Keep in mind, this is not an opinion post, especially if you like mesh grills or not, this is a question about performance. Do you think a mesh grill that is pretty closely nit (5/32" holes) would block too much air, and affect the cooling capacity of a front mount intercooler? I am trying to picture how this would all work in my head, and I think it would be fine, but I want some input from some other people.
The air rushing through a fmic doesn’t cool the charge, it just cools the metal on the fmic. Do you think that the intercooler could keep itself cool enough if it had a small mesh grill in front of it like mentioned above.
I don’t think it would affect it much either, but i’m banking on that one fluid dynamics lurker out there to give me the definite answer But, if I get enough “yes that should be fine”, that would probably be a good answer too. I just know alot of stock fmic cars that have mesh grills use very open mesh, so maybe thats for this reason.
You’d have to force a HELL of a lot of air through a mesh grill to get a measurable pressure drop. To me, the piece of mind of keeping rocks, sticks, and small woodland creatures out of your IC would far outweigh any theoretical performance loss.
Stick a thermocouple on it, go for a drive noting peak temps. Go home and toss on the grille, then go for a drive again and see if the temps change. :tup:
I just did a little digging for reference. At 80 mph and assuming your grille opening is 1.5 ft^2, you’re pushing about 10,000 SCFM of air through your grille. (It would actually be a lot less than that because the IC will be blocking a lot of it.)
Picture a typical furnace filter. What I’ve read says that they flow about 1000 SCFM but with way less than a 1 psi pressure drop. You’re pushing 10 times as much but the filtration is probably 1000 times less restrictive.
I couldn’t find a good apples to apples comparison, but that gives some perspective.
The only number I have is the holes are 5/32", but you may be able to gauge the amount of material per inch or whatever, just by looking at it and estimating.
Yeah, stock top mount with more meth would be more snky, but even without meth, my fmic cools SO much better then the stock tmic. With meth, there is no comparison, its great. And its not all snky, its an STi, it will never really be snky, but I really like the look of that grill too, especially compared to what they look like stock:
Its just a black hole there, from most angles, so the black grill wont really look that “aftermarket”.
looks to cover 1/3 less surface area roughly… should inhibit flow but enough to make a difference? at what boost level engine temps? Im going to guess your not to a level of performance that would create a severe enough change
looks to cover 1/3 less surface area roughly… should inhibit flow but enough to make a difference? at what boost level engine temps? Im going to guess your not to a level of performance that would create a severe enough change
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I am about maxing out this turbo, but it is in no way even coming close to being too much for the fmic to handle, and then I have the added benefit of meth, so I am almost certain it will be fine. I just wanted to get other opinions first :headbang:
But, if I get enough “yes that should be fine”, that would probably be a good answer too. I just know alot of stock fmic cars that have mesh grills use very open mesh, so maybe thats for this reason.
