My 97 Trans AM doesn't have alot of air flow through the nose (or doesn't seem like it would with only two fog light holes). Anyway, has anyone ever tried trimming the underside of the nose and installing a large FMIC laying flat instead of the usual straight up and down method of mounting? I was thinking about trying it with an OBX intercooler off eBay.

 

I removed the material between the fog lights and reinforced the backside of it w/ some aluminum ribs.

 

I know my intercooler(p600b) was supposed to be horizontal like that with a scoop for air but I never put it on that way. I think it should work although maybe not as efficient as a vertically mounted one.

 

the one thing you want to avoid with heat exchangers is having the fluid move up instead of down or horizontal. Going up against will create a larger pressure drop.

At an old job where we designed heat exchangers, the heat exchangers that had fluid frow vertically (top to bottom like this ||||||||) were just as efficient as the ======= direction as long as you went from top to bottom (ie top right corner to bottom right)

 

I was kinda wondering the same thing....

Ive seen a few people put the FMICs on their F-bodies but Im wondering how efficient it is since there isnt a REALLY good way to get the air to them. Although people with them are reporting really nice IATs.

 

As far as I can tell, it's not a big issue on Camaros and pretty much any other Firebird. It's only the 93-97 Trans AMs that seem to have a real problem. All the other cars have some sort of opening in the front with a grill or something, the 98+ Trans AMs people cut out the license plate holder for additional flow, but they can reinstall the cover and it looks fine. The problem with this car is the only holes in the front clip are for the fog lights, and loosing them isn't an option for me.

http://community.webshots.com/photo/...37061481YMcZgv

 

[QUOTE=Boost It!]the one thing you want to avoid with heat exchangers is having the fluid move up instead of down or horizontal. Going up against will create a larger pressure drop.

Why is that? With only the inlets and outlets reversed, you could see a pressure drop? If so, how different would the air temps be approximately?

Mine goes from bottom to top because of space limitations but I also didn't know about this possible problem.

 

[QUOTE=slimdawson]
will think about it, its going to slow down if it has to go "up"

whens the last time you saw something fall up

 

The fluid we are talking about here is air. Nearly weightless.

 

I think he was talking about heat exchangers like for an air to water intercooler. The fluid in question was water I think. I dont think it would make much difference on an air to air intercooler since the fluid (air) is pressurized and so lightweight.

 

Ok, I see. He was responding to my first post about mounting mine vertically as opposed to horizontally. I meant efficient as in airflow through the intercooler.

 

air, namely compressed air does have mass. it has less momentium due to less mas though.

in any event, dont make things flow up if you dont have to.

 

Well, I picked up an OBX unit today. Should be here early next week. Guess I'll be doing several installs in a short period of time... intercooler, BOV, and an alky kit. No more hot air huffer for me. Now to figure out how to get air moving across the thing.

 

Mounting it horizontal should (in theory)work better than vertical ,especially in stop and go traffic,as it will creat its own darfting effect. Much like the BMW motorcycles with the horizontal heads,these bike will idle for hours at a standstill. With a scoop to help draw air through it while moving it would seem that this would be the best set-up,or if at most tilt of at least 45*or so.

 

i originally had mine set up to use the fog lights. recently i trimmed the nose beneath it and added an air dam similar to the stock one for the radiator. just a small piece straight down. this reduced my AIT by 30 degrees