06-18-2024, 01:25 PM
I have a 2002 Subaru WRX wagon that no longer have a top mount intercooler. I decided to go FMIC (front mount intercooler). the stock hood scoop then became useless since it was no longer bringing in air to the TMIC.
There was once a company that made reverse hood scoops that brought in cold air to cool the hot side of the turbo and on the other side of the scoop hot air was released. ARC no longer exists and their parts are all considered rare and now super expensive.
I decided that since i was heavily into 3D printing, that I would take a stab at designing my own part and also printing it. I reached out to a friend in the UK to help me with designing the scoop.
What i did was take the OEM scoop. trace the bottom of the scoop on a piece of carboard. I was able scan the cut out the the design process started. I also took some measurements to make sure it was exact.
Once we were satisfied by the design. I printed out a small piece to see how it would fit. Well it fit exactly.
THe scoop was too big for my two main printers i use. I have a CR10-S5 with a 500mm bed size and a Wahnao D9 MK2 with a bed size of 300mm. I had to split the part into 3 parts. Each part took about 15 hours to print.
Once i printed the 3 parts, I used platic JBweld to attach the 3 pieces together. I then added some fiberglass bondo to strengthen even more.
One thing I really wanted to do, was make sure the the part was carbon fiber like the original ARC reverse scoop. I did not want to try this myself. I ended up finding a guy on facebook who was based out of Cali. I sent him my 3D part for him to use as mold. This was not also infused carbon like most companies do now a days. This company still does the old fashion way and hand lays the cabon on. The scoops were now made of a couple layers of kevlar with a couple of layers of carbon. This also made the part super strong. I was super pleased with the finished product. The company sent me three scoops. 1 was just normal fiberglass/kevlar. and two carbon fiber pieces.
There was once a company that made reverse hood scoops that brought in cold air to cool the hot side of the turbo and on the other side of the scoop hot air was released. ARC no longer exists and their parts are all considered rare and now super expensive.
I decided that since i was heavily into 3D printing, that I would take a stab at designing my own part and also printing it. I reached out to a friend in the UK to help me with designing the scoop.
What i did was take the OEM scoop. trace the bottom of the scoop on a piece of carboard. I was able scan the cut out the the design process started. I also took some measurements to make sure it was exact.
Once we were satisfied by the design. I printed out a small piece to see how it would fit. Well it fit exactly.
THe scoop was too big for my two main printers i use. I have a CR10-S5 with a 500mm bed size and a Wahnao D9 MK2 with a bed size of 300mm. I had to split the part into 3 parts. Each part took about 15 hours to print.
Once i printed the 3 parts, I used platic JBweld to attach the 3 pieces together. I then added some fiberglass bondo to strengthen even more.
One thing I really wanted to do, was make sure the the part was carbon fiber like the original ARC reverse scoop. I did not want to try this myself. I ended up finding a guy on facebook who was based out of Cali. I sent him my 3D part for him to use as mold. This was not also infused carbon like most companies do now a days. This company still does the old fashion way and hand lays the cabon on. The scoops were now made of a couple layers of kevlar with a couple of layers of carbon. This also made the part super strong. I was super pleased with the finished product. The company sent me three scoops. 1 was just normal fiberglass/kevlar. and two carbon fiber pieces.