Intercooler Question

[NQMPS]

Hey all, I just wanted to find out if the plastic "Mesh" on top of the intercooler, What is it for or can I just cut it out?

[Reedy]

The shroud on the bonnet lines up with the outer edge of the plastic cover but apart from that the mesh is just there for a level of protection. Save the intercooler fins from getting bent when your bonnet scoop inevitably catches a low flying bird, like this Subaru did at a recent track day I went to.

[Doug_MPS6]

NQMPS, If you are talking about the stock intercooler setup, then DON'T cut it as even the most casual observer would note that it is designed to interface with the under-bonnet rubbers that seal it against the air-scoop assembly. In fact every time you open the bonnet you should get a rag and clean that seal and the flat part of the IC plastic shroud that it seals against. It gets lots of sand and grit stuck there which abrades the plastic under the relative movement of the parts due to vibration.

I'm sorry to say it and I know I've recently arced up with another member but I really worry about folks who want to attack a perfectly good well-designed structure or fiddle with some electronics or setting without a real good examination or mechanical grasp of what even the most basic functions, connections, interfaces and modification consequences are.

Anyway, I'm glad you asked before (I hope) something gets messed up - your proposal would result in higher IC temperatures and loss of performance with possible pinging in some circumstances, plus the possibility of fire if you ingest leaves, twigs, moths, flies, etc. into the engine compartment via your front bonnet scoop(s) and they would be driven against the firewall and down into the hot turbo and exhaust area. THINK - PLEASE.

[TD]

Leave the mesh in, it doesn't restrict flow and offers some protection to the intercooler.

[NQMPS]

I wasn't talking about the outer part, I know that it seals up against the bonnet. I was talking about the "Mesh" part. But all good I'll leave it, Just wanted to see what was the purpose.

[2XS]

Cut it off.

Do it.

Be hardcore.

You don't drive with your bonnet open anyway

[NQMPS]

Haha, your like the little red devil sitting on my shoulder.

[Doug_MPS6]

The mesh is to stop the ingress of large debris into the IC fins, such as those items mentioned before, and to provide important lateral structural bracing to the edges of the plastic shroud which would otherwise be a more flimsy structure that could not hold its shape sufficiently well to form the required seal against the bonnet rubbers. The heat of the environment makes that housing pretty soft and readily distorted without adequate support.

Engineers spend years designing these things for optimal performance, consistent with reliability and price. Folks just come along and want to hack stuff up for the sake of looks or noise but otherwise with no apparent real benefit.

[TD]

Engineers spend years designing these things for optimal performance, consistent with reliability and price. Folks just come along and want to hack stuff up for the sake of looks or noise but otherwise with no apparent real benefit.

Welcome to human nature!

[Doug_MPS6]

Yep TD! I agree. And of course I commend innovation and inventiveness, and have always been a tinkerer myself, but it must be done with some understanding of engineering design, principles, intent and function. I'm sorry, but I find it a bit of a worry when I read here of some things being done to perfectly good machinery without real comprehension of true necessity or consequence, especially when many of them are unsafe.

These include exhaust systems deliberately breached with spacers, cats islolated, poisoned or sooted up, BOVs on 100% VTA without the necessary fuel cuts, bypass hoses blocked off, functionality removed from DSC buttons, air-conditioning vents turned into guage mounts (yes, I know its popular but I still don't think it is a good idea, especially for centre-mounted boost guages), holes punched through firewalls without seals, grommets or anti-chafe, lowering without geometry modifications, guard chafe with widened wheels, worm drive hose clamps on turbo plumbing, 100 watt globes inside plastic lenses, excessive blue lighting and high colour temp globes, interference with air-bag functionality, and on and on it goes.....almost all of which is intended to sound or look "cool" but isn't and often just irreversibly devalues the car - if it survives fire or accident!