Actually, you'll want rain to come into the hood scoop. Besides, that what the water spray is for...even for Evos.

 

A little sure wouldn't hurt at all. Evaporation is a cooling process.

I agree the top mount gets the job done just fine, but I also do have to agree that the FMIC is far more efficient despite added piping. It's more exposed and should have more air passing by it than a flat mount. I'm no wind tunnel testing aeronautics engineer, but it seems that way to me anyway.

 

Top mount IC gets heat up from motor, and FMIC reducts cold air to radiator. I guess there is bad for both world.

 

All I can say is the fact when I sit at a light. I can SEE the heat waves just flowing out of the hood scoop. That kinda tells you that the intercooler has all kinds of heat soak... and to get the heat out of there will take at least a few blocks of high speed driving.. So all in all, Subaru has to do better than that stupid top mount intercooler... Mitsubishi rules

 

Heat waves flow out from the front bumper too, I m not saying FMIC is bad, but when you have a FMIC, your radiator will soak from engine and intercooler at the same time.

 

Very true....the FMIC is set right next to the radiator....but....this is kinda of a bad analogy but I am gonna use it. Let say you are camping and you are staying in a cabin on a cold night....you got the fire burnin hot in the fire place. Now let me ask you this..Where would you want to sleep that night on the top or bottom bunk....that is exactly right the top bunk, cause you'll be warmer...Everyone knows this...but heats natural path of travel is up......so the disadvantage of the top mount is that the natural travel of heat is already working against the top mount. This is the benefit of the FMIC...which is a major advantage. The air passing through the FMIC is extracting the heat and guess what the evo has...a hood vent...smart thinking mitsu...and on the subie guess where all that heat goes....right out the top where that stupid top mount is. You also have air trying to come in the top mount opening...so guess what you got turbulence...or resistance...you know what that means...more heat generated..not much but it is still there. I think this issue is one of the major reasons the STI cannot keep up with the EVO...poor designing. Just my 2 cents on the matter

 

Poor designing...come on... I can't believe there are so many tools/haters on this site. I thought it would be all car enthusiasts. Then again, this board is populated by kids who don't know what they are talking about. They put it up there for a purpose. Have you seen a WRC car in real life? The IC is HUGE...which pretty much takes up the entire front fascia. I don't think they intended to put that on regular cars.

Also, your theory on the natural travel of heat only works with the car standing still. It won't work when the car is travelling.

 

YES!!! I have seen the FMIC on the WRC car many many times! Yes I know how it is designed. I probably have 30 pictures of it up on my peg board. You realy can't see the FMIC because it is built at a a slight angle, it is built into a duct area on the front of the car. But please...Don't tell me what I do and don't know, you don't know me. Also watch who you are calling a tool too. I am much older than you think, not some 16 or 17 year old punk kid getting mommy and daddy involved in buying my evo.

Despite what you think..heat is still going to have a natural form of travel despite the car moving or not. It is just the way things are. If you are so smart tell me why subaru has not put this into production!!! the FMIC that is. But please show a little class before you go off and start name calling and make yourself look like the bigger fool in the end...as you say this is a automobile enthusiast site!

 

Also if my theory doesn't work when the car is moving...then why in the hell do they(everyone that owns a wrx) say the top mount IC suffers from heat soak!!!? Uhhhm maybe cause heat rises!!! it would take alot of fairly hard and fast driving to get the heat eliminated from the IC....and if the top mount was such a good design why does the wrc car use a front mount!?

 

Just face it, the TMIC is not that great compared to an FMIC. As Favre said, air coming in through the front and air coming in through the hood scoop causes turbulence. It would be much more efficient to have used an FMIC with a hood vent (such as with the EVO). Don't get me wrong, I like the STi as well. I'm not getting a car for 2 years. So as of right now, I could care less which car is gonna be "better".

 

Like I said before, there is no reason to use a FMIC with the WRX's small turbo, it'll loose power instead. Now, it could help the STi, but I give prop to Subaru for being unique, WRX and STis are known for it's scoop, without it it just wouldn't be right. And I'm pretty sure Subaru's R&D department knows just a little bit more about their cars then all of us here. The WRC car has a turbo the size of your head, that's one of the reason it has a front mount. I'm not saying FMIC is not good, I'm just saying the top mount is good enough for the both the WRX and the STi.

 

I couldn't agree more...the STI is a GREAT car! both cars are great marvels of what man can do. But, my point was only to state the top mount is why the STI lags behind the evo...j-sepc products that is. Notin more.

 

The Subaru WRC car actually have radiator in the bottom and IC on top of the radiator, the don't lay on each other.

 

I couldn't agree more about the TMIC soak heat, but there is also advantage to it, it made possiable to have short piping from turbo to IC to engine, the shorter it is, the better it is.