From your post it appears as if you're referring to the stock stretch IC's that use the stock core vs the PTE etc stock location IC's.
The stock core sucks and would get annihilated by a bee hive with two end tanks on it. Ok maybe not but a lot of street car GN's like the stock locations like the PTE to save on cooling mods. The FMIC does have a performance advantage and Cottons new FMIC saw less than a 10 degree change in temps at WOT from start to finish so no stock location is going to compete with that.
Stock location, but purely for superficial reasons, the engine bay reminds me of a 75 Chevy Truck with all that space in there, plus the intercooler is a damned good looking piece.
With my frontmount I removed the A/C, and mounted my trans cooer in front of the rad, Also scraped the condensor at the scrap yard for some decent money:smile:
Just a little food for thought...... I prefer front mounts, nothing beats em for all around performance. The sticky issue over the years is engine coolant temp...... today, that is not an issue. Consider the fact that 20 year old radiators need to be replaced, technology today has several aluminum cored units available which when used pretty much takes care of any cooling concerns anyone would have. We recently came out with a new American made aluminum radiator that we have tested in several cars with our new front mounts and have basically found coolant temps running in the 160-170's with stock or dual fans. When used with a dual fan the temps are amazing. With that said, I can't imagine using a stock location IC for a high powered application. To sum it up, if you have a stock poorly performing radiator, a stock location IC is not going to fix it, take care of the radiator and you can use whatever you want for an IC...