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Thread: Intercooler Question

  1. #1
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    Default Intercooler Question

    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?

  2. #2
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    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.


  3. #3

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    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.
    Last edited by Doug_MPS6; 17-10-2011 at 06:24 PM.
    CP_e Standback & PNP; CP_e 3" SS Downpipe; Corksport FMIC with Top-mount K&N filter & OEM Ram CAI; Turbosmart BOV; Dashhawk; Prosport Boost Guage; JBR solid shift bushes; DBA 4000 Wiper-Slot front rotors; Hawk Ferro-Carbon HPS Street front brake pads (@ 69,000km); Sumitomo HTRZIII's in 225/45 x 18

  4. #4
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    Default

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

  5. #5
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    Default

    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.

  6. #6

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    Cut it off.

    Do it.

    Be hardcore.

    You don't drive with your bonnet open anyway

  7. #7
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    Default

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

  8. #8

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    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.
    CP_e Standback & PNP; CP_e 3" SS Downpipe; Corksport FMIC with Top-mount K&N filter & OEM Ram CAI; Turbosmart BOV; Dashhawk; Prosport Boost Guage; JBR solid shift bushes; DBA 4000 Wiper-Slot front rotors; Hawk Ferro-Carbon HPS Street front brake pads (@ 69,000km); Sumitomo HTRZIII's in 225/45 x 18

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Doug_MPS6 View Post
    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!

  10. #10

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    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!
    CP_e Standback & PNP; CP_e 3" SS Downpipe; Corksport FMIC with Top-mount K&N filter & OEM Ram CAI; Turbosmart BOV; Dashhawk; Prosport Boost Guage; JBR solid shift bushes; DBA 4000 Wiper-Slot front rotors; Hawk Ferro-Carbon HPS Street front brake pads (@ 69,000km); Sumitomo HTRZIII's in 225/45 x 18

  11. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by Doug_MPS6 View Post
    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.
    agreed

    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.
    Disagree, using that logic, explain the stock DP

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by rayd View Post
    Disagree, using that logic, explain the stock DP
    This is where the price factor comes in... I am willing to bet that the stock DP is far cheaper for mazda to make and install than any of the aftermarket options would be... probably last longer too...

    Chris.
    '05 MPS 6, Liquid Silver Metallic, Leather, Sunroof.

    DashHawk, TurboSmart Dualport, COBB SF SRI and TIP, CPe REM, 2XS Titanium SSP, Coolant bypass,
    Exedy OEM spec clutch, Corksport SS Braided Clutch Line, ROH Mantis 18*7.5+45.

    Growing old is compulsory... Growing up is optional...

  13. #13

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    RAYD, I did qualify this statement, as VICTA correctly noted, because I expected just such a response. And of course I know your point too, as I have pulled lots of bits off my car and replaced them with better. But there will be no stock car produced that will meet all the demands of tinkerers and fiddlers, both good and bad. I'm not saying things can't be improved, there is rarely an ideal end point, but the engineers building a moderately-priced family car like an MPS are not going to go for it as they don't want the car to cost the same as a Bugatti Veyron. The Nissan GT-R is as close as one could get to a recently produced car that has had an endless amount of dedicated thought and test-work in its gestation, and despite it being close to perfection in many eyes, there are still folks who want to mess with it. Most folks who see them from outside don't even begin to comprehend the effort that went into breaking the mold in so many areas to produce the car before you now, even from a single aspect such as aerodynamics to produce a Cd of 0.27.

    But back on topic, the implication that, for example, some engineer just thought he'd throw in a pretty mesh top onto the MPS intercooler "'cos it looks good' is equally daft. Someone thought about it. More to the point, some engineer thought about it a whole lot longer than some customer who just wants to rip it off so it will look better but who overlooks why it was put there in the first place.
    CP_e Standback & PNP; CP_e 3" SS Downpipe; Corksport FMIC with Top-mount K&N filter & OEM Ram CAI; Turbosmart BOV; Dashhawk; Prosport Boost Guage; JBR solid shift bushes; DBA 4000 Wiper-Slot front rotors; Hawk Ferro-Carbon HPS Street front brake pads (@ 69,000km); Sumitomo HTRZIII's in 225/45 x 18

  14. #14
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    Gee sounds like everyone has already thought I have cut it. Was just asking a simple question. I'm not one to just do something for the **** of it, without thinking it through from a function & Engineering point of view.
    I have owned many many cars in my time and have modified them up to a 650hp Aristo daily driven "Family car" and a 9 sec SR20, 2sp glide TA23 Celica just to name a few.
    Just new(ish) to the MPS scene.
    Had:
    Mitsubishi Evolution III ~12.0@114mph~
    Mitsubishi Evolution VII ~12.8@106mph~
    06 MPS 3 True Red
    Now:
    ~07 Ralliart Colt ~14.85@96mph~
    ~2010 Velocity Red Luxury MPS 3.
    3" CAI, K&N, Race pipe, Silicone Intake pipe, Custom Intercooler heat shield, LED Conversion, Gloss Black Wheels.

  15. #15
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    Well , just for the record, i have cut mine out (the mesh only) & of course im not dumb enough to tamper with anything that would cause the TMIC not to seal properly.
    Do what the hell you want. Its your car!!!!
    Yes , the mesh is there to protect the IC, but just give it ( the IC )a clean every week or so & you will be fine.
    How many dust storms, insect plagues & tornados do you actually drive through?????
    Realistically the mesh WILL be an obstruction (minimal, i know) to the amount of air that can get to the IC.

  16. #16
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    The mesh wont do anything to protect you from insects or dust, all it will do is catch rocks and birds. Things that will actually trash your IC, not just foul it up.

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Reedy View Post
    The mesh wont do anything to protect you from insects or dust, all it will do is catch rocks and birds. Things that will actually trash your IC, not just foul it up.
    Cant say ive had too many bald eagles, & budgies caught up in my IC , but i see your point...

  18. #18

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    The stock DP is designed for emissions, not for power.

  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by AD07 View Post
    Cant say ive had too many bald eagles, & budgies caught up in my IC , but i see your point...
    Hence why I will now refer to my previous post:

    http://www.ozmpsclub.com/forum/intake-exhaust-turbos/11437-intercooler-question.html#post193628

    Bald Eagle, granted, but I have seen it happen myself =P

  20. #20

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    Quote Originally Posted by AD07 View Post
    Cant say ive had too many bald eagles, & budgies caught up in my IC , but i see your point...
    I sucked in a small bat....
    MPS is gone. Ghey Trail enabled....Not Happy. MPS 6 to come

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