Just wondering what everyones opinions are?

Now going down the route of getting better cooling upgrades, upgrading hoses and pipes etc, but am unsure as to what to go for...Front mounted intercooler(any brands reccommended?) or twin (again brands reccommended)?

Thanks guys... :)

Looks stunning mate and Front mount is the way to go.. You have a bigger intercooler so the compressed air is gonna be far cooler than 2 little side mounts cause you can't get them big enough. In terms of lag you are litterally talking milliseconds as the IC is gonna be full of air from startup anyway. Combine this with twin Scroll roller barring turbo's and you have one hell of a machine.. The Z engine runs bloody hot and IC's this size are a welcome addittion. If big front mounted IC's wern't important then why does everyone do it... WRC cars, Skylines, Mitsubishi Evo's, Modified Scooby's all move the top mounted IC to front of the car for better cooling..

Absolutely perfect explanation ;) like i wrote in the past there is not SMIC kit that can be compaired with good FMIC setup ;) All people that not like FMIC i am sure that don't know for what they talk about :) I don't want to hurt anybody but this is true, make test, drive two same cars with same engine setups and with only different intercooler setups and you will see that we(FMIC lovers :)) are right ;)

Please remember I am a girl, not an expert with the ZX...LOL

 

But in response to all your replies (and thanks for all of them) the reason I had to ask for your opinion as fellow owners, was that prior to buying this car I was informed by numerous people that one of the biggest threats to the TT ZX was that they suffer from overheating in certain area's so this was why I really wanted to adress this area of the car first before going the route of upping the BHP and paying for it by smokin' the turbo's or melting the pistons...Just wanna be safe.

 

But another reason I asked about front or side mounts is because of airflow to the coolers in regards to the front stock bumper....which I plan on replacing with a veilside which if i went for fmic would obviously be better...

 

However first things first reading up, think it may also be a good idea first to go for an aftermarket rad...Am liking what I hear about the KOYO... :cool:

 

But once again...Its really good to get varied opinions...am learning alot from the site...CHEERS ALL!

Please remember I am a girl, not an expert with the ZX...LOL

 

But in response to all your replies (and thanks for all of them) the reason I had to ask for your opinion as fellow owners, was that prior to buying this car I was informed by numerous people that one of the biggest threats to the TT ZX was that they suffer from overheating in certain area's so this was why I really wanted to adress this area of the car first before going the route of upping the BHP and paying for it by smokin' the turbo's or melting the pistons...Just wanna be safe.

 

But another reason I asked about front or side mounts is because of airflow to the coolers in regards to the front stock bumper....which I plan on replacing with a veilside which if i went for fmic would obviously be better...

 

However first things first reading up, think it may also be a good idea first to go for an aftermarket rad...Am liking what I hear about the KOYO... :cool:

 

But once again...Its really good to get varied opinions...am learning alot from the site...CHEERS ALL!

 

Your Welcome!!! Any cooling anywhere on the 300ZXTT will see performance gains.. Just take yours for a good thrashing then open the bonett aftwards and try putting your and ontop of the intake manifolds. Bet you can't keep your hand on there cause it's bloody red hot!!! This is what our engines have to cope with so cooler charge air going in along with bonett vents is gonna prolong engine life and stop melt down!!! You could do a good fry up on a Z engine!!

If big front mounted IC's wern't important then why does everyone do it... WRC cars, Skylines, Mitsubishi Evo's, Modified Scooby's all move the top mounted IC to front of the car for better cooling..

 

As Lymon said both have their pros and cons

 

WRC cars Mitsubishi Evos and Modified Scoobys all have front mounts because they are a single turbo. LOL

im sure there is an in depth write up on TT.net that shows uprated SM's give a better power increase than FM's apart from a couple of real big bhp cars

All people that not like FMIC i am sure that don't know for what they talk about

 

No it’s simply called an opinion every one is entitled to one. It’s like some clown trying to push religion down people’s throats! Some will believe and some wont Also That’s like me saying you don’t know what you are talking about so respect what others think I would not fit a FMIC if it was given to me for free!:D

As Lymon said both have their pros and cons

 

WRC cars Mitsubishi Evos and Modified Scoobys all have front mounts because they are a single turbo. LOL

 

Very good point, but having an Intercooler right in front of the car generates a better Ram Air effect (More air per cm3) and unfortunatly for our Z'ed our IC's are burried inside the front wing too much - ever tried wetting your finger then blowing on it to see how much cooler it is??! We got 2 turbo's to keep cool an extra big IC is well needed! Think about 1 Turbo and a big IC how much cooling that tub is getting! We got 2 buggers to keep cool!! :headvswal Mac, you got the fastest Z on here, now think how much quicker and more reliable it's gonna be with a front mounted Intercooler!! With your set up it's gotta be worth an extra 40BHP!! Make it your next upgrade dude! If a had the spare cash I would buy you the big intercooler and install it myself just to prove how much better you car could be!! :D All the best mate, Jon

