sure the STi topmount has been proven to better than 95% of after Market top mounts.

Bigger is not always better

 

Hyperflow will see off the STI one I suspect, but the STI ones are good enough in most cases so unless you have money to burn, just find yourself a good one!

Re the comment about detonation - I don't think you shouldn't be getting detonation if your mapper's done their job mate.

 

TMIC (STi7/8 which is said to be best) ~£200. Fitting - PITA and will cost unless you fit yourself

Harvey's FMIC £325 plus £185 fitting and takes away all the heat soak, and hot air issue

 

Here is a decent read on intercoolers
https://www.scoobynet.com/general-technical-10/540649-air-charge-temp-gauges-and-tmic-vs-fmic-comparison.html

 

I'm not getting dettonation it was just a comment about what could happen, at the end of th day you're sitting a nice block of aluminium on top of your engine, heat soak is bound to happen when stationary, if too much heat soak occurs it is bound to render the IC useless, too high an intake temp and you risk things going wrong.
Chargecooler for all day long, just most people don't have the space or correct knowledge of how the system works.

 

Then drive gently after sitting in traffic for long periods before booting it

 

I'm using a chargecooler so I don't have any o these problems.
It's not just the booting the car it's also when it's ticking over.

 

Are chargecoolers significantly more expensive or require more maintenance than an intercooler? (I don't know hence the question!).
Also, interesting to note Butty's comment on that other thread So doesn't exactly sound like that big a deal for lower power applications. 360+ maybe fmic time I guess.

Re Bonesetter's comment, the TMIC might be a PITA for a classic, but it's plug and play for a newage WRX - 10 minute job to replace one.

 

just to add i see similar temps to the comment above on an sti top mount @370ish bhp.

normally 1 or 2 degress above ambient if i do sit in traffic yes it gets hot upto maybe 65 or 70 but as above within 200m its back down to ambientish temps

 

I'll be selling my mint STI TMIC very soon from a MY02. I have a FMIC ready to fit, but just havent had the time to install it.

Just to add; Im currently running circ 400bhp, and I believe with a splash of meth the TMIC will take the additional power, however I have been told time over that they are only good for 400bhp, thus im taking mine off for reason like queuing up for a sprint like I was at the last Grudgement for 30 mins with baking sun !!!

 

I looked into fitting to my classic, after all the faff you still need a different bonnet scoop at which point I gave up

 

Surely the length of pipe maks no difference as there is always air in the pipe close to the turbo.????????????

 

I reckon a lot of the discussion on FMIC's introducing lag is not helped by the fact that when doing the IC, most people will upgrage the turbo (for a bigger one with more lag). The result is more punch for longer but at the demise of spool.

Just my 2p worth. If you want to go TMIC then I would get one of the 1" taller classic scoops from DR Motorsport. Maintains the standard(ish) look but allows alot more air in. This is what i was planning till I decided to go daft and buy a bigger turbo and FMIC. My setup has more lag than before but it pulls like a ba$tard! I went from a VF28 to an SC38.

 

Really depends for how much bhp you are looking,if you are looking in region of 350-380bhp and you are not looking for track days i would suggest STi TMIC is OK.

But if you are looking for track days and more bhp i would suggest Hybrid FMIC is right way.

Lag and FMIC is again just myth,if its core effective you are never see lag,really depends on core,pipework and mapping.



Jura

 

Throttle response will always be worse with longer pipework, some people notice it, some people don't.

What year car do you have?