When I was running pump/race gas I went out and bought an ETS 3.5" FMIC. The thing is a beast both in mass and weight. However the other day I decided to yank the ETS FMIC to give it a good cleaning. I also decided to make no changes other than put the stock FMIC back on and log a pass.

The results were actually in favor of the stock FMIC. The car spooled slightly faster and made the same HP at 30psi. I made a couple back to back pulls each pull was as consistent as the last.

I'm starting to wonder if an aftermarket FMIC is even needed. Has anyone done more extensive testing?

 

I've always wondered this as well. I also bought a 3.5" ETS intercooler before switching to E85. The cooling properties of E85 are pretty good. I think people will say that the larger intercooler provides more benefits for endurance applications like road racing, but this will definitely be an interesting test.

Btw, how much faster did it spool up? When I switched intercoolers, mine did not slow spool at all.

 

Most dedicated drag cars that are running some form of alcohol don't use an intercooler. I've contemplated taking mine off for weight savings, just haven't gotten around to it.

 

Check your air temps comming into the intake mani and then tell me it made no difference. With a stock fmic and the larger ets you can't tell me there the same.

 

What about heat soak

I run a Nisei 3.75" competition FMIC & will not look back

 

You have to remember the thing about fmics. They all have a different use being bar and plate and tube and fin. They both have advantages and disadvantages. For most of us bar and plate Garrett cores work the best. Our stock intercoolers are tube and fin which work extremely well for daily driving useage. They also work extremely well for road racing.

 

The spool was just faster to reach psi levels. More noticeable in an excel spreadsheet with side by side columns. I could feel the difference in transition but didn't see much of a difference on the dyno.

I think I'm going to keep the stocker on for now and try to offload my 3.5" as it may very well be overkill even for road racing ... I mean drag racers crank the boost to 30psi but road racers normally keep them under 25psi. I've checked my FMIC right after a session and honestly it's not even hot to the touch. I'm not sure what my intake temps are after the turbo. Is there a hack for that in the stock ecu?

 

If your worried about cooling/ait temp why not go with an alcohol injection setup such as the Devils Own Kit?

 

Bringing this thread back to life. Interested in the E85 route/stock I/C results.

 

I think you will see a benefit with larger FMIC with constant heat cycling like on a roadcourse. Three passes does not mean much in the grand scheme of things. Log the difference with 20 minutes of boosting in 100 degree heat and I think a bigger IC will make a difference.

 

could be tons of things that made it spool quicker, but the biggest one would be the AFR curve changing from the ets to the stocker. e85 responds very weird when it comes to afr and spool. theres multiple ways with e85 to achieve a fast spool.

now looking at the ets 3.5 vs the stock FMIC, the stock FMIC will have less pressure drop since its a smaller intercooler, so in that regard it has the advantage, but cooling wise, its a joke. the ets 3.5 will destroy it in every aspect.

e85 is like a liquid intercooler per say due to its cooling properties, so you wont see a huge impact as you would on 93oct for example.

the ets 3.5 will destroy the stock fmic though in general on any fuel.

my advice: fmic should be one of the first things to change on the car. on 93oct it is a major bottleneck in producing power.

 

yes good example. the stock fmic will definitely heatsoak before a aftermarket one such as the ets 3.5" fmic.

the reason he got away with the results he did, was because of the turbo size and running e85. if he put 93 in the car, he would lose power for sure and detonate if it was tuned for the larger fmic cooling capabilities.

 

I'm very curious on this, care to explain?

 

my friend makes 430 on a dynapack with his stock fmic at 32psi. evo 8 with 9 ported turbo. he doesnt track, but swears heat soak doesnt happen with e85

 

If that were true then there would be no reason for aftermarket intercoolers. Everyone making real power would still be on the stock one