Very good point, but having an Intercooler right in front of the car generates a better Ram Air effect (More air per cm3) and unfortunatly for our Z'ed our IC's are burried inside the front wing too much - ever tried wetting your finger then blowing on it to see how much cooler it is??! We got 2 turbo's to keep cool an extra big IC is well needed! Think about 1 Turbo and a big IC how much cooling that tub is getting! We got 2 buggers to keep cool!! :headvswal Mac, you got the fastest Z on here, now think how much quicker and more reliable it's gonna be with a front mounted Intercooler!! With your set up it's gotta be worth an extra 40BHP!! Make it your next upgrade dude! If a had the spare cash I would buy you the big intercooler and install it myself just to prove how much better you car could be!! :D All the best mate, Jon

 

 

 

My SM have ducting fitted and everything behind them has gone, even my water bottles are now located in my inner wings, I also have ducting behind the cooler to let the hot air escape (all this helps with SMIC)

As for the FM I really don’t like the idea of sticking one in front of the rad and oil cooler as the Z engine suffers enough from heat. The only mod I will be doing to my intercoolers is fitting a c02 spray in the ducting thanks for the offer though:D

 

;)

MAC1 are you have experience with FMIC ? I understand you, for your setup you spend a lot of money and you defend him, but if you haven't experience with FM setup you can't compare both sorry ;) Like i wrote most of high powered turbo cars have FM setup may be people are stupid i don't know but this is exactly fact ;) Look at the turbo Corvettes in USA or turbo Vipers, 99% of them are with FM setup too, and they are not V6 they are V8 and V10 :) Look at the new Nissan 350z, Greddy twin turbo kit for this car is with FMIC too, why can you tell me ? ;)

There seems to be lots of opinions on the intercooler subject. From my experience working as Research & Development Engineer I will suggest that you need hard facts before making assumptions. (Assumptions are the mother of all fook ups);)

 

Until someone performs a direct comparison test on the same car whilst measuring all engine parameters in a dynamic condition with 100% repeatability, then people can only speculate on which is better. There are so many variables to be taken into consideration with many other influencing factors. When your talking volumes to which the level a high HP engine are pushing, the differences will most probably be negligible. There may well be a trade off between air temp and water temp but until proven the differences are unknown.

 

I for one think the FMIC looks sweet and when matched to an appropriate set up they seem to work very well as do SMIC's.

 

Andy

ever tried wetting your finger then blowing on it to see how much cooler it is

 

Why dont u just whack some intercooler water sprays on if u want the same effect , make em yourself for £20..bargain...will do same job as the subaru ones as thats all they are..

 

Ok also to add to the debate: Most people on tt.net use SMIC for very good reasons !! This is a write up from RanchZ re: the apollo front mount but im sure they are all very similar :

 

I personally believe is that side mounts are the only way to go on a Z.

 

The reason I believe this is because the Z32 engine was designed with a CROSS FLOW intake manifold.......What this means is that the left turbo feeds the right side of the engine and right turbo feeds the left side of the engine.

The reason for this is that when the exhaust exits the one side it pushes the turbo that is feeding the opposite side that has the intake valve open to fill the cyl for the next compression stroke ECT ECT.....

The Apollo intercooler takes the air from one side and feeds the other. This is reversing the way the intake manifold was designed and makes it no longer a cross flow manifold.

This causes the engine to be less efficient and will cause the turbos to produce less boost.

 

Also here is a dyno run to prove one with a smic and another using a fmic on the same car ect :

http://www.twinturbo.net/net/viewmsg.aspx?forum=general&msg_id=1260203&words=smic%3a%3avs%3a%3afmic

MAC1 are you have experience with FMIC ? I understand you, for your setup you spend a lot of money and you defend him, but if you haven't experience with FM setup you can't compare both sorry ;) Like i wrote most of high powered turbo cars have FM setup may be people are stupid i don't know but this is exactly fact ;) Look at the turbo Corvettes in USA or turbo Vipers, 99% of them are with FM setup too, and they are not V6 they are V8 and V10 :) Look at the new Nissan 350z, Greddy twin turbo kit for this car is with FMIC too, why can you tell me ? ;)

 

 

Kelish read the link on Karls post

 

Well here is the dyno. the first run is the blue one which has the apollo fmic. The red one is the 2nd one with stillen smics and a koyo radiator.

