Ok, I know a lot of guys out there want a better option for cooling and less flow restriction, one or two are now testing out fitting "higher flow cores" in the stock location. The SLR top mounts being very expensive and possibly hard to get makes that not appealing to pursue, but two separate top mounts seems to be the ideal option for splitting the banks, keeping flow up and getting the hot air cool.

This can be done for well under $1000 in my opinion and I am starting to think very heavily in to making my own set, after all half of the work is already done. There are two size options available from Frozenboost Click here and also the bigger click here.

The plan would be to cut this part off in red and make a new piece for that side to connect to the piece the surge tanks bolt up to.



Now I don't know how hard/easy this may be until I actually look in to this more with a core sitting in front of me and determining how to make the connection side. I am thinking it could certainly be done by being creative.

My thougts are to use some oval pipe for each runner.



And use some flat bar to make the flange by tracing out the top side of the piece surge tanks bolt to which the oval pipe will weld to. Then basically form a "box" of some sort for all the runners to mate up to on the side of the intercooler core that was cut off (in red).

It will take a little work but I honestly don't think it will be that hard and fortunately I will have some pretty good resources to do it coming soon. I am a DoD contractor and have time off right now until my next job starts. I have decided to travel back home to visit friends and family and also work with the father of a friend of mine for some extra cash. The father owns a welding business and right next door his father (my friends grandfather) has a machine shop. Nothing crazy with cnc machines or anything but he has drill presses and a big lathe and some different tools along with everything I would have at the welding shop next door. I also have another friend with a welding business I could consult with to get it done. Here is a little taste of something he has done. This was completely made by him and started as an aluminum boat trailer, so some measly intercoolers should be cake Click

I had originally thought about making a front resevoir going off of Tbal's plan but taking it a little further. He bought a little square tank and fitted it in place of the cabin filter and then I thought maybe it can be made larger for more capacity by taking the shape of the open space more.

I bought some foam board and made this a while back to test fit in the space and it is about 1.5 gallons of capacity.



Now I figured why not go all out and do both since I will be there with the resources? I am not 100% I will do the intercoolers yet, but I really don't see why I won't because it gets a little boring at night sometimes in the Florida keys where I will be at. I figure spending a little extra time at the shop after work hours could be fun doing this and be beneficial to my car.

Feel free to offer suggestions or your thoughts and I encourage others to use my ideas and possibly do something like this themself. I really think it is much easier than some think and could be mocked up in your garage and then brought to a welder to be put together if you don't have a welder at your disposal. After the top mounts are completed I would just take the stock intercooler and cut it out and weld in sheets of aluminum to make the box for air to travel through where the intercooler was. Then as far as the intake air temp sensor, I suppose you would just have it on one core. I would Tee the coolant hoses coming from the resevoir to go to both cores and I guess whichever side had longer to travel would get the sensor. This would also be dependant on the electrical connector and where it can reach though, it may need extending done.

Two intercooler cores with half of the work already done for only $300 sounds like a killer plan to me, I figure another $150 tops in materials for the pipe and aluminum sheet for the different parts. This may actually be much less for me since I can probably find scraps laying around to use for free and the welding would be free

 

Great idea! watch out for hood clearance and also what do you have in mind for an intake to the throttle body?

 

YESSS!!!

I was going to pursue this a month ago or so but I just can't...I'm kinda pressed for cash so taking on a project like this isn't in my best interest right now. But I have some ideas to make such a setup work.

 

I measured a long time ago and using the smaller of the two cores which are rated at 350hp each they would have more than enough room. They were no higher than the stock airbox or surge tanks, forget what I measured. Not sure of the larger one though, would have to do more mock up and measuring.

As for an intake, I was going to figure that out after I saw how much room there was with top mount cores in place. Probably something like the intake setups some have ran in the past though with piping going along the sides up to the front of the car with filters or maybe just one big one on one side.

Stuff like this first pic click

It would obviously have to be a little different though with how the pipes route out from the throttle body but that principle

 

Looking forward to some updates on this, if you go through with it.

 

You could just add a filter straight on the throttle body. Superchargers don't care nearly as much about the air temp as they do about restriction...and with efficient intercooling it'll be even less of an issue.

 

True, but I also don't want to use to small of a filter to restrict the intake of air either, just need to get in there more and see exact measurements to figure it all out. My plan is to head down south in a week, going to a 4x4 mudding event "redneckyachtclub" and then boat races first, after all that I will talk with my friend and see if he is ready to tackle this with me and see about getting the parts needed.

There won't be any kind of update for at least a week due to not actually being there to work for roughly a week. I just wanted to get the idea out there and see what others had to say and also toss ideas around that may be better than mine or other ways to incorporate something in to my plan.

Will be pretty awesome if I can get it done fairly easily and others may be able to then do the same.

