[Mk2] [Turbo] eBay aftermarket intercooler thoughts

[Tedtiler]

Hi guys,

Did a search trying to find out whether this xspower side mounted intercooler is gonna be any use on a road car. Not too much real world answers.
Its on a std ct26 at a bar boost. Used with the shroud obviously.

Apart from helping with heat soak does it actually lower intake temps? Having taken out a std intercooler before I really don't want to unless it's worth my while.

Raymond

[laze]

If you're going to upgrade your intercooler, save your pennies and buy a GReddy, Spearco or HKS unit - buy cheap, buy twice!

[dan mkii]

There fine mate. Just put the shroud and upgraded fan on it .

Only bad bit is that the cold pipe dosent fit all that well .

I just brought a silicone 90° Bend and a 45° of the cooler and cut the original pipe down and it fits perfect.

[Nic]

http://www.imoc.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=172895

I'd do what this member has done and look for a good quality 2nd hand branded IC, rather than a cheap new one.

[Ryan S]

nothing wrong with them, ran one on my old rev2 for 5 years, never had lugs break etc... i believe it's still on the car with the new owner and still going strong, that car has run 1 bar of boost for around 7 years now with that same intercooler, they are much better than stock. having said that, i don't have a cheap one on my current rev3 but if i was on a budget i wouldn't have a second thought about buying one of the ebay ones again

[Tedtiler]

Cheers chaps. Used to have a few starlet turbos and it's little top mount intercooler is about the same size as the mr2, and they are only a 1.3 with a turbo half the size.

[RyanRs]

If you're going to upgrade your intercooler, save your pennies and buy a GReddy, Spearco or HKS unit - buy cheap, buy twice!

Correct for quite a few things but not for IC's.

Made 570bhp on a £90 12x24x4 with shizen end tanks. Just about to upgrade to a 12x24x4.5 with huge end tanks at a cost of £170.

HKS, Greddy, ARC ... £1500+ ill stick with my £170 ebay jobbie thanks.

[mrturbotom]

Another member made 350bhp on his xspower ic swapped it for a greddy and made no improvement

[Ryan S]

i think the fact that they are fairly simple to make/copy or whatever makes them cheap, greddy etc are just taking the utter mickey...nice to hear about some bigger builds using them though, that alone speak volumes

[Ethan21]

It a piece of metal that has no moving parts as said its easy to copy there fine like others have said just buy a good fan

I wouldn't bother with the kit the core is fine but the hoses pipes and clamps are crap,

[RyanRs]

What the more expensive brands have is extensive flow testing to ensure the IC is as efficient as can be whilst being as unrestrictive to the airflow as possible. You will also find that the dearer ones have a superior design inside giving better heat exchange from the air to the metal. Cheap ones use the typical 'Bar and plate' design. Yes, a ARC IC of £1500 will out perform a 'bar and plate' ebay copy thats £190 but not to the extent where its worth £1310 more! tbh if you could compare the two and found the ebay one to produce IAT's that are for argument sake, 25% hotter, then it would be far far cheaper just to sort out the difference with a meth/water WI kit.

[Ryan S]

yeah it's silly money, imagine the chargecooler or bootmount you could get for that money!

[Nic]

Put a cheap Chinese copy IC next to a genuine HKS, GReddy, Blitz, ARC IC and the differences are obvious, better construction, finish, core design, end tank design/construction, quality of the piping and silicon couplers.

Back to back tests of the inlet and outlet temps and pressures would show the branded IC's are more efficient at cooling the charge temps, with less pressure loss.

Whether they are worth the extra though is up to the buyer.

[Ryan S]

Put a cheap Chinese copy IC next to a genuine HKS, GReddy, Blitz, ARC IC and the differences are obvious, better construction, finish, core design, end tank design/construction, quality of the piping and silicon couplers.

Back to back tests of the inlet and outlet temps and pressures would show the branded IC's are more efficient at cooling the charge temps, with less pressure loss.

Whether they are worth the extra though is up to the buyer.

the core aside, you could get proper 1 piece pipes fabbed up from scratch from polished stainless for the difference in price.

[Odin_S]

Is ARC the same as the Phoenix power IC?

[T.F.S.]

The stock intercooler with the addition of a WI kit will outperform the cheap ebay or the overpriced greddy units 99/100 cases.

[Ryan S]

The stock intercooler with the addition of a WI kit will outperform the cheap ebay or the overpriced greddy units 99/100 cases.

That's not one intercooler outperformimg another, that's WI outperforming an intercooler.

[T.F.S.]

The stock intercooler with the addition of a WI kit will outperform the cheap ebay or the overpriced greddy units 99/100 cases.

That's not one intercooler outperformimg another, that's WI outperforming an intercooler.

Well spotted, any other blindingly obvious observations you have to point out?

[Nic]

Is ARC the same as the Phoenix power IC?

Not the same but both companies make very good quality parts, see IC pics here

http://www.mr2.com/forums/turbo-engine- ... olers.html

[Ryan S]

The stock intercooler with the addition of a WI kit will outperform the cheap ebay or the overpriced greddy units 99/100 cases.

That's not one intercooler outperformimg another, that's WI outperforming an intercooler.

Well spotted, any other blindingly obvious observations you have to point out?

No, i will say that the stock intercooler with the addition of a chargecooler will outperform any ebay or greddy intercooler though