Best front mount intercooler for the dollar

[Super6]

RJC get my vote............

 

[montecarlofast]

RJC lists 2 intercoolers on Their website The IC375 which is for street applications, and the IC475 which is for strictly Drag Racing. +1 for the RJC

 

[Brasco]

I appreciate all the help and i new it was going to get beaten to death. I was just curious to see what many of the guys(girls) out there prefer. I do have a st car but i do plan on putting as much boost thru it as possible. Since i am using it on the st. i wanted something that looked good and wasnt so big it added any lag. I have a SL IC with a modded neck that i feel works ok but theres room for bigger just didnt want to go soooo big that it was a overkill and started to hurt the performance.
Thanks again Donny

 

[jdpolzin]

Might be hard to find but I really like the quality of my CAS V2 front mount IC. The craftsmanship is excellent, turbo spools great, looks awesome! Good quality product in my opinion. Never had an overheat issue and my car is a street car. I have ran it with many different turbo/convertor combos and it works great with all of them. --------Jeremy

 

[KILL4PEACEUSMC]

I acually have an old skool Duttweiler's FMIC If I had the money I would Buy one from Jack.

 

[bison]

Just wanted to here what your opinions were on which front mount might be better for performance, quality, fitting, and of course the all mighty dollar. Im sure its been discussed a thousand times so i apologize in advance for bringing it up again.

For what hp level? I see all these rec but dont see much legitimate reasoning. The best would be the one that gets you within 30 degrees of ambient with as little pressure drop as possible and is the lightest.

 

[79TurboCutlass]

I like my Powerstroke FM. It fits really nice on my Cutlass. You have to do more cutting to get it in the Regal though.

 

[Brasco]

Bison, not sure on excatly how much hp, I would like to guess 550+. Is it as easy to just click buy on any vendors site and just expect that its going to work the best? If that was the case why are there so many different shapes and sizes and for that matter prices on them. And you talking about pressure loss and ambient temp brings up good points for me to ask which FMIC do you guys feel work best , fit and finish and price point out there.

 

[bison]

Bison, not sure on excatly how much hp, I would like to guess 550+. Is it as easy to just click buy on any vendors site and just expect that its going to work the best? If that was the case why are there so many different shapes and sizes and for that matter prices on them. And you talking about pressure loss and ambient temp brings up good points for me to ask which FMIC do you guys feel work best , fit and finish and price point out there.

I have experience with the Precision unit and the G-Body unit. Both perform nearly identical. There is little benefit form a bigger core than those on a car making less than 700hp imo. Bigger = heavier and usually more $. Used intercoolers are a great deal also because they dont really wear out since the only thing moving in them is the air. You cant go wrong with any of the ones mentioned.

 

[Scott Atk]

I run the RJC 475 (the thick one) on the street all the time. No problems with overheating. I do not run air conditioning though.

 

[Brasco]

Thanks Bison always there to help out.

 

[gczarny]

Bison, not sure on excatly how much hp, I would like to guess 550+. Is it as easy to just click buy on any vendors site and just expect that its going to work the best? If that was the case why are there so many different shapes and sizes and for that matter prices on them. And you talking about pressure loss and ambient temp brings up good points for me to ask which FMIC do you guys feel work best , fit and finish and price point out there.

for that power level you will be very fine with Ebay FMIC ,I used it to mid ten's with pump gas and alky with Gt6776RS turbo , I got one for sale cheap right now if you are interested BUT .... if you think to go for more one day ....then spend money once and do it right , my vote for precision :smile:

 

[Otto J]

RJC for your setup.

 

[KevinB]

V1. You can buy one from extremeautomatics.com. Made in Ohio by Lonnie himself

 

[artrenee10]

CAS V1 You can still find them.....if not CAS then definitely Precision.

 

[TR Custom Parts]

Guess no one likes to save $$$$$?

 

[S2V6RACER]

Spending the most dosent mean you have a quality piece but the man with the most money usally has the faster car. lol.

Years ago that couldn't be more true, but now we have some great units out there to fit just about any budget and combination.

The V1 for a street car would be my 1st choice, unfortunately they are not cheap and my next choice would be a RJC.

I know it's a little overkill for 550HP, but you won't need to buy another one for quite some time if you step it up a little.

 

[2QUICK2B6]

My precision was a nice fit and works well for a street car .

 

[GNDriven]

You can bet all of the menioned intercoolers are great. People, I am sure do their homework.
That being said, Can manufactures/retailers of the intercoolers mentioned above publish any pressure drop vs flow specifications. I would like to even hear some real world test results. More than just mine picked up 0.4seconds, but see some logged data from some pressure sensors.

I understand this can get complicated, but give us consumers a chance. I also understand the results are relative to environmental factors, but just list the setup and give the ambient conditions. When someone is really trying to understand how to recover air density in order to make certain horsepower there is really little real numbers to consider, just someone saying mine works better than his.
Thanks

 

[toofastforyou]

I already had a Kenne-Bell and Precision intercoolers (both sold) and I'll be getting one from Jack Cotton next spring!

Claude.:wink: