Has anyone out there ran some kind of aftermarket ducting (possibly custom) to their intercooler for more airflow? I do not wish to really hack up my front bumber, and am concerned that as it is, with holes cut behind my fog lights, and the foam insert peice in the front bumber removed, that my 4 inch front mount intercooler still won't get enough air. I am looking to get more airflow by other means other than to cut anymore out of the front bumper. Does anyone possibly have any pics of air ducting under the front bumper near the air dam?

 

im interested in doing something similar on my TA but for cooling purposes. Keep us posted.

 

I cut a "U" shape about 20 inches wide under the car below the fog lights. I bent it down and made some small brackets to hold it. Basically made a scoop to funnel air toward the intercooler. It is something that could be fixed pretty easy if you ever made any changes or sold the car.

 

Any pics available?

 

pm me your email and i will send pics

 

http://www.jlturbo.com/fmic.htm

 

Thats a nice set of pics of what I DON'T want my front end to look like. Again, I am trying to duct air from underneath, not through the front. BTW, my front mount intercooler is identical to the one in the pics.

 

Heres the intercooler underneath the bumper.

 

Here's a couple pics after the bumper was put back on, and another after the fog lights were put back in. Behind the fogs are the only place I have cut into the front bumper, the rest hopefully can be ducted from underneath. Still looking for pics of how.

 

Well, your front end looks exactly like mine. Mine is sans the foglights, though. Works plenty well, my IATs went from 205 to about 115 or so. I don't have any additional ducting, just the foglight openings.

 

Well, thats good to hear. That would be great if the AIT's were low as it sits now. I won't know for sure for about 2 more weeks when the motor is back in and the blower is on. I have a feeling I may need more though. I am thinking about trying to have some metal ducting pieces fabricated to duct more air up from underneath the front bumper near the air dam. Your AIT's are also directly correlated with how much boost you are running. I plan on running between 12 and 15 pounds. How much boost are you running?

 

I'm running 12 psi. Trust me, the IAT's before the FMIC were hot enough to boil water on contact basically, and I was able to cut them almost in half even on days with similar high humidity and hot temps.

I think the bottom of the front bumper makes enough turbulence to throw a lot of airflow up onto the cooler as it sits. I know what you're saying, though, and I remember seeing a product that was aluminum ducting fabricated into a scoop type shape that would direct air from the bottom of the front bumper up to the radiator/condenser. It would sit about an inch down from the bottom of the fascia, but it wouldn't work with the FMIC as it is obviously a lot closer to the front end than the radiator.

I can't remember what supplier I saw that from, but I'd think you could make something similar yourself out of maybe aluminum used for house air ducting or something like that.

 

I plan on using NACA ducts placed at the outer corners of the nose piece, right in front of the tires, and running 3" flex duct over to the intercooler.

-Shannon

 

The only thing about the flex hose (if we are talking about the same thing) is that I am not certain it will hold together with 100+ MPH winds hitting it head on. Thats why I am leaning towards the solid metal tubing.