Is a front mount intercooler setup worth the hassle and costs on an MY05 RS Impreza?

Question

I have a MY05 Subaru RS Impreza and I wanted to do a Front mount intercooler setup on it. It has Motegi Racing FF7 18's, slotted discs, front and rear strut braces, lowered kings and a 2.5" system into a cannon for the exhaust so it wont be the only mod. Will it be worth the hassle and costs doing this project? Thanks for your help.

Answer 1

A top mount is pretty efficient for cooling for most smaller turbo's.  I guess it depends on your plans as far as changing turbo's in the future.  If your end goal is something like an 18G or 20G size turbo, I would just upgrade to a bigger top mount.  If you plan on going bigger then a front mount will help.  

Answer 2

If you are only planning on running a 2.5" exhaust their will be no need for a frount mount since if you go bigger turbo ever you will need to upgrade to a larger 3" exhaust since that 2.5" will be a bottleneck and you will end up losing power. A larger TMIC is good enough to withstand up to 400 hp, I would only upgrade to a fmic if you are doing some serious driving where the TMIC would get heatsoaked then it would be beneftial to run the fmic.

Answer 3

I hope that was a typo and you mean WRX.

The RS models have no turbo for you to connect a front (or top mount) intercooler to. And even with a wrx or STI you don't really need a front mount till you upgrade to a 20G or go rotated. Stock intercooler is good till about 350 or so on an STI.

If you're unsure what an intercooler does I suggest you do some research into it first before you start spending on mods you don't need (or can't use). For quick reference simply adding an intercooler doesn't add HP per se, but rather cools the air charge for better boost efficiency.  

On an NA car you have no turbo so it is in all practicality useless, you may be thinking of a cold or short air intake. Not an intercooler.