F8L Z71

Ok, finally got my OBX FMIC installed yesterday.

Took a lot more fab work than I thought but it was all actually quite easy the way it went together but had it not been for Rick at Synergy Motorsports it could have been a lot worse. That guy gets INTO his work. I think he actually got a stiffy when he seen how the piping would go together so easy. Hahaha

Anyway. We removed the lower air dam to give us some room to work and quickly realized this IC is too long to tuck between the frame rails and would block flow to the radiator if we mounted it behind the grille. So we ended up notching the frame with a plasma cutter which created a slot for the IC to slide up into and tuck high enough so that when the airdam is on it wont hang below it.



We then made simple mounting tabs for the IC. There are 2 smaller pieces then welded onto the bottom of these brackets to create an L shapre with a hole on the bottom to screw the IC to.


Here is the IC mounted into place rock solid. My buddy that came down for the install was almost literally hanging from the ends and it wouldn't budge.


Here is the intake piping on the passanger side of the motor. We simply adapted new piping onto the original STS piping that came up from the wheel well.


Here is the driverside piping.


Passanger side piping


Exit piping with MAF sensor and ALKY injection leading to TB.


With the airdam back on. I kinda want to cut out part of the center piece for better airflow and to see the cooler better..


Now for the results of our labors.

We took the truck out for some street tuning with a wideband O2 and some diagnostic software. Ambient temps were about 70deg at this time. We noticed that sitting idling the IATs were at about 104deg. As soon as we rolled onto the street which took all of about 30sec we had already dropped to 90deg or so and once we got rolling at 40mph they dropped to 82deg. Cruising around my static IAT seemed to stick at about 10deg over ambient. Prior to the IC my IATs were 120deg no matter if I was on the freeway cruising or what.

We started testing at low boost which was 6psi prior to the IC install. At WOT the boost needle would move around A LOT more than it used to. It used to just come right up and stick at a # and never move till I lifted. Now the needle would jump up to about 4psi and maybe slide up to 5psi or hit 5psi rigth after a shift but then settle back to 4psi. IATs temps rose to no more than 88deg after a 20mph-100mph run. Funny thing is that with the now much cooler IATs the 4psi felt at least as good if not better than 6psi without the IC. IATs on 6psi before the IC were 140-160deg.

From there we tried high boost which was set at 11psi solid before the IC. In high boost I only saw 8psi now with occasional quick spikes of 10psi depending on gear and shifts. My 8psi now felt better than the 11psi I had before. Woot! So we did a BUNCH of 25-100mph runs while data logging and tuning. We were getting ZERO KR. IATs were still in the low 90s at the end of a full run and then drop like a friggin rock after lifting. I swear it would take maybe 20sec before I would drop 10+deg of IAT. IATs at 11psi before the IC were 190deg avg.

So now we decided to up the boost. We eventually got it to 12-13PSI before we got any hint of KR and we were not even sure if it was simply from being too rich in 3rd gear. The wideband was showing 10.8 AFR in 3rd gear in high boost. We dropped timing to about 16deg or so and would only get the KR every once in awhile and didn't look to be form going lean at all. We decided to leave everything right there and just run it a tad rich since the area I live in is always much more hot than the Bay Area and I wanted some safety. On the 12-13psi runs form 25-100mph I maxed out with 107deg IATs!!! The really creazy thing is that prior to the IC install my IATs at 13psi were 240deg which even the methanol couldn't fix.

One interesting note. The truck ran leaner at 4psi than it did at 13psi and ran richer overal when doing a 4wd run. We decided to tune it for high boost and in 2wd since that's how most of my racing will be done and it keeps me safest overall.

In all I am VERY pleased with this IC and the work done at Synergy Motorsports. My truck pulls like a monster now (for a big truck) and I even got to totally humilate a poor 96-98 Mustang GT on the freeway on the way hime. Poor sap tried to do a fly-by on me. He started about 4 car lengths back and floored it. By the time I realized what he was doing my buddy yelled "nail it!" so I look over and he blows by me so I mash it and he already has 5 cars on me by the time boost builds but as soon as it does I know he is in trouble. I start catching up faster and faster and by about 125mph-130mph (guessing from how long we had my 100mph speedo pegged) I was blowing by him FAST so I lifted just as I passd him so he could hear the turbo flutter . He didn't look too happy and vered off the next exit really fast. LOL

NOTFAST

iTrader: (10)

any front pics of the truck with front clip on?

F8L Z71

My batteries ran out before we finished up but I promise I will get one here in the next few hours after the batteries charge and I wake up enough to actually venture into the light of day. LOL

Funny thing is that I only saw maybe a 2deg difference between having the airdam on or off. The aridam looks very restrictive to air to the IC but appearently it's not. *shrug*

frcefed98

iTrader: (16)

Not bad for a OBX FMIC huh?
Looks like the ol STS kit is loving that thing and for 275 you can't beat it.
J

S_J_H

Wow,more excellent data for this OBX unit.
I don't know who makes these OBX units, Are they built by another company and just renamed or is OBX some new company? whatever the case I am sure impressed with the quality of mine for only 275$!

These units are quality built and not some sort of cheapie. Looks like a real deal of a unit for the guys in the power range for which it is intended.
So far everybody running one has had great results which is all that really matters.
You say you used to see 11psi a 190' IAT without the intercooler and with the OBX FMIC you saw 8psi at only 90'.
Well that boost drop is not from intercooler restriction at all. 100'F drop in charge temp will cause a 3+psi pressure drop as you increased it's density.
I would say it is very efficient.

Steve

F8L Z71

Ohh yeah

whether the boost drop is from filling the massive IC or temp drop or just because mother natures has a sense of humor I don't know and really don't care too much. The IAT drop was incredible to me and woth every penny spent. I mean when we tried to run 13psi a couple weeks ago the IAT was 240deg and even the methanol wasn't cooling it down enough to make any more real power. Last night at 13psi (15psi spike durring a shift) we peaked out at 107deg IAT at the end of the 0-108mph run AND within moments of lifting off the the throttle the IATs started dropping fast. We drove for maybe 1/8th of a mile further to pull into the parkinglot and it had already dropped to 90deg then moments later was at 83deg give or take a couple deg due to memory error

CHRISPY

that is great news!

Are you hitting a dyno/track soon?

frcefed98

iTrader: (16)

SJH, from what I was told from the local import parts place, is that OBX is a "re"boxer. They buy stuff or have it made overseas for cheap, label the box their own or have their name put on the piece being made. All I know is my car runs stronger than it ever has and after a trip from work to home, the FMIC is cold on the outlet side and only luke warm on the inlet side, my car is breathing nice cold boost. All I need is my 60'lb mototrons and i'm ready to crack into the 10's. Hope you see the same results as everyone else.

F8L Z71, I forgot to mention that how you have it set up looks very aggressive. Nice job.
J

MYTURBOT/A

How much HP is that intercooler good for? I was looking at them before but couldn't really find any info on what they'll support. Great results though.

F8L Z71

Thanks for the responses

I thought I read somewhere that the IC is good for 800HP but I could be mistaken. It is definately large though.

I don't think I'll be hitting a dyno anytime soon as I never have the greatest results on them and I like track results much better

I was OMW to the track just now but it is crazy windy outside and the track is reporting 24mph headwinds which coupled with the 84deg temps wont make for any good runs. I promise I'll get to the track soon though.

For those wanting to see it with the airdam back on I posted the pic in my first post in this thread. I think I can make it look more agressive but it is mainly for looks since having it on vs off like in the other pic didn't really do much.