Which ebay Intercooler would you buy?
 

Hi to all,

which of these two kinds of intercooler would you buy for a greddy (or greddy like) turbo setup? (low psi for around 170 bhp). (mx5 1.6 NBFL, 2001)

1. eBay Motors: Turbo Intercooler 18x12x3 GTi R32 A3 A4 Supra MX5 TT xB (item 290291069169 end time Feb-07-09 18:00:00 PST)

2. eBay Motors: CXRacing INTERCOOLER MIATA RX7 RX8 GTI FMIC 28x5.5x2.5 (item 300285172269 end time Feb-04-09 23:17:00 PST)

TIA!

Do you have A/C?

I've got the one from the first pic, but from CXracing. I have A/C and it fits fine

The wide one will fit under the a/c drier can. There's drawbacks to both. The wide one will show a greater pressure drop. The tall one has less than ideal end tank shape and inlet location which will hurt efficiency. Neither are tube and fin - which is preferred if you're trying to retain some air flow to the other exchangers (specifically if you have a/c).

I thought bar/plate gave the best heat dispersion, wouldn't that be the #1 concern in an intercooler, instead of how inefficient it was? The tall one fits fine with my dryer.

If you're car is overheating due a lack of air flow to a/c condenser and radiator, then that's the priority. But somewhere on here Jason (I think) showed an improvement in all aspects running tube and fin over his old bar and plate. My only point was that the tube and fin allows more air to pass to the other exchangers, which is important to some installs that have typical exchanger stack up front with limited radiator exposure.

Rob; would you happen to have a link to what you call "tube and fin"?

Sorry, as you know, English is my second language :confused:

thanx for the info.
Yes I have A/C and didnt think about the air I would block with these kind of intercoolers.... Since my country is rather "hot" I should keep searching...

thnx again!

Take it in the @$$???


j/k


First off, please go to the Meet and Greet Section in the "Beginners Luck" forum and start a thread introducing yourself and your car.

Please put you location in your profile, and state year model, displacement, and any mods in your signature.

Then try the search function up top as I have seen several intercooler builds and reviews in just the past couple of months.

The CXRacing ones off of eGay tend to be favored for the price. Mine came with a kit, and doesn't even fill half the grill, so I don't have to worry about blocking airflow to the other exchangers.

there's a lots of info and pics here:
ARE Cooling (Aluminium Radiators & Engineering P/L)
ARE Cooling (Aluminium Radiators & Engineering P/L)

As you can see, it's far more technical that just this or that. But my point was that somebody for a Miata had found improvements for cooling w/o loosing the actual intake air efficiency of the cooler.

I have number 2. While under full boost, my IAT's consistently run about 20 degrees over ambient in the Summer or Winter. To keep the coolant temps down, I modified my stock under tray and bumper support to keep the air flow going through the exchangers and not around it. I didn't have any issues the past Summer with or without the A/C running. In the future, I would like to get a newer FMIC to try and bring down the IAT's a bit, but I am content with what I have at this point.

Thanks for that info. I was finding it impossible to use my A/C and that is a no no in this kind of climate. I'm using the Begi IC for the S5 kit and I find it too large for my needs.

I'd like to see a pic of yours when it's installed. I also have the PWR radiator and I'm curious to see how you avoid blocking the airflow. Can your IC be that much smaller than mine?

Thanks

Any pics?

They say a picture is worth a thousand words! ;)

Id go with #2 simply because it looks better....call me an idiot, but I cannot STAND the way the tiny ones look. so gay:giggle:

Right now Im running a 29x9x3 CXRacing FMIC (bar and plate). Previously I was using an old FM/Begi FMIC (Tube and fin). The old IC was actually better that the one Im using now even though it was smaller. My IAT's didn't change at all with the new one, but because its larger and probably because it's bar and plate my CLT's went up. I wasn't getting enough flow into the radiator. The only reason I changed it was because the old one was just nasty looking.

OLD Vs NEW
Attachment 208474

OLD
Attachment 208475

NEW
Attachment 208476
__________________
Best Car Insurance | Auto Protection Today | FREE Trade-In Quote

Lev, thanks for that comment, maybe I will mount it after all and ditch my huge 18x12x3 core :P


I do admit, filling the mouth with a shiny new one does look awesome.

