there's a reason that subaru people upgrade to a front mount.

bluntly, that reason is because the top mount sucks. the whole point of an intercooler is to cool charge air. does it make sense to put a heat exchanger with the intent of releasing heat to the surrounding atmosphere exactly where most of the underhood heat will accumulate?

no.

 

totally agreeing with you dude, now let say for the JRSC 10lbs kit with the intercooler would the s/c give out as much heat as a turbo!!! so that if u do run a top mount intercooler it wont have any problem sucking more heat

 

^^I'm not sure what your asking? But anytime there's the word,"dude"in there,it's not good.Listen this is a moot point.I'm just saying that a TMIC is not the best place to put in a non-vented Fit.And like Kennef said, Subaru people(myself one time being one),know that for the intercooler to be really effiecent,it should be mounted at a source of constant fresh,cooler air.Now a TMIC IS better than nothing,but if your running a turbo(not supercharger)it's not something a good aftermarket company would do,and that's wht I posted about HKS not doing a TMIC,but a front mount instead.Plus Kraftwork's 5 or 6lb kit doesn't even come with one,or JDMChris's,because SCer's don't put out that much heat compared to Turbo's.

 

Hey Zangoose-

TMIC: protected from damage, shorter intake tract for less lag, limited overall size restriction due to placement, more air to the radiator for better engine cooling.

FMIC: better max airflow to intercooler, bigger overall size as well, engine will run hotter due to less flow and hotter air flow to radiator, can be damaged from road debris.

Each has its advatages and disadvantages. An intercooler is in essence a large heat sink. In the front of the car you can put a larger intercooler with very high surface area to volume ratio. This allows for the greatest amount of heat disipation. Also, with the large frontal area, cooling is helped by air passing through the intercooler.
However, to place the front mount on the car you need to add a large amount of piping from the turbo and back to the intake. This ads lag (less throttle response from the increased area the air needs to travel). Also, you can run into smoothness problems as the MAS calculates air flow some 10 ft from the actual engine intake. Also, with larger intercoolers there is an actual pressure drop that occurs which can also cause more lag and confuse the ECU (this can be worked around with software if neccesary).
ALL IN ALL:
Top mount intercoolers are good for a number of reasons. They need very little piping and are relatively cheap to make (less piping).

 

I agree with that,and have worked on turbo's for a number of year's,but without a vented hood,a TMIC isn't a very good option(that's why NO car run's one without that kind of hood).Plus if a TMIC was the best place for the Fit,the HKS kit(plus every kit for civic's)would be TMIC.There's no aftermarket kit that put's the intercooler up top(Subaru kit's bring it down/except for the Turbo XS kit,double's the surface area of the top intercooler)and that's the point.If the TMIC worked better,every aftermarket kit would be one.

 

just none of those are all that compelling.

let's be honest. if you're seriously considering not getting an intercooler because retaining foglights are more important, you may want to reconsider getting a turbo altogether. buying a multi-thousand dollar turbo kit makes me assume you're looking to increase engine performance. and i'm not ballin-outta-control so if i'm going to spend that much money, it better be for a reason.

if you're going to spend that much money but not actually utilize the equipment, or not make the necessary adjustment/ compromise to let your equipment operate safely, i would consider what is important and what is a priority. then go from there.

surely someone could come up with an aftermarket foglight set because it can't be altogether that impossible to get both a front mount and retain your foglights. but if i had to choose, foglights would be gone. and no way would i actually give someone my money to install a top mount.

 

U don't have 2 tell me.....I was helping my friend Zangoose.

 

So are we.

 

sorry, don't get me wrong when i speak in second person. no accusation implied.

 

No Worries Man!

 

well said tony, the top mount intercooler does have its good points. it's up to the individual and what they're looking for really. but it's true that front mount seems to be the position of choice for most people.

 

sounds like we'll be in the market for Subaru hood scoops pretty soon! hahaha

 

thanx guys... ill have to agree with everyone FMIC it is

 

yeah everyone put it very well i guess i was just hoping to keep my fog's....
oh well i got till the end of summer till i get my turbo hopefully by then we have a couple more options

 

The positioning of that HKS cooler would receive quite a bit of air through the front grill and the shroud should definitely help keep it well fed. I think that that setup would be perfect for a kit running <10lbs.