How-to 10-15WHP dyno proven For Free.

[MazdaSteve3]

I just had a look at the intercooler cover, and I think you have probably hurt your on-road performance. It looks like the cover is designed to fit closely around the finned core of the ic and direct all of the air through the core, and prevent the air from flowing around the outside of the intercooler. On the underside of the cover, there are foam strips that seal along the end caps. There is no foam along the left and right sides, but it is a close fit, and there isn't much gap. Air flowing through the core is good, air going anywhere else, not as good.

You may have indeed improved cooling on the dyno. If your hood was up and no air was being forced through the core, then exposing the end caps of the ic might allow a relatively significant increase in cooling. If you had a box fan on top of the ic, cooling would have also been improved, since the fan is plenty large and there would be some cooling of the end caps in addition to the air flowing through the core.

There may yet be some opportunity here, though. The grille opening stops 1" short of the back end of the core, and 3/4" short of the front end of the core. These areas of the core aren't sealed off, just covered. Also, there is some small restriction to flow from the grille mesh itself. It appears that Mazda was trying to make the ic look more square by shortening the length of the opening and visually increasing the width with the 1/2" wide strip of fake grille on the driver's side, and cooling may have been sacrificed a bit. There may be some on-road performance to be gained by cutting out the mesh (but leave the fake strip, even though it is ugly) and extending the opening to the front and back up to the end caps. Sealing the left and right sides with foam might help as well. It may also be possible that this decrease in resistance to flow might be negligible in comparison to the small area of the ducting inlets. Hard to say. Happy modding!

 

[Aaron@JSC]

This is interesting, I never realized that people were getting their cars dynoed with the IC cover still on--all of my dynos have been with the IC cover off.

 

[Bravnik]

Well normally I run with my IC cover on and have even dyno'd with it on in all of my Dyno's. Normally after a nice drive home my TMIC is hot to the touch. Today after I got to work I popped my hood and felt the IC. Cold. Ice Cold. This is with the cover off.

Because DH is tweaking the BAT in their latest release, I'm not sure if I can get an accurate reading till they get it fully tweaked. But cold to the touch vrs hot can only mean cooler. At least to me.

 

[aaronc7]

^^ when you can get actual numbers it would be interesting to compare with it on and off..man i wish I had a DH lol

 

[Darkhorse]

THIS IS VERY TRUE. Just had the car dyno'd myself and gains are exactly what he's saying. the plastic IC cover actually acts as a seal for all that heat and acutally heatsoaks the ic. You beat me to this.

Don't ask me for numbers at current moment but i'll post them up later. Reason being, the car was being tested *****(not at liberty to say) and the techs were talking to me about the IC cover and how crazy it was after they took it off and tried.

This was done to just crunch up stock numbers and somehow they came up with the idea to see what happens when the plastic peice is off. go figure..

numbers will be up later.

 

[slo4now]

Its easy to see an improvement on a dyno, was the hood open and fans
blowing air directly on the motor or was this tested with the hood closed
and no fans.
I think the best test results would be at the track with similar launches,
shifting at same RPM and checking the MPH.
I am going to try this in about 2-3 weeks.


This is a good find and worth testing.

 

[stephani3]

subbing

 

[Darksun280]

because a fmic and removing a piece of shrouding are two COMPLETELY different things

1. fmic removes the heatsoak issues
2. fmic can flow air differently
3. fmic can flow more air or less air (both have advantages/disadvantages)
4. fmic is getting air directly on it from the motion of the car

there are plenty of HUGE factors into why a fmic can cause a 30hp increase over the factory tmic, just like how the aftermarket tmic can also see increases....the shroud covering being remove does not affect any of the factors that the new tmic/fmic setup affects (airflow/volume/size/etc...)

it is possible that the intercooler was able to cool better, but until we see dyno proven numbers (this thread claims them, yet doesnt supply pics) or even better yet time slip numbers....I wouldnt go cutting up your nice intercooler shrouding just yet ;-)

add to the fact that A FMIC is good for that much hp on this car because it actually raises the stock boost of the car vs the stock restrictive Top mount.

 

[Darksun280]

THIS IS VERY TRUE. Just had the car dyno'd myself and gains are exactly what he's saying. the plastic IC cover actually acts as a seal for all that heat and acutally heatsoaks the ic. You beat me to this.

Don't ask me for numbers at current moment but i'll post them up later. Reason being, the car was being tested *****(not at liberty to say) and the techs were talking to me about the IC cover and how crazy it was after they took it off and tried.

