Gts25T Intercooler Alternatives To Full Fmic .

[discopotato03]

Hi all , I see many threads on intercooler upgrades to R33 and R34 single turbo Skylines and I'm interested in exploring the topic but doing things a little differently .

Firstly my GTS25T currently has the R34GTt intercooler because it was easy to do ie it just about falls in .

Secondly I'm not looking for a million Kw and I don't want to overkill in this area . The turbo I have to fit is a HKS GTRS and something like 240 odd stress free Kw would be fine for me .

I don't want to go down the road of non standard inlet manifolds or extra pipework in the engine bay . I also don't want the full front mount with its considerable length of return pipe .

Now of late its impossible not to notice the diesel commercials and 4WDs clogging up the roads and the vast majority of them have intercoolers nowdays . We have a few utes for getting around the yard at work and I'm always trying to see if their intercoolers look like they would fit in the unchopped nose of an R33 .

My train of though is can you fit an intercooler of at least twice if not a bit more than the core area of an R34GTt into the near radiator side of a R33 . While this may sound a bit lacking from memory the twin turbo Z32 300ZX TT's made 209 kw and more torque on paper than an R32 GTR and they from memory used two intercoolers of possibly R33/34 25T dimensions .

I will never race or drag my car and all I need is enough intercooler capacity to not form an air restriction or heatsoak in the 6-8 seconds of full throttle use that is usable on public roads .

I'd like some bang for buck here not because I can't afford better but because I don't wish to overkill/overcapitalise with this car . Its also a challenge to find some hopefully low cost but adequate OE intercooler and have most of a car look as factory as possible . Less eye candy for rev and you protection officers to ping you for .

Does anyone have access to a light truck wrecker that could measure up some of these intercoolers ?

Cheers A .

PS please don't come back sayng just fit a JJ return flow because I'm not interested in going that way .

Ideally an intercooler with its inlet and outlet facing the same direction could be good because it could be fitted with its inlet/outlet facing the nearside to keep the plumbing short .

[paulr33]

hate to say it but just go with just jap return kit

or if you are up for stuffing around go for xr6 core

[Tangles]

a search of "One sided intercoolers" on ebay shows some viable options

16.5" x 11" x 3" one-sided intercooler $200 del. http://cgi.ebay.com.au/16-5-X11-X3-One-Side-Intercooler-2-5-Inlet-Outlet-/250518073359?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3a540a700f

[Birds]

All the best, I'm all for innovation and doing things differently...but I am against ignoring common sense. Don't you think if it could be done and for cheap...the rest of us would have done it? It's like asking us to tell you how to do something that we didn't know how to do for ourselves.

The best you can do for that power level is try and find an ARC side mount...but nothing will beat a front mount on a Skyline by nature of how intercoolers work...a good design is important, yes...but surface area of the core itself is the most important factor, given it's air that's cooling it.

FMICs aren't illegal...why wouldn't you just get one?

[bradsm87]

Something like this but a bit bigger maybe?

http://www.gktech.com.au/front.asp?pid=11&ProductID=univ-nhfm

A vertical flow core with tanks top and bottom would be what ur after.

I'd go a small conventional FMIC (around 500x250x70 or similar) with inlet/outlet in the middle facing 45 degrees backwards then make up super short custom piping and a 315 degree bend straight off the throttle body and going diagonally down to the driver's side from there. A 2.25" hot pipe and 2.5" cold pipe would be heaps.

Edited March 26, 2011 by bradsm87

[toffy]

the problem you will have will be heat soak with smaller coolers , the smallest diesel intercooler i've seen was on the '05-ish mazda bravo/ford courier . if i were you i'd be scouring yahoo auctions through import monster or something for an arc sidemount if you definately don't want a front mount .

[KiwiRS4T]

Like this (although the 100mm version would be better):

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/topic/353819-fs-er34-arc-smic/

[ARTZ]

I too had a yearning to try something a little different disco, started when i was fitting a normal front mount but didnt want to chop up my series one bar..

After a lot o fluffing around and some good help from Scotty, "Frankencooler" was born looking something like this

Its pretty stealthy once its all together. It works well makes 240kw and is very responsive, but is only possible if you are willing to lose aircon and f**k around fabricating stuff. I am keen to do a FFP as well for even less piping when the funds exsist

..

