Intercooler

[doublebase]

Thinking about getting a bigger intercooler. The one on there now is so small. I read in a magazine that the one that is on it now is to small and limits boost. Anyone know how much a larger one is, where to find it and if its a pain in the ass to install.

 

[TX Speed Demon]

If you do a search for FMIC you'll get lots of tips.

Check out the Vendor/For Sale section too

 

[Kooldino]

Well, the main thing is that you're gonna need custom piping, etc. But you can always go with an aftermarket FMIC upgrade kit such as Spool's (www.spool-turbo.com) or ION Performance. Do a search to see some of the threads for both.

Cost should be in the neighborhood of $1K or so.

 

[Kenetix]

Actually the intercooler stock, is okay size wise but being plastic and all it actually suffers really bad from heatsoak. The placement doesnt help much either.

 

[KyRaceFan]

the IC isnt tiny by any means,its a fatty for sure.
the placing is terrible,and the piping is awful.
ion is still taking orders for their 900 shipped FMIC upgrade, that requires minimal alterations. They did baselines and showed up to a 20hp increase. Not bad at all, and the whole system isnt a bad price at 900 bucks.

 

[DaKidd]

the IC isnt tiny by any means,its a fatty for sure.
the placing is terrible,and the piping is awful.
ion is still taking orders for their 900 shipped FMIC upgrade, that requires minimal alterations. They did baselines and showed up to a 20hp increase. Not bad at all, and the whole system isnt a bad price at 900 bucks.

was that 20hp increase with a stock exhaust and boost level?

 

[CRDMS1]

was that 20hp increase with a stock exhaust and boost level?

Yes, if I can recall the only mod was a K&N filter panel in the stock airbox.

Peace...(hippy)

 

[iON Performance]

Info straight from the horse's mouth

doublebase - if you're interested, we have a few pre-sale spots left 4 are spoken for, 6 left. Details on the thread below. Or feel free to email us.

DaKidd - yup 20whp @ w/o changing the stock boost setting, and only adding a K&N panel filter. When the Greddy EBC was added and set to 8.9psi w/ a 3" cat-back, it made 192.2whp. Charge temps had 40C difference from before the upgrade to after.

http://www.protege5.com/vbb225/showthread.php?threadid=21575&perpage=15&pagenumber=13

 

[brianseto]

K&N PANEL filter

is getting a K&N filter by itself worth it? Seems like a straightforward mod (even for a newbie like me). And it also seems like it's a cheap mod too.

 

[iON Performance]

brianseto - just the convience and cost savings of the filter over time is worth the purchase. If you don't plan on going w/ a CAI, then it's a good purchase. Our FMIC upgrade works with the stock air-box so if you decided to get that, you'd still be able to use the panel filter.

 

[iON Performance]

Just as reference: Comparison between the stock I/C and our stage 1 FMIC:

 

[pluto316]

s***, that like... A lot of times bigger and stuff.

 

[DaKidd]

ION, did ya leave the old IC in there with it, or did u take it out all together? if u took it out, than what did u do about that small radiator and fans?

 

[jroof]

Out of curiosity....has anyone relocated their stock IC with some hard piping and put it up front? Seems like that might be a cheaper alternative to going full aftermarket FMIC and would give a bit of gain.

 

[Tex]

brianseto:
I put the K&N panel filter in, and it made a noticeable difference in the way the car performed, especially off idle.

I also had already installed Joe P's FPR kit, and removed the weatherstripping on the back of the hood. However, past experience with K&N filters leads me to believe that the panel filter and the weatherstripping removal will make you very happy, and they are both very easy mods.

 

[MazdaDryvr]

According to IONs website , they have no products.

 

[iON Performance]

jroof - relocating the stock I/C w/ hard-pipes will only yield a marginal gain. It'll still be prone to heat soak due to the surface area etc.

MazdaDryvr - our site is currently being re-vamped. Hence nothing is on it right now.

 

[iON Performance]

DaKidd -we designed our FMIC so that you either leave in the stock IC, or you can take out the stock IC and stock radiator to put in the normal P5 radiator which is larger

 

[TitaniumSpeed]

If you did remove the stock IC could that possibly leave some good room for a nice ram air section (coming in through the front grill and straight back to the airbox)?

 

[iON Performance]

TitaniumSpeed - yes that could be plausible, however if you did that, a few brackets would need to be fabbed up to hold the radiator & fan etc. Also, being that the stock airbox's inlet size is so small, the "ram-air" affect is basically NIL. Ram air doesn't work so well on forced induction as it does for N/A cars.