As far as welding is concerned. Welding cast isnt much different to other aluminums. Just clean it up with a file and brush it clean with a stainless steel brush.

And no i havnt had it on a dyno. But I have used three different style intercooler set-ups on the stock turbo before this one (making this number 4). And from my own personal experience (my own set-ups and others), this is much better than a front mount. Most front mount "Ebay" intercoolers are poorly designed and hurt flow more than anything. look inside one and compare it to a well designed core and you'll see what i mean. Plus the widely used 2.5" piping hurts power more than it helps. 2.5" is MUCH to large for the stock turbo. again, most people also use a super large intercooler, further hurting the set-up. Now a correctly built V-mount will be better than what i did of course, but i dont see ANY front mount being better than a modified/aftermarket top-mount for the stock turbo.

Remember, one 90* bend is equal to 5' of pipe. Now add up length of pipe and all the bends, and the big core up front wich your air has to force its way through. what does that equal? a turbo that has to work twice as hard to make give the same amount of pressure. and a motor that has to wait twice as long to recieve it...

**also, if anyone was interested in me doing this to your top mount, PM me... thatnks for the idea.




I bought my complete set up for 1000. and at the time, there were atleast 3-4 other equal deals on craigslist. But i did A LOT of searching to find my deal, and i was patient onm finding the right one. If you want something, the deal is out there, you just have to find it.

and just to be clear, im not trying to battle it out with you. but you seem to have a little hater-ade in a lot of your posts. here and other places. never really see anything you like besides what you do... not open to new ideas???

myself personally... im tired of the same old, "just put a TII in it", "put a front mount", "get a GT35", ect. ect. ect.... FC's need a breath of new life. Everyone has the same set-up and the same 400 hp goal. ok i'll stop... im ranting a little here.

with those welding skills you could probably think of a good way to tilt the oil neck to not be as much of an interference.

im with you. i used to have a front mount, 20x9" core wiht about 300whp.. then i picked up a 10AE, didnt feel like cutting it up and just found a deal on an ARC tmic. sure intake temps to go up in boost, and i lost maybe 10-20whp up top, but it makes up for it in torque and throttle response. spool is a lot faster and the intake temps generally stay under 120F, unless you are doing a lot of 1st/2nd gear pulls, like in autox. But on track days it works out great, due to the higher speeds and more flow through the IC.. after 20min sessions, the IC is cool to the touch

Yeah, I was going to use the smaller 12a or renesis one at first and make something cool since they sit much lower. But when i had a FD manifold and TB on, the neck also has to be modified. And this is what i did then, Cut out a small flange and bolt it on. I am going to engrave my little logo in it also, but i havnt yet.

Thats why i add a little water meth! its such a perfect combo!!!

I'm just stating my opinion...
What you think of my opinion, well...

I mention the difficulty in (TIG) welding cast aluminum, because...
I guess you can liken it to welding cast iron, but most weldors will not usually bother TIGing steel / iron - most would either blast it with a MIG or just stick it.
Due to the porous nature of the cast aluminum, TIGing this kinda material is not for the faint hearted or novice.
Blowing holes through cast aluminum, especially of this thickness (thinness? Is that a word?) is very easy, unless you really know what you are doing - you make it sound like any Joe Schmoe off the street can do it?

NO used shit - most expert weldors will agree that used welding equipment is a gamble.
This does not get you a tank - more money to buy or rent one...
Filling the tank with gas - more money...
Cart - well, I guess you can lug the entire welder around if you got the muscles for it...

http://www.millerwelds.com/products/tig/diversion_165/
The website lists it at a little over $1,600.
Looks like Miller dropped the power on their entry-level TIG.
Lincoln used to offer a TIG 175, but they don't list it on their website.
Miller used to have a 180 TIG?
http://news.thomasnet.com/fullstory/15631
But it looks like it got replaced by that 165.
20% rated duty cycle?
Geez...

Got bucks?
Go ESAB...
http://products.esabna.com/EN/home/a...ig_1500i2200i_

Back to the topic...
Seriously...
Not many of us can do such mods on their FC's like this.
That includes me.
That's my point.
Now, if you're going to offer the modded throttle body, couplers, and pipes for like $100?

I don't know why you're arguing about wrong pipe size and such?
That's not my problem.
If you're slapping on bad equipment on your car, it's your fault for doing so.

For the other guy who's claiming an aftermarket top-mount IC is superior...
Give me numbers.
"Cool to the touch after a hard run" doesn't tell me jack shit.

Sorry, I don't believe in butt dynos...
I can make your car "more responsive" just by changing the pressure in your tires.
Get the dyno numbers and we'll see how much of an advantage it is.
Right now, you're just telling us it-just-feels-better?
I'm just telling you to prove it.
Call me hater or whatever, but I wanna see numbers.
Sorry, I'm not into believing every Tom, Dick, and Harry's claims on the InTerNeTz...


