club.liberty.asn.au

Is there an aftermarket engine cover that will expose the entire core to cooling air?

I don't see the point of more rows if they don't actually do any cooling and don't want to chop the cover to bits.

Not to my knowledge. I am running without the cover and have the avo tmic. Just couldnt be farked with trimming it yet.

From what I have read there isn't only the benefit of more surface area to be had with a larger intercooler.

autospeed.com.au - The Complete Guide to Intercooling - Part 1

autospeed.com.au - The Complete Guide to Intercooling - Part 2

autospeed.com.au - Optimising Top-Mount Intercoolers

There are a LOT more articles in there on intercoolers as well if you do a search for "intercooler"

Hope this helps

GTSPECB STI wrote:Not to my knowledge. I am running without the cover and have the avo tmic. Just couldnt be farked with trimming it yet.

Then I suspect a lot of the cool outside air that comes through the scoop is not actually going through the core of the intercooler, rather it may be going around it.

Still, those 2 or 3 rows of mine that are completely blocked off are not doing much good either.

smythie wrote:From what I have read there isn't only the benefit of more surface area to be had with a larger intercooler.

autospeed.com.au - The Complete Guide to Intercooling - Part 1

autospeed.com.au - The Complete Guide to Intercooling - Part 2

autospeed.com.au - Optimising Top-Mount Intercoolers

There are a LOT more articles in there on intercoolers as well if you do a search for "intercooler"

Hope this helps

No, doesn't help at all I'm afraid.

If part of the core receives no cool air from outside the engine bay, no other perceived benefits change that.

mmmm..............the cover does expose all of the core..... the other thing you could look into is the diverter which sit inside the scoop which directs the air, or even a larger scoop

i have fitted a zerosports spliter which is meant to evenly spread the air over the entire core, the oem spliter only directs the air to half the core.

coyote wrote:

smythie wrote:From what I have read there isn't only the benefit of more surface area to be had with a larger intercooler.

autospeed.com.au - The Complete Guide to Intercooling - Part 1

autospeed.com.au - The Complete Guide to Intercooling - Part 2

autospeed.com.au - Optimising Top-Mount Intercoolers

There are a LOT more articles in there on intercoolers as well if you do a search for "intercooler"

Hope this helps

No, doesn't help at all I'm afraid.

If part of the core receives no cool air from outside the engine bay, no other perceived benefits change that.

There is mention in the first article of the heat sink capacity of the intercooler. A larger intercooler will be able to absorb spikes in intake air temperature a lot better than a smaller item. In the process of cooling down it will also release that heat from the spike over a longer period of time, heating intake less.

Then, as covered in the 3rd link, there is also the issue of under bonnet pressure and whether you are actually getting any flow through the TMIC at all. Increasing the opening in the engine cover isn't going to change any of that.

Does the zero sports cover have a larger opening jim?

The only engine cover I know of that has a large intercooler opening is the HKS carbon fiber one. And that's because it's to match the fairly wide HKS top mount (see swingn's mod).

Otherwise aftermarket ones like ZeroSports just have the OEM size opening. Not sure what another 1-2 rows exposed will impact on performance, if any. But I thought the performance top mounts were thicker for increased flow rather than a larger surface area? Because doesn't the bonnet scoop have limitations on how much area can receive air for the incoming flow from the small bonnet scoop opening?

Edit - Oops, didn't see Nigel's reply when I posted my reply. But ZeroSports has the same size opening as the OEM one because it can also be used with the OEM top mount.

Resonate wrote:Does the zero sports cover have a larger opening jim?

Thanks Resonate.

The cover is wide enough for the AVO cooler, just does not have enough depth to the opening.

It wouldn't be hard to chop the back off the standard cover and seal that to the cooler with a piece of rubber (doing the same at the front), the only concern then is the seal between the diverter underneath the scoop and the engine cover. Don't want to go to all that trouble only to create a giant leak.

I was just asking if there was an off the shelf solution that saves having to worry about all that.

Arith wrote:The only engine cover I know of that has a large intercooler opening is the HKS carbon fiber one. And that's because it's to match the fairly wide HKS top mount (see swingn's mod).

Not sure what another 1-2 rows exposed will impact on performance, if any. But I thought the performance top mounts were thicker for increased flow rather than a larger surface area? Because doesn't the bonnet scoop have limitations on how much area can receive air for the incoming flow from the small bonnet scoop opening?

Thanks Arith. As above, it is not the width that is the problem - it is the depth.

That's 2 rows that do absolutely no cooling whatsoever. I don't know off the top of my head how many rows there are, but let's say there are 20 - then 10% are doing nothing.

Looks like I might have to go the chop (if my car wasn't completely stock).

Opps. Sorry, I meant depth for the surface area, as only the HKS top mount goes wider.

But yeah, just trim it. Otherwise you could go Dave's route and just leave the cover off altogether.

Just had a look and I don't think it's worth the effort. BTW .. there are 15 rows with at least one and a half rows seeing no cool air.

Here's how someone else solved the issue:

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.p ... 1228834174

No intake charge passes through the top nor bottom of the intercooler, so although roughly 10% of the cooling area is blocked off, I guess it is the least important 10%.

funny you found that picture as I was looking at a couple of days ago as well. Ghetto spec but likely does the job just the same.

Whoops, read the question wrong.