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lil back ground, I put in a iron block lq4 and forged the all upers, running a f1 procharger rt now at about 12 lbs on dyno and 10ish lbs on the street. I just bought a aster bracket to help with belt slip and thinking about pulleying down to gain some HP. for Poconos in October... (to hang with the big boys) as of rt now the car is running pretty good with meth and twin intercoolers. I have been doing some research on here the past few months trying to decide if I do a A to A intercooler or a A to W. I know people say that the A to W is the way to go but as much as I drive this car I would like less things to worry about failing. So I thinking im going to go with a to a to a FMIC. I have seen a bunch of pictures on here and it seems pretty straight forward.... if anyone has any suggestions that would be awesome.
I'm not one to cheap out on buying good materials for this kind of job but I was wondering if its really worth going w/ a expensive system such as the procharger FMIC over building my own and using a tread stone or Cx racing IC (even thought about ebay). Please let me know what your experience has been with these. If you wanna post pics feel free to show off the handy work. Looking for something around 750rwhp and some room to grow in the future
I'm running the CX racing 31"x12"x4" cooler with a Burkhart chassis bumper support. Then I made my own custom air dam that also supports the bottom of the bumper.
Try n use a bar/plate instead of tube/fin fmic
The bar/plate usually cost more and are heavier. But more efficient.
A very basic ballpark no. A 31x12x4 a/a fmic will support is around 800-850hp
Typical HP ratings on intercoolers are definitely not something people should pay much attention to. Different engines flow different amounts of CFM even at the same power level.
That same CX intercooler has been pushed over 1000whp through an auto trans without lockup. Probably 1200 or so flywheel hp.
Yea I know that bar/plate is the way to go. I guess my point is I don't want to get a CX intercooler kit for $300 off eBay and have to turn around and spend $500 on a Treadstone or Bell etc. in a year or two when I can spend the extra $200 now. I would rather stick with a cheaper set up if I could though that for sure, if possible.
Joe- So you think I could get away with getting a CX Kit and be just find up to say 850-900hp with a M6? or should I just spend the lil extra now?
Yea I know that bar/plate is the way to go. I guess my point is I don't want to get a CX intercooler kit for $300 off eBay and have to turn around and spend $500 on a Treadstone or Bell etc. in a year or two when I can spend the extra $200 now. I would rather stick with a cheaper set up if I could though that for sure, if possible.
Joe- So you think I could get away with getting a CX Kit and be just find up to say 850-900hp with a M6? or should I just spend the lil extra now?
Mark's 7-second Mustang ran one at over 1000 whp on an extremely simple combo. 6.0 block with 4" stroke. 317 heads, stock LS1 intake and throttle, billet single turbo.
I got the same exact intercooler from another ebay supplier for $150.
SC setups aren't like turbos... With most basic turbo setups you can just turn the boost up to compensate for the poor pressure drop across the crap china cores. Sure people ran good numbers with crap intercoolers. They would run better numbers with a good intercooler at the same or less boost. With an RPM dependant supercharged system you really want NO pressure drop across the core. Thats why most of the good SC kits come with awesome intercoolers.
I switched directly from the typical ebay 4" thick cooler pictured above to the 1200hp treadstone core and picked up a ton. I believe the biggest benefit comes from the lower pressure drop across the core. My IAT's were only 10-15* cooler at like boost levels.
If you were to run a garrett core of the same dimensions you'd have close to ambient air temps AND a low pressure drop.
IMO buy the best IC you can afford. In my case that was a TS unit. The garrett stuff is pricey. Look for a used procharger vertical flow IC. I see them pop up alot on ebay and the FS section. The horizontal cores don't flow near as well.
Something like this would be ideal.