 

fmic: 381rwhp 425rwtq

smic: 395.5rwhp 443rwtq

 

all on stock turbos + race gas.

 

Enough said so dont waste any more cash making a FM

 

fmic: 381rwhp 425rwtq

smic: 395.5rwhp 443rwtq

 

all on stock turbos + race gas.

 

Enough said so dont waste any more cash making a FM

 

Are there any similar results for medium/large turbo configurations? You need to test right across the spectrum to make a fair evaluation. What works better for one application may not be true for another. ;)

 

I'd like to know the facts myself as I will be making and intercooler selection soon.

 

Cheers

 

Andy

Lol...This still leaves one question...Either way I go, FM or SM's I still have to choose a brand...

Are there any similar results for medium/large turbo configurations? You need to test right across the spectrum to make a fair evaluation. What works better for one application may not be true for another. ;)

 

I'd like to know the facts myself as I will be making and intercooler selection soon.

 

Cheers

 

Andy

 

 

 

I personally think that PeterR knows his zeds inside out and if he feels the need , along with most of tt.net and Aus300zx ..to all use SMIC then ..i recon that answers the question tbh mate.but everyone is entitled to their own opinions.

 

Lol...This still leaves one question...Either way I go, FM or SM's I still have to choose a brand...

 

For Smic i would recommend Pace side mounts as they are the biggest u can get .

Biggest problem I can see with a horizontally split FMIC is that one side is nearly always going to cool better unless you do huge bumper mods.

Better to split it vertically, at least then both cores will be equally 'masked' by the bumper

Kelish read the link on Karls post

 

Well here is the dyno. the first run is the blue one which has the apollo fmic. The red one is the 2nd one with stillen smics and a koyo radiator.

 

fmic: 381rwhp 425rwtq

smic: 395.5rwhp 443rwtq

 

all on stock turbos + race gas.

 

Enough said so dont waste any more cash making a FM

 

This is funny test but upsolutely incorect :)

 

fully warmed up on both. different days

 

the boost was probably 18.5 and bled off on the first one(FM). 20 and bled off on the 2nd one(SM)

 

Different days, different boost, different cooling radiator.......do i need to say more ? :) And are you know what cooling fan(s) use these guys on the dyno to cool intercoolers and radiators to tested car. Are these factors same on two tests, i don't think so ? You made test to compare intercoolers and intercooler cooling is very important in this case, but we don't know details, we only know that Apollo sucks like say guy of TT forum but this is funny and is not result from real test :)

 

For pressure drop reason is clear if you are familiar with intercooler cores design ;) Apollo use tube&fin core for there FM kit with 3" thickness(cheap model), but Stillen use bar&plate Spearco cores for there side mount kit. If you don't know tube&fin core cause more pressure drop but better cooling on low speed to opposite air, but for high power and high air flow, most of the tuners prefer bar&plate core for there intercoolers because of low pressure drop design. But i am 100% confident that even and in this case if tests are in a same day, and boost pressure is the same, FMIC will beat side mount without problem.

Gees this is dragging on :rolleyes: at the end of the day mate, you wanna go out and design and use a FMIC crack on. For me the Zed is 2 x 1500cc engines, each side has 1 I/C and 1 Turbo, if your modding the car and want to lower intake temps, you upgrade the I/C, it was designed this way and it works this way :)

end off!

smithy

that FM looks waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay bigger than 2x SM's!! have you measured the capacity of that FM v 2xSM's?? + the additional piping all adds to the volume.

larger volume of air to compress = more lag im afraid - ye cannae change the laws of physics cap'n ;)

 

 

thats it in a nutshell - physics - FACT

 

 

 

 

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Looks stunning mate and Front mount is the way to go.. You have a bigger intercooler so the compressed air is gonna be far cooler than 2 little side mounts cause you can't get them big enough. In terms of lag you are litterally talking milliseconds as the IC is gonna be full of air from startup anyway. Combine this with twin Scroll roller barring turbo's and you have one hell of a machine.. The Z engine runs bloody hot and IC's this size are a welcome addittion. If big front mounted IC's wern't important then why does everyone do it... WRC cars, Skylines, Mitsubishi Evo's, Modified Scooby's all move the top mounted IC to front of the car for better cooling..

 

 

ok :rolleyes: all the above cars are single turbo less pipework so comparison is difficult SMIC WORK WELL END OFF

ok :rolleyes: all the above cars are single turbo less pipework so comparison is difficult SMIC WORK WELL END OFF

 

SO DO FRONT MOUNTS :tongue: