I am sure this has beenposted before.

Thinking of installing a Good Ebay 4 inlet/ outlet front mount intercooler on the K04 audi S4.
Currently its running RS4 pipes and intercoolers. Thinking of using say 22" long 11" hieght 3" thick with 2" piping. I realize that the install is a pain in the butt. Will probably run a low profile fan. Car runs RS4 style fiber bumper.
What sort of improvements do you get over the RS4 intercoolers and is it really worth the effort. I have heard 25+hp.
Any input would be greatly appreciate any photo's (especially the pipe bends) and suggestions greatly appreciated!

 

IMHO i think that the bigger smic's are better than the fmic. reason being, the engineers who made the s4 know their ****. and regardless of lack of room, i feel there's a reason that they chose to go with a smic setup instead of a fmic setup. stick with how the audi engineersset up the car. that's my opinion though, do with it what you will

 

yup i agree with hano on this and ive also heard of peoples car overheating with front mounts because the radiator is getting all the hott air of the intercooler.....anyone else heard about this?

 

Currently I'm working on installing the same intercooler core into my S4. I think th front mount will make a big difference compared to the sidemounts in terms of flow if only because of the charged air going in a straight line across the cooler instead of making two 90 turns in and out. Just like exhaust, the straighter the better. Once I have my pipes bent and the mounting worked out I'll have more of an idea how much of and improvement it is.

 

I also bought a fmic and I'm going to try and get the piping and have it all hooked up this weekend. Isn't the overheating issue not entirely due to the intercooler because air passes through it to get to the radiator. I think it may also be because many people remove their auxilary fan when installing their intercooler. I tried doing rearch on how people delt with the fan and possible relocation to no avail. Does anyone have any experience with this? I don't really want to remove the fan, so I'm going to try and mount it in front of it.

 

ill let you guys know! right now im stage 2 with rs4 intercoolers (came with the car) and i just found a great deal on the Racetec FMIC kit. the fmic comes on friday and i should have it installed that day provided i dont run into any problems. so ill let you guys know if fmic is truely better than rs4 smic's

 

I have seen one guy on the intraweb who has sloped the intercooler backwards which allows more room. I also noted that in his parts description he said that the fan had been changed, I assume to a lower profile one.
Thereisno doubt in my mind that front mount is better as where I come from (NZ) its one of the best improvements to do on any turbo. The problem is the lack of space without completely redesigning the whole bumper. My friends S4 is running I guess 400hp so in theory it should have huge intercooler on it, probably a similar size to the GTR aftermarket unit. Anyway back to the point, as far as I understand if you provide more cooling area closer to the airflow you will see better numbers (obviously to a point where the airflow through the intercooler is effected). I would suggest that the RS4 intercoolers actually flow very well, but I think that the effective cooling area can be improved. Just how much improvement it gives with the limited room is what I am asking. So I would really appreciate your response after you get the systems installed.

 

Do you know of where I could purchase a low profile fan, or do you think I could make due with the current set up with just more bumper trimming?

 

Wonder if it would be possible to do a fmic and sides at the same time? ...just some extra piping eh?

 

haha, seems a bit over the top don't you think?