This was done to just crunch up stock numbers and somehow they came up with the idea to see what happens when the plastic peice is off. go figure..

numbers will be up later.

Its only cause your on a dyno. On the road with forced air over the Top mount the gains would be the same. I think Mazda USA is retarded but Engineers in general think about design s*** like that way before you even heard about the MS3.

 

[slo4now]

add to the fact that A FMIC is good for that much hp on this car because it actually raises the stock boost of the car vs the stock restrictive Top mount.

I dont think it will raise your stock boost, in fact you might lose a little
boost because of the extra space and piping involved.

 

[Mid_Life_Crisis]

add to the fact that A FMIC is good for that much hp on this car because it actually raises the stock boost of the car vs the stock restrictive Top mount.

Pretty much any aftermarket intercooler is going to be an improvement over the restrictive factory IC, front or top mount.
The gain isn't due to boost increases. With all else the same, the boost control system (factory or aftermarket) is going to control the max boost regardless. It might spool up a bit differently due to reduced restriction, but peak boost levels being held (not the spike - note I said held) shouldn't change. The gain is because with the reduced restriction, you are moving more air at that same boost level.

 

[john blutarski]

The car will not raise boost over ECU controlled however with lower IAT's comes less knock correction so essentially you'll get more consistent boost then you used to in certain conditions.

 

[Mid_Life_Crisis]

The car will not raise boost over ECU controlled however with lower IAT's comes less knock correction so essentially you'll get more consistent boost then you used to in certain conditions.

True enough, that is another source of power gain. I still think the reduced restriction is the greatest source, but I shouldn't have forgotten the detonation reduction due to the lower IAT. In addition, the lower IAT means a denser charge, which is one more indication of more air going into the engine.

 

[Darksun280]

The car will not raise boost over ECU controlled however with lower IAT's comes less knock correction so essentially you'll get more consistent boost then you used to in certain conditions.

What are you talking about everyone and there mother who got a FMIC kit said there boost went up cause of it. The stock Boost control system will boost cut you over a certain amount of boost but it doesn't mean the car wont be able to hit X amount of boost. don't compare this car to other cars. Like Srt-4s when they get a Fmic there boost drops but it more efficient power. It doesn't work that way on this car. Add an intake and FMIC and watch your boost jump 3+ psi......

 

[Darksun280]

also it may have to do with the maf size of the FMIC kit. ONe guy loosh gained back boost he got by switching to a bigger top mount by going down from a 3inch maf housing to a 2.6. Why I have no idea but it happened.

 

[Mid_Life_Crisis]

What are you talking about everyone and there mother who got a FMIC kit said there boost went up cause of it.
.
The stock Boost control system will boost cut you over a certain amount of boost but it doesn't mean the car wont be able to hit X amount of boost.
.
Add an intake and FMIC and watch your boost jump 3+ psi......

Read your second statement. Exactly! the stock system is capable of reaching what the boost control system considers to be "max boost". Add any component you can think of without changing that "max boost" target and other than the initial spike, boost will not hold higher. It cannot. The boost controller will back it down. These claims of higher boost are from the initial (and something nearly everyone tries to eliminate) spike increasing.

Based on your own statement, your first and third statements are impossible.

 

[john blutarski]

Read your second statement. Exactly! the stock system is capable of reaching what the boost control system considers to be "max boost". Add any component you can think of without changing that "max boost" target and other than the initial spike, boost will not hold higher. It cannot. The boost controller will back it down. These claims of higher boost are from the initial (and something nearly everyone tries to eliminate) spike increasing.

Based on your own statement, your first and third statements are impossible.

This is exactly what I was trying to say. The stock ECU map has a max boost target. It won't just keep increasing boost as you add parts. However it may add timing from lower IAT's, less knock etc.... there is so much more to making power than just the damn boost level.

 

[Darksun280]

We'll back to the original comment I replied to, boost is boost so if the FMIC causes a higher spike and it reads as more HP on the dyno thats that. Just cause its a spike doesn't mean it don't count. more boost is more boost weather it holds for 1 second or 4.

 

[ResilientMike]

When I go in for my pre-intake dyno, I will test this and post numbers/video. Also, I'll hit the track to practice my launches and try to make some consistent runs to see if there is any on-road changes. Subbed.

 

[lestat13]

Not trying to be an asshole, but back on topic...

In a real world driving situation, will the intercooler cover cutting mod actually increase power (presumably by reducing heatsoak)? Did we come to an agreement that taking the cover off completely is detrimental for performance?