Top Mount Intercoolers

Agent05

Crunching Gears
Location
sa
First Name
Ash
Drive
blue 99 legnum
Hi All,
just wondering if anyone is running a TMIC? Was just reading a post about trans coolers and some one suggested placement of the trans cooler in front and using a TMIC. Would a top mount be as effective as a FMIC. Am i thinking way too complicated?!
 

Mac Dog

Leaving Skid Marks
Location
South Australia
First Name
Macca
Drive
Red 1997 Legnum
Every time I think of TMIC, I think of the N14 GTi-R and how they nicknamed its TMIC the "Inter-warmer". hahahhh
 

Hotwire

1 AYC Bar
Premium Member
Location
South Australia
First Name
Lee
Drive
97 COTY
FMIC is far more efficient than a TMIC for cooling. The benefit of a TMIC is that the piping is shortened, and throttle response can be improved, but there is ZERO reason to change from FMIC to TMIC on a legnum, especially as there wouldn't be enough space due to how high the V6 sits o_O
 

pu-11-me

and put an LSD in it
Location
NSW
First Name
Dawso
Drive
VW Touareg
You would only consider it for air to water intercooling.... Theres no space, less cooling efficiency, and our throttle response is excellent for a turbo anyway so there are really no benefits to doing it.

Hope that helps :)
 

Agent05

Crunching Gears
Location
sa
First Name
Ash
Drive
blue 99 legnum
Thanx Hotwire,
that pretty much clears it up. Im guessing that the Monster and Evo style bonnets are a bit of w#$k with the big open vents in the center!?
FMIC it is!
 

Agent05

Crunching Gears
Location
sa
First Name
Ash
Drive
blue 99 legnum
True true. Dont want to offend those who have chosen to fit the aforementioned parts! lol!
 

Hotwire

1 AYC Bar
Premium Member
Location
South Australia
First Name
Lee
Drive
97 COTY
The evo bonnet will help with cooling. The design of the vent in the position it is will create a vacuum effect to the front of the engine bay. So air is drawn in the front of the car (past the intercooler and radiator) and then expelled out the top of the bonnet as well as under the car. So more air will flow than with the stock bonnet.
 

BuzzPuppy

OZVR4 Ambassador
Lifetime Member
Location
Victoria
First Name
Gavin
Drive
レグナム Super VR-4
...and AncientofMu (UK) is organising a group buy to send some to Oz.

That and TopStage have a few examples for the VR4s :)
 

bradc

1 AYC Bar
Location
New Zealand
First Name
Brad
Drive
Facelift Manual 400hp VR-4 Legnum
What Lee said ^^^

If you have an aftermarket ecu like me and have no MAF sensor then I reckon a water to air setup above the gearbox would be piss easy to implement.
 

SiliconAngel

1 AYC Bar
Location
Perth, WA
First Name
SA, Trevor
Drive
'99 Legnum VR4 Black MT
I still don't see why you'd top mount a WtA IC as you're reducing thermal efficiency... If you could isolate it from engine bay heat, now that's another story!
 

bradc

1 AYC Bar
Location
New Zealand
First Name
Brad
Drive
Facelift Manual 400hp VR-4 Legnum
Well it would be above the gearbox but you are right the engine bay heat would hurt performance. You could simply build a box around it to double wall it perhaps?
 

quincy777

Crunching Gears
Location
Vic
First Name
Cam
Drive
Legnum VR4
definatly keep the FMIC and you should be able to place a small trans cooler beside it.
 

SiliconAngel

1 AYC Bar
Location
Perth, WA
First Name
SA, Trevor
Drive
'99 Legnum VR4 Black MT
Hmm, while a large part of me wants to dismiss the idea completely, another part of me is excited by the efficiency potential from getting rid of 60% of the IC piping... If you took the battery, stock airbox and MAF unit out you might end up with enough room to build a cold air duct big enough. The difficulty would be figuring out how to create a strong enough low pressure region elsewhere to extract that air properly, or you won't get enough flow through the WtA IC... Would be an interesting project!
 

SiliconAngel

1 AYC Bar
Location
Perth, WA
First Name
SA, Trevor
Drive
'99 Legnum VR4 Black MT
:banghead: I don't know WHAT I was thinking last night. Three hours sleep later and it's all so much clearer...

...

I'm gonna have an accident if I keep this up
 

bradc

1 AYC Bar
Location
New Zealand
First Name
Brad
Drive
Facelift Manual 400hp VR-4 Legnum
Imagine how much shorter the intercooler piping could be though with one of those heat exchangers above the gearbox, the turbo outlet pipes could just come straight up into it, they'd only need to be around 30cm long at the front and about 60-70cm long at the back, then you'd go straight up out of there into the throttle body.
 
G

Guest

Unregistered
But I can't fit a top-mount as my spare wheel is already on top of the engine! :D
 

ygoslo

1 AYC Bar
Location
Victoria
First Name
Tim
Drive
91 Silvia, 97 Galant
VR4s are already basically lag-free though. Would you really gain much response?
 
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