The way I came across this V-Mount was via a slight course of serendipity. Back when I was trying to sell my XD-9’s, I was in communication with another member on RX7Club who was interested in trading me a rear brake kit. The brakes ended up not being the exact ones I wanted, but during the process I discovered that he had a new Defined Autoworks V-Mount kit laying around. I think he went with an LSx swap and no longer needed it, so I bought it.
The kit was missing all of the small hardwares and radiator hoses. I had to piece them together myself through Defined and McMaster-Carr. In the end, it was still worth the effort and risk because I didn’t have to wait for the whole kit to be made.
I was pleasantly surprised with the design and fitment of the V-Mount, which made the installation uneventful, for the most part. Of course there were a few minor things I had to modify, like dropping the oil coolers’ hardlines to clear the radiator and trimming down the aluminum ducts.
Here is the Koyo radiator mounted, which is now positioned at a transverse angle in comparison to stock.
With this setup, I was forced to switch to a slimmer 14″ single fan. The stock dual fans were far too thick, and I probably would have had to run new oil cooler lines to fit them, as well as extend an outlet on the radiator to clear. Furthermore, the fans now sit on the bottom of the radiator, facing the ground. A thick fan would impede height clearance. The single fan is currently mounted with push-through zip ties, but I plan on looking into a hard mount solution in the future.
Once the radiator was situated, the intercooler then goes on. The assembly is connected together with a pair of steel brackets that sit on rubber isolators.
Next comes the ducting.
Here is a look at the “V” that is created, which maximizes air flow to both the radiator and intercooler.
It is plainly obvious why a V-Mount is superior to alternative setups. A Stock Mount just isn’t as efficient of a package and a Front Mount sacrifices radiator air flow plus requires long intercooler piping.
I’m still in the middle of making the intercooler piping, but at least the engine bay is now looking much more complete.
Once you get this beast running I’d be interested in some of your intake temps running this setup. I’d been eyeing this setup for my eventual single turbo as it’s the best priced V-Mount setup out there.
Defined is fairly local to me and I’ve seen some of their cars in person. They do good work and their 20B P-Ports sound awesome. I’d expect no different from this setup.
You got it, I’m interested in finding out as well. From other owners I’ve talked to, it seems like both IATs and water temps are very low, so we’ll see!
I have the Defined V-Mount on my single turbo FD, I can attest to how great of a performer it is. I don’t recall ever seeing a water temp above 90*C, and IAT’s are usually 3-5* above ambient. When my water/meth comes on, drastic reduction. Overheating is a thing of the past with a v-mount.