Well, like almost everyone else that isn't turbo'd in this group,I plan on getting some boost soon as well. Sometime within the next 2 months. But quick question,what is really the difference between a side mount and front mount intercooler other than placement? I noticed that front mount tends to be more expensive. Is there any performance pro and cons with either?

"...Ruff,Ruff..where my dogs at?...Ribbit...where my frogs at?..."

well sorta think of the difference between a short ram air intake and a cold air intake. little bit different ballgame but if you have a front mount intercooler...its being cooler by the air moving at it from the front. if you have a sidemount, you dont get that nice extra help. people have also tried stuff like rigging up something similar to their windshield washer squirter to squirt water onto their intercooler from the touch of a button inside the car. this was in an effort to increase cooling characteristics of the intercooler. and of course weve all taken science class's in elementary school....if what they taught us about evaportation was correct...i suppose the water sprayer thing could have some positive effect. as for me and my custom turbo kit....i just bought an side mount intercooler from a 1g eclipse used on ebay. it is pretty small in size but thick and will fit on the drivers side in the engine bay sortov by the battery. one thing you must know though...a stock intercooler off of a 2g eclipse will not fit so easily like this. go with a 1g if you want a cheap sidemount like that. someday when i feel like going through the extra effort of having a front mount intercooler, i will find myself a starion on ebay or somethin. i did not get one of those for my first kit just because they cost more, and it might involve a little more work like cutting parts of my car to run the intercooler pipes to the front. i think there are also cases where people have to remove their front bumper and all that to install an intercooler up front. i dunno ya got the radiator up there and everything....im just concentrated on getting a smooth running system going.
later,
-paul


i am fast because i know how to drive, its really entertaining. :-)

it's just placement. Obviously though you coulda figured out that you can put a much bigger intercooler in the front. NOt only that but the mouth obviously has more air flowing through it cuz it cools the radiator and other goodies down. The sidescoops don't get as much airflow. As long as you have an intercooler I wouldn't worry about where its placed unless you wanna floss your intercooler. I'll tell you this my 5 dollar starion intercooler has been able to take everything I've thrown at it and still effectively cools the air down.

WHAT? i want a starion intercooler for five dollars !

You wanna be a sleeper, get the side mount. You wanna get people to say, "Oh shit, there is an intercooler on that RS\GS!!!", get the front mount. Me, I would personally get the front mount, looks tite as hell...... :thumbsup

you know you want the front mount!

turbosrule,
Your IC piping looks bada$$. What color are they powder coated? IF your don't mind ;)

>turbosrule,
>Your IC piping looks bada$$. What color are they powder
>coated? IF your don't mind ;)
>

Thanks!!!
its candy blue powdercoating

what about my ghetto piping? Not appealing is it? :(

oh yeah I forgot to mention a front mount requires lots of piping hehe. well it depends on how you got the inlet and outlet but it's gonna require more piping.

SO......thats what you call it? HEHE

At least you have piping. Im still in that "My engine died on me, and i need to fix my car or im going to have to bum a ride to college everyday next fall" Phase. :D

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The few differences between a sidemount i/c and a front mount are: placement, size, efficiency. Because the fmic is directly in the front opening, it tends to get better air flow to it. Plus the bigger design has more air cooling fins than a stock size sidemount i/c, so it could keep the air temp down, even at higher boost levels (over 20psi). Plus, the fmic just looks bad-ass. Just about the only negative thing about it is, that the fmic tends to block cool air from cooling the radiator (depending on fmic design and size), and its efficiency. An in-efficient fmic could drop up to 2 psi of boost across it (you could just turn up 1-2 psi boost with a boost controller;)

The sidemount i/c on the other hand, is compact, out of view, sometimes more efficient (at lower boost). Although it's compact, some sidemounts are very efficient either. Upgraded sidemounts are usually better here.