Ok, finally got my OBX FMIC installed yesterday.

Took a lot moe fab work than I thought but it was all actually quite easy the way it went together but had it not been for Rick at Synergy Motorsports it could have been a lot worse. That guy gets INTO his work. I think he actually got a stiffy when he seen how the piping would go together so easy. Hahaha

Anyway. We removed the lower air dam to give us some room to work and quickly realized this IC is too long to tuck between the frame rails and would block flow to the radiator if we mounted it behind the grille. So we ended up notching the frame with a plasma cutter which created a slot for the IC to slide up into and tuck high enough so that when the airdam is on it wont hang below it.



We then made simple mounting tabs for the IC. There are 2 smaller pieces then welded onto the bottom of these brackets to create an L shapre with a hole on the bottom to screw the IC to.


Here is the IC mounted into place rock solid. My buddy that came down for the install was almost literally hanging from the ends and it wouldn't budge.


Here is the intake piping on the passanger side of the motor. We simply adapted new piping onto the original STS piping that came up from the wheel well.


Here is the driverside piping.


Passanger side piping


Exit piping with MAF sensor and ALKY injection leading to TB.


With the airdam back on. I kinda want to cut out part of the center piece for better airflow and to see the cooler better..


Now for the results of our labors.

We took the truck out for some street tuning with a wideband O2 and some diagnostic software. Ambient temps were about 70deg at this time. We noticed that sitting idling the IATs were at about 104deg. As soon as we rolled onto the street which took all of about 30sec we had already dropped to 90deg or so and once we got rolling at 40mph they dropped to 82deg. Cruising around my static IAT seemed to stick at about 10deg over ambient. Prior to the IC my IATs were 120deg no matter if I was on the freeway cruising or what.

We started testing at low boost which was 6psi prior to the IC install. At WOT the boost needle would move around A LOT more than it used to. It used to just come right up and stick at a # and never move till I lifted. Now the needle would jump up to about 4psi and maybe slide up to 5psi or hit 5psi rigth after a shift but then settle back to 4psi. IATs temps rose to no more than 88deg after a 20mph-100mph run. Funny thing is that with the now much cooler IATs the 4psi felt at least as good if not better than 6psi without the IC. IATs on 6psi before the IC were 140-160deg.

From there we tried high boost which was set at 11psi solid before the IC. In high boost I only saw 8psi now with occasional quick spikes of 10psi depending on gear and shifts. My 8psi now felt better than the 11psi I had before. Woot! So we did a BUNCH of 25-100mph runs while data logging and tuning. We were getting ZERO KR. IATs were still in the low 90s at the end of a full run and then drop like a friggin rock after lifting. I swear it would take maybe 20sec before I would drop 10+deg of IAT. IATs at 11psi before the IC were 190deg avg.

So now we decided to up the boost. We eventually got it to 12-13PSI before we got any hint of KR and we were not even sure if it was simply from being too rich in 3rd gear. The wideband was showing 10.8 AFR in 3rd gear in high boost. We dropped timing to about 16deg or so and would only get the KR every once in awhile and didn't look to be form going lean at all. We decided to leave everything right there and just run it a tad rich since the area I live in is always much more hot than the Bay Area and I wanted some safety. On the 12-13psi runs form 25-100mph I maxed out with 107deg IATs!!! The really creazy thing is that prior to the IC install my IATs at 13psi were 240deg which even the methanol couldn't fix.

One interesting note. The truck ran leaner at 4psi than it did at 13psi and ran richer overall when doing a 4wd run. We decided to tune it for high boost and in 2wd since that's how most of my racing will be done and it keeps me safest overall.

In all I am VERY pleased with this IC and the work done at Synergy Motorsports. My truck pulls like a monster now (for a big truck) and I even got to totally humilate a poor 96-98 Mustang GT on the freeway on the way hime. Poor sap tried to do a fly-by on me. He started about 4 car lengths back and floored it. By the time I realized what he was doing my buddy yelled "nail it!" so I look over and he blows by me so I mash it and he already has 5 cars on me by the time boost builds but as soon as it does I know he is in trouble. I start catching up faster and faster and by about 125mph-130mph (guessing from how long we had my 100mph speedo pegged) I was blowing by him FAST so I lifted just as I passd him so he could hear the turbo flutter . He didn't look too happy and vered off the next exit really fast. LOL

 

Nice! A good intercooler makes alot of difference. What are you seeing from your maf lb/min before and after on similar boost numbers?

Get a few G-timer runs in for us!

 

DOH!

I don't know if we logged any of that. Grrrrr

On the G-timer we were seeing 12.45@108mph and 1.72 60' but I think the road we were on is not level enough so if I even come within 4 10ths of that I'd be happy for now. LOL

 

Weren't you running 13.0 or so before the intercooler? What was the mph before?

 

When Rick had the truck last time before the intercooler he was running 13.0@104.5mph on 1.9 60's on that same exact piece of road. The temps were about mid-low 60s when he was running it.

When I got it back and took it to Sac Raceway it was 100deg then cooled down to 88deg or so with a worst DA of 2696ft. and a best of 1682ft. I ran a best of 13.55@100mph 2.0 60' but the truck felt so gutless off the line I wanted to puke. On methanol the top end charge felt like it was struggling also. Overall the truck feels MUCH faster now so I had to have gained a few MPH at least.

I'm heading to the track tonight for some real #s. Just cross your fingers for me that the DA is better than last time. 100deg temps SUCK!

Ohh, I am not even using the Meth at this point either. The IC is doing all the work.

 

Good luck at the track! Fingers crossed.

If you use the meth, you'll probably be able to use a real small jet just to bump the temps down a little. I don't know if that would even improve your times though. I thought you'd be turning off the meth once you saw the new IAT #'s.

 

Thx bro!

If I can get enough runs tonight I want to try and just barely crack open the meth and see what happens. I bet I am just gonna go richer though and I am already at about 10.9 AFR or so. LOL

After seeing your results and some of the other guys doing the Griffin and OBS FMIC I just had to try it and man if I am not happy!

 

Thats awesome!! I bet that truck screams!! Did you change out the exhaust housing yet?? If so, did it help with the lag??
Man, you guys are moving too fast for me. I havent even put on my smaller pulley to try my alky yet.
I dont think I could get an air to air to work so I may have to do the aftercooler.
Keep us updated on your times!!

 

We did the exhaust housing at the same time since his shop is so far away from my house.

The lag is much better now but I still get some. I think it is about on par with most turbo systems I have seen that make any decent power. I think this setup is the perfect comprimise for me. It has just enough lag to not anihilate my tires from a slow roll AND it gives me incredible top end power which is what I was lacking with the GT35.

The guys at STS are soo frgiggin awesome! They worked with me till I got the turbo sizing thing figured out, didn't charge me for anything, and gave the best customer service I have ever seen from a company and I have been in the retail business for 10yrs and have dealt with a lot of companies

Some of the stuff Rick (Synergy) was telling me about how they work with their dealers and such just blew my mind. Too put it simply they go the extra mile and then some for their customers and dealers....

 

F8L, that is awesome!!! Notching the frame looks like it was a necessary evil, but the intercooler looks like it is in a good position. Glad to see you used T-bar clamps on the tubing. Those seem to be the only things that can hold pressure. It is amazing what an intercooler can do, as your IATs are looking good. FWIW You seem to be right around where I am in the high boost areas as far as timing and A/F ratio. With a 12lb pulley I keep the timing around 15*-17* and the fueling at 10.8-11.0:1 (a little rich just for safety on the stock shortblock- i can't afford a new motor yet )
Good Luck at the track man
STS sounds like a worthy company to let you do all of that free testing.