Keeping Bugs Out of my Intercooler: Need a Net or Something

I've got a screen in my hood scoop that keep all the bugs out. It's actually installed UNDER the hood, between the hood scoop gasket and the bottom of the hood. It's just normal aluminum window screen material, took about an hour to fit it, and cost maybe a buck. I do have to blow the bugs out of it once in a while, though they tend to move to the back of the screen and not really block it. And my intercooler looks like new after 25,000 miles.

Might look tacky, but there are "bug deflectors" that mount near the front of the hood and deflect the airflow so that bugs go over the roof rather than hit the windshield (or the hood scoop).

The scoop relies on the speed of the car to feed cool air to the intercooler because there is no fan in there. If a hood deflector changed the airflow up over the scoop, and reduced the efficiency of the intercooler, the temperature of the air going into the cylinder could increase by a couple of degrees. That may be something you could see with a dyno. You probably won't feel much difference though.

I've driven my (58,000 mi)'02 WRX through Vermont and New Hampshire at the height of bug season. If I didn't keep smearing dead bugs with my windshield wipers, my front glass would have become opaque in less than

30 minutes. But I've found that very few actually end up stuck in the intercooler fins. Some big dragonflies and beetles get caught there once in a great while, but they are easy enough to pick off the top. I've actually been surprised by how little debris gets caught. On the other hand, my front radiator looks like it did battle with the bugs and lost as many rounds as it won.

Are the bugs in your locale really getting stuck? I'm used to dealing with fairly small mosquitoes and black flies, the state birds for VT and NH. Plus my '02-'03 scoops are not as pronounced as the '04+, especially the STI.

-Byron

I went to Home Depot and got some material that is used to cover gutters on your house. It has small diamond shaped holes and is made from wire that is large enough that you can bend it over your intercooler to hold it into place. It cost a couple of bucks and I suspect it doesn't block much air either. Jim

get one of the intercooler water spray kits and fill it with bug spray! TG

Did same, and it's a great solution. I cut a length to jus sit inside the IC rim. Leave the existing curve as is and it's fine. I black vinyl dipped mine.

That gutter guard (about $3 for 6x36" length) is good for making a grille for the lower intake, too. Primed & spray painted flat black, just use some closed-cell black foam to retain it at each end and in the center...mine hasn't shifted a bit in over 6 months, including runs over 110.