Pondering an upcoming turbo swap on my GXL... I'm curious if I HAVE to have a T2 hood to use the top mount Mazda intercooler. Is it just a clearance issue? Could that be resolved by doing the decapitator hood shimming? OR will it not get enough airflow without the scoop and overheat? I have read on here before that the scoop is in a low pressure zone and really has no or little affect on the intercooler.

Correct me if I'm wrong please. I'm here to learn...

 

it would heatsoak so fast it would be pointless. you can front mount the TMIC though.

 

Put the intercooler in a front mount location and get longer piping. It will work better in that location. In the future upgrade to a larger front mount.

 

As far as intercoolers go and piping... What would you recommend from say... ebay?

Are the ebay pipe and front mount kits ok? Which would you recommend or not recommend?

I think I'm now considering just throwing it in my 79...

Is relocating the battery a MUST for front mounts?

BTW I don't plan on upping the boost any. I want to just have the stock setup with intake and exhaust for reliability and longevity. I'd be very happy with 200 horsepower in a 2200 pound car.

 

most ebay intercooler kits are fine. i havent had any experience with the piping. battery relocation isnt always necessary but you will probably need to do some cutting.

 

eBay kit from seller "ilovetacotaco" It was like 150$. All you have to do is cut your **** to length and make two holes, one under where the stock airbox was and one under the battery.

I kept: Stock charge pipe, Battery, Front bumper support
I could have kept: PS/AC if I had it

 

Front mounted mine with all ebay ****. Piping, couplers, clamps and intercooler its self. I did relocate battery, you dont have to though. I also knotched shock tower to clear 2.5" piping for power steering assembly.

Make sure you get t bolt clamps with your ebay kit. I front mounted a buddy of mines mazdaspeed3 and his kit did not come with them. Made it undriveable because they will constantly blow off.




John ny

 

The ilovetacotaco kit comes with t-clamps, couplers, and all sorts of different piping finishes and sizes. I had to relocate one of the trailing coil packs to the shock tower if you can see in the picture.

John, what turbo are you running? I experience significant lag with 2.5" on stock turbo (But I am upgrading soon).

 

Stock......and yeah its more laggy than than a grandma with shingles. Origional plan was and still is to bnr stage 3 it. Just gotta get my money back up, college is killing me financially and pretty much halted progress on car. Ultimately will have bnr upgrade, 720cc secondaries, rtek 1.7 and 9 or so psi. Then either na rear axles, driveshaft or trans will go.

So this isnt a total thread jack, you can find a universal front mount intercooler for 80.00, and piping for 90 or so. It is probably better to go with the i love taco kit (whatever that is, assuming it is quality) for that price.

Good luck with the build.

john ny

 

I think it would be pointless to put a top mount with no airflow thru it. you would eventually overheat.

 

i would say with out the TII hood you may as well just take off the stock tmic if you were to leave it in the stock location.

 

Well then sell your car because you will never get it to be that light.

 

have you thought about converting the original intercooler to water to air intercooler setup.

its been done before.

less piping etc so less lag

keeps it stealth looking as there is no huge *** intercooler infront of the radiator helping to overheat the engine either

the secret to a W2A setup is having a decent size radiator just for the cooler.

setup an electric water pump and thermo and set the pump to work on positive pressure in the manifold via a pressure switch controlling a relay to run the pump.

temp switch for cooler to trigger thermo..

just my 2 cents

 

some related info on water to air setups

http://www.ausrotary.com/viewtopic.p...st=0&sk=t&sd=a

http://ausrotary.com/viewtopic.php?f...st=0&sk=t&sd=a


google is your friend. there is a wealth of knowledge on it that have run and tested it.


here is a setup although i doubt it worked that well due to radiator size and lacking thermo fan cooling

 

...???

I was referring to putting it in my 79 in my 2nd post. Sorry if I was confusing. SA's are 2300 pounds from the factory. I have removed AC and the HEAVY stock exhaust, wheels, and spare tire. Not to mention the rest of the emissions garbage so I'm in the 2200 pound range on it. I just hate 12as.

Although my GXL is currently in the 2450 range. 2625 factory weight? Minus the weight for swapping an aluminum hood, vert BBS and lighter tires, cat back exhaust, AC and PS removal, simplified intake, emissions removal, AAS removal, sound tar, factory audio amps removed, rear wiper removed, front and rear wiper tanks and fluid removed, manual window and mirror conversion, lighter weight interior from an 87 Sport model etc etc etc...

And yes the carpet and non adjusting seats out of the 87 had to weigh at least 15 pounds less total than the GXL units.

 

Thanks for all the info guys btw.

 

ebay couplers are horrible, get real stuff from Vibrant Performance

 

In that case, what size would work better? Larger, smaller?

 

So for stock turbo (if you plan on sticking with it) I would only go 2". Hell I probably would stay TMIC even. That is an opinion, I have no experience other than these three setups...