-Ted

I couldn't agree with this statement more. I especially hate when people say, I added a Jacob/MSD/Crane CDI box and it's so much more responsive, starts and idles smoother, pulls harder through-out the rpm range blah blah blah blah..... generally what's failed to be mentioned is at the same time the CDI box went on, so did new plugs and wires:banghead: Yet all the credit is given to the CDI box..... I fricken hate that garbage. Show me a back to back dyno run on the same day, with the same map, and the same ambient temps then we'll talk. I say the same holds true for your 4 iterations of intercoolers. Yeah it's nice to be able to say, check it out, look what I did, it's so much more responsive. However, I want to see a back to back to back test of the stock TMIC, a FMIC with a REAL core, and this one. Then we'll actually know for sure.

As for the, cold to the touch after an auto-x run....... show me some datalog's please. I can show mine and I'll tell you exactely what my AIT's were throughout the entire run as well

Data= everything. I'll take one dyno run over a thousand ass dyno's anyday, the same goes for one test result vs a thousand expert opinions.

actually i do have some numbers...


these were posted over on the other forum a while back. Here is the dyno with the front mount.. BNR stage 3, boost turned all the way up, turbo was maxed trying to fill 2.5" piping. my IC piping runs were fairly straight too

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...o1_3_10_08.jpg



and this was with teh stock TMIC at 15psi, i did not have the ARC at this time:

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...7/Jaminrx7.jpg

same setup except for a mild streetport from rx7world. Keep in mind, this is on the dyno with little to no air moving through the IC. and the tune was a lot richer. I am now running the ARC so the numbers should be even better


and it isnt cool to the touch after an autox session, its hot enough to burn you! lol But on track days on a road course it stays cool when you are actually at decent speeds. autox doesnt really work well with tmic location, not enough air flow

sent2to, sorry dont mean to jack your thread, but i think this is relevant

The only problem I have for dyno runs comparing TMIC's and FMIC's is that the TMIC will lose some of it's advantage due to heatsoaking, sincce the car is not in motion.

A big fan doesn't help the situation that much either.

Personally, I'd like to give the TMIC a little bit of love, since I never stoplight race or drag race anyone. I'm usually on the track if anything. For an AutoX, I'd still run a VMIC or a FMIC because of the staging time, unless you're spraying something to cool down the intercooler before you start.

I'd find an aftermarket hood that has an even larger surface area (Anyone have measurements on the Odura/Odula or Knight Sports hoods) and use a larger intercooloer like the ARC, HKS or RE 1.5 to help with the cooling capacity.

You can always overcomplicate the system by using nitrous sprayers on the TMIC when staging, then using water and meth to further cool the charge. That should easily combat heatsoak, it's just annoying to do for a street car.

And nitrous is illegal almost anywhere on any autox/racetrack.

:lol:
Off topic:
This is a local (VA/MD) shop that sells the 165 http://brwelder.com/indextemplate.cf...&SubCategory=3
Looks like they're redoing their site though.

I wasn't really talking about you, but since you asked...


What FMIC was this?
Do you ahve pics of the pipe routing?
How much boost was it making - I don't know what "boost turned all the way up" means.

Again, this doesn't mean jack unless you give me numbers...

Again, this doesn't mean jack to me...


-Ted

Really...
This is unfair.
Cause this doesn't help me IN HAWAII.

When I was down in Sac, I was surprised how discounted the welders were.
Well, it shouldn't be, cause any "industrial" town would generate a lot more competition due to sales.
This kinda stuff really pissed me off, cause it almost always doesn't apply to me in Hawaii.
The local authorized Miller and Lincoln shops all charge close to full MSRP on their welders.
Don't even ask how much tanks / gas / accessories cost...

And, no, I'm not flying down there just to buy me a welder.

For me, it's still going to end up costing over $2,000 for an entry-level TIG, tank, gas, cart, and consumables.

I'd still like to be cool like Jesse James and use ESAB products...
*sigh*


-Ted

Ted, any ideas for a better way to simulate the airflow of car in motion besides the big fan?

It would give more accurate numbers in the TMIC vs. FMIC debate.

I suppose you're just SOL Ted. Sorry. Maybe when I make it rich I'll pay the shipping fee for the 37 lbs TIG.... (just to add insult to injury: They offer free shipping....for the lower 48 states)

The best bet for simulating motion of a car is using a fan. There is no substitute besides just driving the car. And even that will be prone to error.

You can do what we've done on dyno days here. Grab a piece of cardboard and make "hood scoop" for the IC. Stick a big squirell cage fan on the rad support and you have a nice air flow into the IC and about as close as you'll get to simulating it being on the road - as far as flow through the core is concerned.

i have a few questions for the OP-
would you be willing to do this for some one else?
if so, would you charge? how much?
what all would you want me to send to be modified?
thanks