Rafa, I can get you some pics. I have the IC painted black for the sleeper look. Give me a few minutes.

I don't want to hear shit about the baby teeth. That being said, here are the pics.


PIC 1/2 shows the front radiator/bumper support thing was trimmed to make room for the the intercooler. I kept the stock mounting points for it, and trimmed off just enough of the sides to clear the pipes, but enough to keep the airflow guided through the radiator, not around it.

PIC 3 shows the bottom of the IC and the front shroud that was trimmed. The top of the pic is the front of the car.

PIC 4 is the front right of the engine under tray. The front part was left untouched. You can see the original mounting holes.

PIC 5/6 is the hot side and cold side pipes. The under tray was trimmed liberally in some spots to make clearance.

looks very stock, nice!

Thanks!

It sure looks like it's really low. You don't have any scraping issues?

Sorry to bother but; would you happen to have a pic from inside the engine bay?

I need to find a solution for mine now since I'm going to have to take the engine out.

The car is lowered all the way around with Tokicos. The FMIC does not hang lower than the front bumper. The engine tray is secured to all the mounting points except the front. What do you want to see? How the IC was mounted?

Yes. BTW, which radiator are you using? The stock one?

Yes, original to the car.
Basically, the IC was mounted using a variation of the Stripes Pipes method. I will get you some more pics this evening. I will need to bundle up! It only got up to 56 in Tampa today! :fawk: take that Yankee peeps.

I'm freezing my ass off. I'm wearing long johns tomorrow. This 50*F crap is for yankees.

No shit; I still remember when I was there in 76. In January it went down to much lower than 40 degrees. And I was so smart that I had decided to shave my beard for the first time in more than 7 years just before going back to Tampa! Plus, I was going to school on a friend's borrowed bycicle almost every morning. :bang:

Shit; now that I remember, my only other mode of transportation was the Bug Eye that same friend had lent me. The soft top was a piece of rag!

Good times :)

I love Tampa :ughug:

For the record; to all the Yankees: it's 85 degrees right now locally :fawk:

Here ya go.

Pics 1 and 2 show the location of the mounting bolts that mount the IC hangers to the body of the car. The hole in PIC 1 is an existing hole. The hole in PIC 2 was made with my drill.

PIC 3 shows the complete radiator cover. The is the factory unit.

Like I mentioned before I do not get any overheating at all. It may not be the best looking, but it works.

Work to do still. I need to clock the compressor and redo the hotside pipes and then move the intake. Although, my intake temps close to ambient, they can be lowered if I move the filter from that point. I fashioned that intake shield from metal I had laying around. I lined the exterior with DEI tape. That little deal there shaved off some temp degrees.

I have the second one...I mounted it as centered in the front "mouth" as I could-had to loosen the clamp for the AC drier and move it up-not too bad-the aluminum tubing is fairly flexible just don't over due it. I did do that when the weather was warm so that might have helped. Anyway, here are pics. It was fairly easy to mount-I just got a piece of flat stiff metal from Home Depot and mounted the IC to that using the bolt standoffs up top-then bolted the bar of metal into one of the baby teeth holes on each side. I then ran a smaller piece of flat metal from the bottom of the IC to a bolt standoff on my mishimoto radiator to stabalize it-it doesn't move around at all. I then got some $8 landscape fencing and made a mesh type covering to finish off the front and put a light coat of flat black on the IC and painted the fencing heavily with black off the car. I want a stealth look. It looks better in person-the flash of my camera makes it look like crap-my car is dirty too.

Also, I'm planning to drill and tap a 3/8" hole in the intercooler for my IAT sensor-where is the best place to put it? I was just going to put it in one of the side caps of course, but should I tap it where the sensor will be in the middle of where air flows out the outlet? Or just anywhere on the outlet side is fine? Thanks!

:bigtu:Many, many thanks.

Good work!

Well, then if business gets better, I'm coming down there next year for a vacation during the winter!

You're welcome to come any time! :)

If you happen to be a golfer, you'll be pleasantly surprised ;)

It looks like my poor car has a buck tooth. :(