 

There is a guy in Florida trying to do the same thing as you, but for the C32, you should check him out. Maybe you can collaborate to make some thing for both platforms. His handle on the forum is newbenz2

This was just an example of how laminova cores have been used, but it could give you an idea of how they could work.
Check out the thread: https://mbworld.org/forums/c32-amg-c...e-headers.html

A few other ideas for top mount intercoolers

 

This idea just might be the inspiration I need to finally buy a TIG welder!!!

My shop has just about every other necessary tool, but I've welded aluminum with a MIG and the results are not nearly as beautiful looking as what is possible with TIG.


-G

 

You finally got the itch to start modding your beast Greg?

 

Never heard of those before and they are pretty crazy looking. Thought this was a nice creative design too. To small for the E55 500+whp guys but for smaller power setups certainly interesting.

 

 

I've been doing some pretty hardcore fabrication work in my garage for the last few years, so I have managed to build a respectable toolbox and add a few high-dollar specialty tools as well...

I'm not sure how much of an "itch" there really is yet. With these cold mornings I am watching the "blinking disco triangle" even with bone-stock power and part-throttle launches.

In reality, it would be more for the enjoyment of building something from scratch that could be bolted on and tested....especially with some datalogging to get before & after results. The engineering side of me loves that kind of stuff.


-G

 

So what ever happened to that build? Looks like he got everything running and then disappeared.

 

I hear ya, got to love the excitment of taking on a new project.. Im always willing to lend a hand as im not to far away and Im always looking to learn new things..

 

First off thanks for that thread, gives more ideas and cool to see someone has done it, surprised it hasn't been shared more, especially seeing some of the E55 guys post in there.

My plan was to just cut out the intercooler core and weld the pieces back in place (before/after intercooler) and "boxing in" where the intercooler was with aluminum sheet and should be extremely easy to do.

I will do my best to keep track of the time it takes to get each bit of work done so someone could estimate cost that actually didn't want to do any work themself. Or like I mentioned in my original post do all the work and mock up themself and then just have welding work to pay for to save quite a bit of money from fabrication. I disagree with those numbers quoted though having someone do all the work for you to have a top mount solution unless you are getting ripped off.

Some stuff certainly does take time but what I am looking to do I don't feel will have that much in to it. We will see though, I will keep track of work. Mine will all obviously be free for labor of fabricating it and welding labor, so only material will cost me unless I find those free scraps laying around!

I will be certain to mention those numbers to the owner I will be working for to see what he says. Knowing him for most of my life though I am sure he will say "**** if someone is going to pay that for this top mount setup I will build them all day long."

 

So you are targeting 700 crank hp max?

 

Well I will measure for the larger cores I linked to see if there would be a problem using them and I would use them instead if they fit especially since they cost the same. I currently have the power in my sig (509 SAE corrected) so figured if I gain a little power I am still not going to be at around 700 since I don't see me making near 600whp even with these and a refined more aggresive tune, which in that case even the smaller cores should do. I am trying to figure out the dimensions of the SLR cores to see what they are closest to.

 

+1 I'm with Bramage and blackbenz

Good luck with your build if you decide to go through with it.

I had these built for a few grand 3 years ago which were flow tested at 565 hp each but decided to scrap them due to design flaws which caused turbulence and known resistance at high RPMs. They were fine for the average guy, but I wanted them to be perfect and for all out HP which these didn't make the cut. The ECU also freaked out and had trouble tuning it. I found out that the cheapest way is not always the best way and left it up to the professionals. That's why I contacted Evosport. Plus, in addition to performing well they needed to look professional which these didn't. This is just my opinion though..

 

Think I remember seeing that 2nd pic around at one time or another.

 

In addition to building mine, Vadim built these for the V6K, but decided to scrap them due to design flaws and tuning issues.

 

Curious what these tuning issues are about you said you had, you said the ecu freaked out, what do you mean? After your setup was installed the car didn't run right under boost? A little odd that something could have been going wrong as long as you had your sensors moved off of the old spot and on to one of the new cores.

 

It would go into limp mode at higher RPMs. Still not sure what the cause was from and I didn't have the brightest guys working on it at the time so I gave up or held off on trying. RENNteck, MKB, and a few fab shops have pulled it off successfully and probably the first time around, but at a high cost to the customer.

I know the SLR has a program in it's ECU to monitor the coolers temp and air flow which I though was pretty neat and something we'll never have.

 

Turbulent airflow can cause havoc (no pun intended) which is why I like the fact that Evosport is doing indepth design. I believe this may have been part of it...







...

 

Hey!!

I agree. Upon viewing my old coolers, evosport said that they would need to be reshaped and tested or a new set must be built from a computer design program with air flow in mind to ensure proper airflow and reduce turbulence/resonance especially at high RPMs.