I have a friend that says if you get your intercooler too big, it can cause more problems than good. What size is okay for a 1.8 180hp with chip?

 

dont really need a fmic without going to a bigger turbo, just puts like a smile on your tt...

you going to a bigger turbo? if so what size?

 

the stock smic sucks *****. I lost 10whp and 40wtq between runs a few mins apart.

Yes you can go to big, you are basically adding volume for the turbo to fill. With a turbo that is as small as the ko3, thats asking alot. Now if you had a real sized turbo, then the answer would be different

 

first take the area of the core and find the surface area:



http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2-5-F...Q5fAccessories

i.e. - Core Size: 21 "x7"x2.5" = 367.50" sq., w. end tanks = 490" sq. i say anything under 500" sq. should be efficient for a chipped 180. if ur pushing over 600" sq, ur going to end up w/ massive turbo lag and pressure drop.

but then again, you're going have to factor in the fmic design, density of the core, the maker of the fmic (spearco, arc vs.. ebay, XO2). but i'm pretty sure XO2/ebay fmic's are much better than the heat soak loving smic. it's the piping route that's gonna be the p.i.t.a.

 

Deff what a bigger core than that if you plan on running an ebay. Something in the 28x9x3 range min. They use about 1/2 the fins for cooling vs a pte350 core.

 

Wow 200 bucks for a FMIC kit. Is it reliable? Would you recommend it Cincy?

 

uhhhh, no!

Its basically a bunch of random bends, crappy core, and tear faster than stock bov

 

^ haha for the record that was just an illustrated example, and by all means don't recommend that ebay FMIC kit whatsoever.

personally, if you're a 180 and have no plans of going BT, i'd definitely go C-style, top-to-bottom inlet/outlet aka apr style fmic. that or whenever cincy's figures out his w2a setup =O

 

so the only way to tell a good IC from a bad is by brand?

 

bar and plate design over tube and fin.

If your ebay shopping, and the ad says '0 pressure drop!' its because there are no damn turbulators inside it for the hot air to transfer the heat to. Bad IC.



Comparison. You can clearly see which has more internal surface area to remove heat. (and if you can't, the bar/plate is on the right)

You can get sorta technical about it all with end tank design/flow, and pressure loss, and crap like that, but it doesn't matter so much unless you're custom building your entire car, and few do. So, most bar/plate IC's will be fine. Check out what APR or someone is offering for sizes for your car, and base your buy off those dimensions. They've already done the hard work of testing what size core works well for the application.