Stock 2" TMIC: stock lag
2.5" FMIC: noticeable small increase of lag at same boost level
3.0" FMIC: is this car even boosted??

I bought 2.5" for my stock turbo because I have a bnr 2 (see avatar) waiting to go in. Hoping for a tad over 300.

Edit: I'm also aware that "lag" can be used multiple ways (both correctly and incorrectly) and that hopefully you get what I'm trying to say.

 

the stock topmount heatsoaks so fast that i doubt you will see much difference with or without a scoop. maybe ill get a pyrometer and do some testing with the tmic and stock vs turbo hoods. i cant imagine that tiny *** scoop is going to be life or death but then again, heat is the insane maniac bastard that will cut your rotaries throat when it sleeps and not even feel guilty about it.

 

I know air flow is crucial. BUT I have read on here that the scoop is in a very low pressure zone for air travel. I think the thread had to do with turning the scoop into a ram air vent for the intake. It's just my thought that if your not driving the **** out of it all the time it should be ok.

If I drove it with a TMIC and NA hood it would only be for enough time to save money for a T2 hood. I'd probably take my old steel hood and cut a hole in it for temporary driving.

 

if you remove the heat shielding from the IC you could probably get away with ONE night boosting with your n/a hood popped without breaking your windshield. after that it's a gamble lol.

 

ill do whatever it takes to buy that. damnit. ive been talking about this forever yet only person ive seen do it is BDC.

 

its not hard man.

you just goto a fabricator and ask them to seal the cooling air passage on the intercooler for water.

the only thing i would do is put the radiator cap on the top of the cooler to make sure it doesnt get an air pocket. then use an expansion container like a normal radiator does to allow for temp changes/expansion contraction in the water system.

use glycol as well.

get a custom front radiator made or find a suitable radiator from a car at the wreckers.

water storage of the "cooling core" should be atleast 2 to 3 times the intercooler water jacket capacity (the more the better).

get the radiator for the intercooler modded to take the radiator cap mount off (if its a wreck donor) as the highest point for the water jacket of the water to air system will be the intercooler which is why it has the radiator cap mount in the top of it.

then mount intercooler radiator with a thermo fan that covers the core infront of the engine radiator area
(this by no means will upset the original radiator near as much as a FMIC as the core is thinner so it wont hinder air flow to the engine radiator and less temps will come from the new radiator so heat soak wont be an issue as well).


then plumb in the water pump on the intake water port of the intercooler.
this is so the pump doesnt get to much hotter than it should if it was from the hotter water on the exhaust side of the water jacket of the intercooler.
all hose sizes are the same as the input and output fittings of the water pump.


the control circuit for this (if no ecu to control it) -

mount 2 adjustable temp switch in the water jacket of the exhaust side of the water jacket of the intercooler. each temp switch controls a relay

number 1 temp sensor is set to a lower value (*) to trigger the relay for the intercooler water pump.
this is better than a pressure switch as the water is circulated as the intercooler needs it to start getting temps down as aposed to boost pressure turning it on.
this also combates heat soak.

number 2 adjustible temp switch is set at a higher value (*) to trigger the relay for the intercooler thermo. for obvious reasons.



the control circuit with aftermarket ecu -

put new ecu water temp sensor in intercooler water jacket on exhaust side and connect to an input of the ecu that will handle this function.

then use 2 outputs to trigger the relays. one for water pump and one for thermo on intercooler radiator. then set the temp paramiters through the ecu like explained above.


note (*) temp setting will need to be played with to see what works best for the pump and thermo to ossolate (ie turn off) for periods of time as they shouldnt be running all the time with a properly designed system

 

Yes, the thread was probably in reference to ram air, which should be of no concern to you. The stock scoop works just fine, as is proven by the typical 100,000-150,000 mile life of the engine. The main problem with the stock system is the inefficient outlet of the intercooler. The advantage of the stock system is the short tubing length and small core size which minimizes pressure loss and helps response.

You can just cut a hole in the steel FC hood and install an aftermarket or junk yard scoop. The inlet hole of the scoop should be about 1/4 the area of the intercooler core.
http://members.tripod.com/~grannys/mazdarx8.html

- The stock scoop inlet is the correct size for the stock intercooler core.
- If you really want to test the system you will need two IAT gauges and two pressure gauges with a precision of at least +/-0.05 psi. The pyrometer will give you misleading readings. Incorrect measurements that seem technically correct to laymen are one of the prime reasons for misinformation on the internet.
- The significance of under-hood temperatures is hugely exaggerated by aftermarket automotive 'performance' parts salesmen who are after your money.

The air-liquid intercooler isn't such a great idea for the average forum member. An air-liquid intercooler is really intended for applications in which an air-air intercooler will not fit well. Also, an air-air intercooler core is not the greatest design for use in an air-liquid intercooler application which works better with a properly designed core.