whch is better a front mount intercooler, or a custom hood with scoop, has any one ran into problems(overheating)with a fmic?wich produces more power?

I would think the FMIC would make better power because you'll probaby get better flow of air through it which will give better heat transfer, etc.

Top mounts are a very effective heastsink. Not a quality I look for in intercoolers.

I'll chime in here as the lone voice for top-mount intercooler and hood scoop.

If done correctly, it would be stealthy as all getout. A Subaru 2.5RS scoop would bolt right on to your stock hood, just cut two holes around the X brace in the middle.

If your car is black like mine, it'd be tough to see until it's too late.

Sure, top-mounts aren't as effective as front-mounts, but the simplicity of design and not having to worry about running piping/moving the battery/etc. might outweigh the benefits of cooler air temps. Plus, there's the money-saved factor as well. Front-mounts aren't cheap.

Relocating the top-mount to the front...now that's another story. I have all these options open to me right now. I'll decide which way to go when the ecu gets here.

JMHO. Flame away...

A friend of mine has a hole on the top of his hood for the intercooler. It seems to work ok. He has never told me about any overheating on his and it has to get a shit load of air to keep it cool.

i would do the fmic, drops temps faster ans lower compared to the top mount. the top mount actually allows the heat to be recycled back into the motor cause of the heat rising back into the intercooler.

jimmy
1996 200sx gti-r motor
http://www.eiptuning.com/projects/200sxser1stpage.html

I think with an NX i'd get fmic and still get a hood scoop just cause the NX needs more air to get into the engine bay, but that's just my opinion.
Later!

actually, i have a top mount Ic right now. I had a top mount with no scoop for one summer(I know, I know). I now had the scoop for a summer, huge difference obviously. If i were to do it again, i would do front mount right off the bat.

over the winter i will be converting to fmic, money is the big object though.:p

how much have you guys paid to get the fmic done??

cost me 100 dollars in piping to put my BB DET TMIC in the FMIC position.
Worked well for the t25.. if I went to a larger turbo I would have upgraded the FMIC also.
later

I reloacted the DET top mount to the front of the Nx and it works ALOT better than the TPIC......of course a larger intercooler would be the ideal thing to do

dont waste your time cutting a hole in ur hood, i did that and it cuased major problems when it rained hard. not only that but the hood doesnt close very easy like it used to.

My car must be really good. I have both. :D

Lew

Yeah on an NX a hood scoop wont hurt any way you go about mounting your intercooler. I'm putting a wrx scoop on my NA car, I'm probably gonna get some crap for doing it, but hey its a road race/autox car, the cooler the better. I plan on routing the cool air to the intake manifold the cool it down...besides NX's looks mean with wrx scoops. Whoa I got a little off topic there...sorry hahaha

-Josh

With the right scoop the top mount is pretty efficent, and stealthy as all hell. I also ran my topmount almost all summer without a scoop, besides when NX-DET was nice enough to let me borrow his hood that has a scoop for the top mount. I ran the car all day at road america, 3 30min sessions a day, 2 days 80plus deg. each day. it worked well at 6psi.

The only thing to worry about with a fr. mount in a nx is cooling problems, your prob. gonna want to upgrade the radiator if your gonna get a large fr. mount, get better fans, and a nismo thermostat. Or vent the hood and make a cut of some sort between the headlights. That is if you like to beat on the car on hot days also, or if you do any roadracing or auto-x.

Later,Jon

from my experience, washing the engine bay pissed off the plugs and wires bigtime. i'd like to do topmount but i am scared of the rain

Never had a overheating problem for the 1 year and 1/2 or so I been turbo'd driving everyday, redline countless times a day all with my TMIC, so I say the TMIC is just fine at 8-10psi with no hood scoop...............damm I can just imagine when I make my custom hoodscoop.......its gonna be sealed directly on the IC when the hood is shut so no air escapes and it will have a water pan if u will so it'll direct any water on rainy days to the rear firewall.

So get off my TMIC!.........lol
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid101/p64564094770e134dadb292d1b6a2e0d4/f9d6943b.jpg

i like the custom hood scoop just for the stealthish look. but in the future, when you want to go bigger turbo, you'll need a fmic anyway. might as well get the front mount now and save time.

I have had both. The top mount worked, the front mount worked much, much better.

Don't pay some monkey to install your pipes. Order some pipes from jcwhitney, cut them to fit, tape them together, take them to a muffler shop, pay $20 and you are done.

Didn't overheat with the top-mount, but the car did run hot. Especially when I turned the boost up a bit on the stock bb det.

With the front mount I have started to overheat. Drained and flushed the radiator, installed the radiator cap from a 300z turbo didn't start to overheat.

Pulled AC, the car ran much cooler.