Before this I was toying with the idea of a vertical type cooler as well, there was one i found was about 500 wide by 300 high with tanks top and bottom, (I think it was from supra actually) so you could hook the bottom one up like you would a normal FMIC but you would have to pipe the top through next to the radiator which would make it really short as well. I was also considering the Gktech one that Brad suggested.

Only thing i can suggest is keep scouring ebay cause all sorts of weird coolers pop up there, and keep your imagination open, you'll need it

[Mayuri Krab]

Its pretty stealthy once its all together. It works well makes 240kw and is very responsive, but is only possible if you are willing to lose aircon and f**k around fabricating stuff. I am keen to do a FFP as well for even less piping when the funds exsist

How do you survive Aussie's 40C days in a traffic jam?

[Tony de Wonderful]

How about an air-water intercooler or water-meth injection?

[XRATED]

I've seen a couple of MR2 trust cores on yahoo auctions come up quite cheap lately.... they are very thick and are usually placed on a 'side' air inlet. Most of the MR2 guys get 250rwkw out of them before they start chopping into they're boot areas.

I'd be tempted to grab one and re-configure the end tanks for a side mount install... Or find an ARC side mount upgrade...

If you go side mount just put alot of time and effort into getting air in and out, maybe a thermofan on the back of it and/or temp activated water spray onto the core. If you get a good core, restriction isn't going to be a problem... it's just the heatsoak.

There are also a heap of W2A heat exchanger options out of the US. Pop the core in where the side mount usually is, hide the pump behind it, add a 1lt tank after the radiator (just to add volume to the system) then bang the bigest- thin radiator (painted black) behind the front bar.... hell, you could even add a little black ice bucket for track days/summer etc.

Cheers

J.

[bradsm87]

How do you survive Aussie's 40C days in a traffic jam?

how does your CAR survive 40c days with air con ON? I HATE air con with a passion because i love my cars and air con is something i'd never do to them on a hot day.

[Gts-t]

plasma mans water to air series, run a dedicated core to cool the water, not off engine coolant.

Would be great to see the results disco

Ive been tossing the idea up for my s15 but ended up finding an arc turnflow because i work too much

[GTScotT]

Find someone capable of tidy allow welding and turn your R34 side mount into a water to air unit.

It will bolt back into place and look great.

You can also buy a cheap alloy rad to suit a civic from justjap, have your alloy dude mod the in and out pipes to have the water flow and buy a 12v water pump.

The civic radiator is half size and will be very easy to fab behind the rear bar, paint it black and no one will pick it.

[ARTZ]

How do you survive Aussie's 40C days in a traffic jam?

I wear an Akubra

[Tangles]

Like this (although the 100mm version would be better):

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/topic/353819-fs-er34-arc-smic/

yes before my original reply I sent disco a PM with a link to a $280delivered HKS r32 gtst intercooler to match that ARC unit.

on ebay aus if anyone wants it

[SpeedWhore]

Hmmm ahah i don't know if this is relevant . But The previous owner of my car had a little bit of an ingenues idea. he took the spray portal for the rear window and transferred it above my front mount. So when i trigger for it to release water there it actually sprays it down and in front of the inter cooler.

Sid

[Birds]

Idea is clever but it's been around for a while...I saw the same thing done on a television show 5 years ago lol^

Wiper water sprays come on a bit thick and use up water a bit quickly...better off finding a finer nozzle sprayer and putting that on the hose instead. Something really misty would be good...even two of them.

[ARTZ]

holy crap theres a washer on the back windscreen, I never knew..lol

while where on the subject, Has anyone seen my windscreen wipers, i took them off to paint them now i cant find them anywhere

[Mayuri Krab]

while where on the subject, Has anyone seen my windscreen wipers, i took them off to paint them now i cant find them anywhere

LOL what?

On the subject of "I screwed up & lost something..."

Has anyone seen my yellow cap for the reserve coolant bottle? I must have forgotten to tighten it up after topping it up & now it must having fallen somewhere on the road while driving!