Beat the heat. It’s that simple. The fundamental formula to get more power out of an engine, especially a turbocharged one, is to flow cooler and denser air into it.
When Honda developed the latest Generation of Civic and Integra, they developed an intercooler system that supported their goals - around 200 horsepower. However, as we push for more power, we quickly find the intercooler to be a major bottleneck in the engines flow and thus potential power.
27WON not only set out to design the most performance oriented front mount intercooler(FMIC) and piping system for the 11th Gen Civic and 5th Gen Integra 1.5T, but one that truly blows all the others out of the water with best in class flow and thermal efficiency. This FMIC has features you will not find anywhere else!
Read below to see exactly how we accomplished that.
THE TOTAL PACKAGE. Our goal here is to deliver a complete drop-in FMIC kit that would take out all the weak points in the stock system and leave no questions as to how much power you could make. That meant we maximized the size of the intercooler core, crafted end tanks with built in heat sinks and vortex generators to set this FMIC aside from anything else on the market. We then rounded it off with a complete set of larger charge pipes so you don’t have to buy anything additional.
Yes, this FMIC includes a complete set of charge pipes too!
When we say REDEFINE, we really mean it and this Front Mount is going to perform like nothing else out there. Give your 11th Gen Civic or 5th Gen Integra 1.5T the FMIC it deserves!
The primary function of an intercooler is to reduce intake air charge temps. As compressed air exits the turbocharger, it’s really hot! It then hits the hot side of the intercooler and here is where the importance of having an optimized package comes into play.
The stock FMIC does fine for stock power levels, but even then, it starts to heat soak after a few pulls. Not going to work for us! Heatsoak happens when a part like an intercooler gets saturated with heat from the engine bay or atmospheric temps. This impacts the ability of the intercooler to do its main job which is to cool air. And this in turns robs power.
As you can see above, when testing the 27WON intercooler, we see temps drop from an average of 311F down to ~95F or close to ambient in this round of testing. We know the OEM core simply cannot match the way the 27WON core cools down charge air.
Yellow Line= IAT Pre 27WON FMIC
Blue Line= IAT Post 27WON FMIC
When other companies on the market say they have performance intercoolers, that may be true, but that doesn’t mean much.A larger intercooler core is pointless if you do not efficiently optimize how the air enters so that the entire core is utilized for cooling.
Bring in the vortex generators. These 3 angled bumps keep the air moving optimally through the FMIC inlet by getting it to spin. Air is forced to go over a larger surface area giving more space for heat to be rejected so that the entire FMIC core can be used to cool down charge temps and not just part of it. Sure, you can have a big intercooler, but if you’re not using most of it, why even bother?
We want ultimate performance for our upgraded intercooler so no parts were left untouched, not even the boost tubes. The OEM rubber boost hoses are weak. Push more boost through them and they begin to flex and collapse.
We opted to add 27WON boost hoses that are constructed of 4-ply reinforced silicone.We then added integrated wire reinforcement to these for even more strength and durability. So, next time you mash the gas and call for all that boost, you’ll know it’ll be right there when you need it.
Every 27WON Intercooler and Piping kit includesstainless steel T-bolt clamps, nuts, bolts, and brackets for a complete and organized install without having to run around for parts.
Did you also know we offer amobile appfor all of our installations so you can pull up step-by-step details in real time? Just head to yourGoogle Play or Apple App Storeand download theFREE Dozuki appso the next time you’re installing a 27WON part, the complete instructions are at your fingertips.
Strapped to our 2022 Honda Civic Si and 2023 Acura Integra A-Spec, we put the ultimate 27WON FMIC through the ringer to get dyno-proven power numbers on paper. After all, what are all these innovative features worth if you can’t make any more power!
Well, the 27WON FMIC made power and boy did it make lots of it. Just take a look at this graph while testing our FE1 Si.
Solid Purple Lineis the OEM intercooler system
Dotted Green Lineis the 27WON intercooler system
No tuning changes were made and the only other mod on the vehicle was a cat-back exhaust. Drop-in results alone provided+20WTQ and +15WHP at ~4100 RPM.Those are crazy numbers.
Not only that, but the 27WON FMIC made more power everywhere after 3400RPM and using less boost too! That’s unbelievable! Get a custom tune for this FMIC and you are talking about gains so high you'll wish you got this FMIC even sooner.
Pressures drops are bad, that’s the short of it. Every time you move air, especially in a closed system such as in a boosted turbocharged engine application, you want as little pressure drop as possible. Think of a pressure drop as simply losing boost pressure. Every system will have some loss due to physics, but the smaller the loss, the better.
By testing various core densities and lengths we were able to reduce the pressure drop down to less than 1psi thus improving overall performance. This helps decrease spool time because the turbocharger does not have to work as hard.Faster spool = better response. We know from previous testing that a typical OEM FMIC designed for the L15 engine has pressure drops of at least double that!
Solid Yellow Line= PSI Pre FMIC
Solid Blue Line= PSI Post FMIC
The frontal area of the intercooler core is a critical dimension to increase the cooling capacity of the intercooler. The OE ~4.5” height is not sufficient,we increased the height 18%to ~5.3”.Length was increased from ~24” to ~28.9”, a 20% increase. This resulted in atotal core volume increase of 41%.
Air will take the path of least resistanceso how you direct the airflow into the Intercooler is super critical and almost always overlooked on other systems. This is a big reason for our cast end tanks. These airfoils are very difficult to practically impossible to have on billet end tanks. We’veintegrated airfoils(highlighted in blue above) that drastically improve the efficiency of the intercooler thus releasing more power and potential. They work bydistributing airthrough the FMIC so that the entire core is used more evenly rather than a biased flow typical of an inlet end tank without airfoils.
Passive heat extraction.Integrated heat sinks on the end tanks work to pull out more heat than traditional flat billet end tanks. That’s because most heat transfer occurs at the edges and a smooth end tank is not very good at heat extraction.
We tested various iterations of these heatsinks in simulation models and were able to see average temp decreases of 9 degrees F!with them affixed. That’s like a 2-3 WHP difference right there just because of this one feature you will likely not find on any other FMIC on the planet. Remember, cooler denser air makes more power so we can expect a 1% bump in power for every 10 degrees drop in temps.
Unlike other options out there that skimp, the27WON Intercooler kit comes complete with intercooler, piping, and silicone boost tubes.The piping was specifically designed for the L15 engine found in the 11th Gen Civic Sedan and Hatch and also the latest generation Acura Integras.
A single silicone boost tube is used on the “hotside” and a 2.75 inch cold pipe is used on the “coldside” along with two separate silicone boost tubes that direct the air out of the FMIC into the intake manifold.
The hotside boost tube will support wellover 500whpand its smaller size helps move the hot boosted airflow out of the turbo and through the intercooler more quickly thusimproving response. The larger 2.75 inch cold pipe was optimized to create alarge “plenum” of air just ahead of the throttle body. This helps reduce turbo lag and improve transient response.
Install Requires relocating ambient temperature sensor. Instructions provided
Install also requires minor trimming on the plastic around the core support
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This downpipe has been one of my favorite upgrades to the FL5. Installation went smoothly although I had one issue with the heatshield where the holes didn't fully line up with the DP. Otherwise, would've given 5 stars.
