SMIC vs FMIC drift

[axdrift]

Hey. Question popped into my head while talking to my friend about Front Mount and Side Mount intercoolers.

Some say FMIC's are better for drifting, while others say SMIC's are better.

What's your call?

His argument for SMIC is that they get constant air, whether in the apex of a turn or comming out of it... constant air.

I'm confused which one is "better"

[nissanguy_24]

Uh, well i guess it depends on personal preferance... though no one can argue a front mount is less efficent. I'd never heard that, about the sidemount being more consistant. anyways if anyone can elaborate on this i would love to hear it.

[SilverGhost]

how about two smic and a fmic all welded together to make one giant front end intercooler? the best of both worlds.....

lol, that would be insane......

[Misthael]

I would think, if it's possible in your car, a V mount would be best. The airflow is even to both the intercooler and radiator instead of one hogging the airflow right? But other than that I don't know. Have fun.

[R32GTST]

nicely put Misthael..

actually, there's not much difference on where you put the intercooler. As you can see, drifting is not about power. It's about the balance of power and handling on your car.

for example, NA cars could be drifted too and they don't need to worry about turbo/intercooler arrangement. It's just that turbocharged car gets it done faster and could hold looooong smoking slides.

I agree that V mounted intercooler could be the best setup of both world. it allows the air to flow thru the radiator and intercooler instead of restricting the air. usually SMIC are good for up to 280ps. anything more, V-mounted or FMIC would be the popular choice. As for drifting in Japan, most garages/drifters has converted to V-mounted intercooler.

now, if you want to get technical and discuss the aerodynamics of things, feel free to put down your points.

-R32GTST-

[Driftin180sx]

Think about it they work by surface area right. So a front mount would have more surface aren open to moving are going thru it which means it is working better. SMIC are ok but they will not cool the air charge like a FMIC of a decent size and the colder the air the better your car will run.... FASTER. So you want the coldest air possible going into the turbo. SMIC also are smaller which means they can get heat soaked easier because they have less surface are to disapate heat.

[BeerBringer]

Originally posted by SilverGhost
how about two smic and a fmic all welded together to make one giant front end intercooler? the best of both worlds.....

lol, that would be insane......

Like this BMW

[Nightwalker]

sometimes I wonder about you guys.

[Driftin180sx]

the intercooler on our supra is 48 by 12 by 9 deep it works very well

[Chas]

Originally posted by SilverGhost
the best of both worlds.....

so is bakla.

[Driftin180sx]

Yes it is

[MrodDrft]

Originally posted by Chas
so is bakla.

lmao hahahaha

[raging panda]

from my understanding, the FMIC is always going to be better just because its stuck out in front of the air more than the other types of intercooler setups. SMIC isnt ever going to be better unless there isnt a hole in the middle of your bumper.

[driftfreak]

as another way to go you could run a top mount and use a hood vent like the t2 FCs...that way if ya eas crap into the side of the mountian..then you dont have to worrry about doriking up your IC...just other stuff

[mranlet]

If you can duct air so that it flows THROUGH a top-mount and not just on top of it, the top mount would be great, as long as you're not running a mega-huge IC. On WRX's, where the engine sits super-low and there is room to have ducts leading away from the intercooler, proper setup of a top-mount can be just as efficient as the ever-popular front-mount. Top-mounts often have shorter lengths of piping and therefore conserve boost pressure that can often drop off when running a pipe from a turbo to the front to an IC and then back into a plennium.

Driftin180sx: "the intercooler on our supra is 48 by 12 by 9 deep it works very well" - it better at that size!

-MR