Last edited by Forcefed86; Aug 5, 2015 at 06:08 PM.
so if you could forced/joe (or anyone else) would you spend the extra money for a Procharger ic over treadstone??? or save a couple hundred dollars and buy a treadstone. I found one kinda close for $700 like the one above or should i just buy a treadstone for $500
so if you could forced/joe (or anyone else) would you spend the extra money for a Procharger ic over treadstone??? or save a couple hundred dollars and buy a treadstone. I found one kinda close for $700 like the one above or should i just buy a treadstone for $500
Im a pretty serious bang-for-the-buck kinda guy. My recommendation stops at treadstone. Going procharger or garrett or similar isnt going to give you double the efficiency for double the cost.
I was going to buy an eBay intercooler but ive heard good things about treadstone and was reading on a dsm forum that compared the two and it was enough to pull the trigger on the treadstone.what I like about it is it has baffles inside to help direct some airflow to upper part of intercooler
What 2 units are you comparing? Which PC unit VS which TS unit?
Is it one of the big cores like pictured above? If so, for an additional $200 I believe the performance gains are worth it. You literally want no pressure drop across the core with a blower car. Just turning that thing eats up enough power. There’s a reason ProCharger supplies great intercoolers with their kits. If a cheaper core performed as well, they would run them.
I’ve seen the big “race” procharger units in action, they perform much better than my TS unit. I start out heat soaked at 120* or so. And I’ll be at 160ish at 25lbs thru the traps. I’ve seen the big procharger unit start out heat soaked and drop to within 20* of ambient air temps. The Garrett and Procharger units are on a different level IMO. I’ve never finished the ¼ at a lower IAT than I started with.
What 2 units are you comparing? Which PC unit VS which TS unit?
Is it one of the big cores like pictured above? If so, for an additional $200 I believe the performance gains are worth it. You literally want no pressure drop across the core with a blower car. Just turning that thing eats up enough power. There’s a reason ProCharger supplies great intercoolers with their kits. If a cheaper core performed as well, they would run them.
I’ve seen the big “race” procharger units in action, they perform much better than my TS unit. I start out heat soaked at 120* or so. And I’ll be at 160ish at 25lbs thru the traps. I’ve seen the big procharger unit start out heat soaked and drop to within 20* of ambient air temps. The Garrett and Procharger units are on a different level IMO. I’ve never finished the ¼ at a lower IAT than I started with.
How are you measuring the pressure drop across the core ? I'd be interested in measuring this on my CX cooler.
So these two are the two I'm deciding between. Procharger for $700 and the Treadstone $550. I know they are pretty close, just wandering if its worth the $150 difference and a long drive haha.
its a 1300hp rated air to air Procharger intercooler. Dimensions are 27.5x12x4.5 vs Treadstone Performance Intercooler 1300hp •Overall Size 26.50" X 15.00" X 3.50" Core Size 25.00" X 9.00" X 3.50"
How are you measuring the pressure drop across the core ? I'd be interested in measuring this on my CX cooler.
Pressure transducer before the IC is the best way. Then log it and compare it to manifold pressure. I’ve used a cheapo mechanical tire pressure gauge with a peak and hold button as well. Info isn’t as good but it gives you a rough idea.
Originally Posted by lbm13186
So these two are the two I'm deciding between. Procharger for $700 and the Treadstone $550. I know they are pretty close, just wandering if its worth the $150 difference and a long drive haha.
its a 1300hp rated air to air Procharger intercooler. Dimensions are 27.5x12x4.5 vs Treadstone Performance Intercooler 1300hp •Overall Size 26.50" X 15.00" X 3.50" Core Size 25.00" X 9.00" X 3.50"
thanks guys for your input
I'd go with the procharger. It's a better IC. (assuming it fits as mentioned above).
Pressure transducer before the IC is the best way. Then log it and compare it to manifold pressure. I’ve used a cheapo mechanical tire pressure gauge with a peak and hold button as well. Info isn’t as good but it gives you a rough idea.
Might have to give this a try and see what the old ebay special is costing me.
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FMIC guys, need some suggestions 
