michael Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 The standard SMIC's don't seem to age too well, at least on the UK cars - I've seen a few threads where people had mentioned the fins being crumbly but I still couldn't believe how powder-like they are after a while! A few shots of my standard IC as removed last week - my car is a '94 UK with 85k on the clock, I'd urge anyone with a similar car to start saving (most pics are around 100kb) Picture # 1 - Front Picture # 2 - Back Picture # 3 - Close-up Picture # 4 - The hole Picture # 5 - Another angle Picture # 6 - Closer Picture # 7 - Inside the IC Picture # 8 - Inside - Like New! My new ARC intercooler Can the standard IC be refurbed with new externals at all? The inside looks mint so it seems a shame to just bin it if someone can make use of any of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 Blimey Michael, your car is a the same age and milage as mine but my IC looks like new compared to yours! I suppose it must be down to all those years of british salty roads that my car missed while it was still in Japan! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael Posted April 4, 2004 Author Share Posted April 4, 2004 Yeah I suspect the J-Spec SMICs will have a good few years of extra life in them over the UK's - I'd been checking mine while it was on the car since I read a few earlier threads but I obviously missed a few bits, I was expecting to take it off and sell it on, as it is I suspect it'll end up as another ornament I just can't bear to throw out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Laing Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 A garage told me that if the internals of an intercooler were fine then the intercooler is fine, all the fins do apparently is direct the air into the core in the middle......is that right? so if the inside is fine and theres no leaks, you should be ok with the stock one for Bpu???? The ARC one looks great though, well beefy Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dude Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 Originally posted by Paul Laing A garage told me that if the internals of an intercooler were fine then the intercooler is fine, all the fins do apparently is direct the air into the core in the middle......is that right? so if the inside is fine and theres no leaks, you should be ok with the stock one for Bpu???? The ARC one looks great though, well beefy Paul False economy Paul , an efficient IC is a tuning aid , the cooler the inlet temp the more power , why people skimp on an Ic and spend money on other things baffles me . Dude:flame Dev Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Laing Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 But the fins don't cool anything, they just direct the air to the core, or is the garage wrong i spoke to??? Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Wilson Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 Originally posted by Paul Laing But the fins don't cool anything, they just direct the air to the core, or is the garage wrong i spoke to??? Paul The garage is talking total and utter rubbish. The fins condition and mechanical bonding to the tubes themselves is vital. If the fins are corroded, falling off or just plain disappereared the IC's performance is dramatically compromised. I now sell a LOT of my uprated SMICs, all UK cars and most early J-Specs seem to have duff IC's by now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dude Posted April 4, 2004 Share Posted April 4, 2004 Originally posted by Paul Laing But the fins don't cool anything, they just direct the air to the core, or is the garage wrong i spoke to??? Paul Its the fins that disipate the heat Paul the IC will still work to a fashion , another thing is turbos , when i was working on Starions and Lancers the performance gain by fitting a new Turbo in place of a tired (but still boosting) Turbo was amazing!!! Dude:flame Dev Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supraguy Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 Originally posted by Paul Laing But the fins don't cool anything, they just direct the air to the core, or is the garage wrong i spoke to??? Paul Agree 100% with Chris and Dude. Think of it dissipating as a heatsink. Heat is drawn to the fins and the passing outside air removes it to cool down your charge temp. Think of a CPU heatsink fins if you were to remove them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Laing Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 Sorry your totally right, i was a bit drunk lastnight!!! I double checked with my dad about the fins, and apparently there to take away the heat from the intercooler, oops! I hang my head in shame Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terminator Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 With IC's it is all about maximum surface area for heat exchange. It does not matter how good it looks on the inside If the fins on the out side have degraded so that their molecular structure does not facilitate rapid flow of heat, it is useless. Admittedly you will get a negligible bit of heat lose through the lager pipes but nothing like enough. My JDM SMIC was fine when I got the car, but three winters later it is dire. WD40 is supposed to be quite good at slowing salt corrosion in ali. Would there be any point in giving the IC a through spray , (talking whole cans) one a month in winter to prolong life.? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syed Shah Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 I like to give my engine bays a good spraying of WD40 for winter, sure it would do some good for the IC as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeT Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 Originally posted by mcanny The standard SMIC's don't seem to age too well, at least on the UK cars - I've seen a few threads where people had mentioned the fins being crumbly but I still couldn't believe how powder-like they are after a while! A few shots of my standard IC as removed last week - my car is a '94 UK with 85k on the clock, I'd urge anyone with a similar car to start saving (most pics are around 100kb) Picture # 1 - Front Picture # 2 - Back Picture # 3 - Close-up Picture # 4 - The hole Picture # 5 - Another angle Picture # 6 - Closer Picture # 7 - Inside the IC Picture # 8 - Inside - Like New! My new ARC intercooler Can the standard IC be refurbed with new externals at all? The inside looks mint so it seems a shame to just bin it if someone can make use of any of it. your intercooler looks identical to mine and mine is uk with same mileage. oh well just about ready for a FMIC i think:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 Originally posted by Terminator ......through the lager pipes but nothing like enough..... I keep topping mine up with lager but it seems to cause lots of problems, should I try bitter instead?....real ale?..... alcopops? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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