I banged up my e-bay bar and plate style intercooler and charge pipes... need to replace. I understand that there are other, more efficient intercoolers available; internal baffeling, etc.

Q: I understand that you need to use fairly small charge pipes at the intercooler entry in order to keep up the velocity. What size piping is best for a 200rwhp miata?

Q: My last intercooler was $125. I have found some offering baffeling for $500. Is it worth the extra money?

Q: With a little fab work, I have the ability to use a much larger intercooler. Is bigger better?

Thx cj

 

For 200whp, why would you not just throw another egay unit on?

 

2.25" pipes should do it. 2" pipes will be also alright but you'll lose some efficiency. The rule of thumbs that i use is check the outlet size of your turbo. Go with the next bigger size available.

 

For only 200? There's going to be benefit going to a baller intercooler, but you're in the realm of not a big impact most likely. How old was that ebay IC, I never had any experience with them in the past but I heard they've improved vastly in the last couple year. IMO the CX racing one I bought doesnt look half bad, it just has like 20 pounds of cast aluminum end tanks exquisitely tig welded by Chinese children to the core.

I cant find the chart now for IC piping sizes but IRRC 2" ic piping doesnt restrict flow until around 400hp and 2.5 until around 800.

 

The number of fins and passages is far more important that the size of the assembly itself. You can have a small intercooler that will outperform a larger model if it is designed well.

Ebay Intercooler:


Precision Intercooler:


You can see that the precision intercooler has more actual cooling area than the ebay version, although they are roughly the same size outer dimension, so bigger being better is relative to the internal construction and not the external size.

That said, as I understand it the ebay cheapo version is more than enough cooling for almost all applications.

 

The main problem is with mismatching sizes. For example having a turbo outlet that is 2.5" and you tossing a 2" pipe on it.

 

That is a dramatic difference! I would like to get the best parts while still being reasonable matched to my application/horsepower levels.

One problem that I do have, which I would like to improve is moderate heat soaking after 20 mins of track time, which causes my ecu to begin pulling timing. It's always a drag to have less power at the end of the race.

Is "precision intercooler" a brand name, or just a reference? What does this look like? http://www.bellengineering.net/product_info.php?cPath=4_25&products_id=145

 

Precision is a brand. I only use them as a reference because I had a good picture. They're comparable to Mishimoto, who I would personally go with if I was going to drop any serious amount of money on one, but for my daily driven 1.6, the ebay special is just fine.

http://www.precisionturbo.net/heat-exchangers/

 

Is it true that you want to start out small, say 2" (for a 2" outlet), then graduate the size to 2.25 or 2.5 after the intercooler?

 

For the least efficiency loss match the pipe from the turbo to the intercooler with the turbo outlet, and then match the pipe from the intercooler to the throttle body with the throttle body.

 

Thank you all; I did order the misimoto 28"x7.5"x2.5".

I found that my existing Garrett 2860 turbo outlet was 2" and the OEM piping was only 1/3/4. I will increase this to 2" and will use 2 1/2" after the intercooler. Thank you for helping me choose an appropriate intercooler and size the plumbing properly.

 

Mishimoto core

While I did end up ordering the Mishimoto, it turns out not to have the same high efficiency/ high density heat exchanger core as the Precision inter-cooler viewed previously.

It looks to be a nice piece. I'm sure it will perform just fine for my application.

 

With a 28" long intercooler you'll be fine even with the less cooling fins lol.

 

That looks on par, maybe a touch worse than the cx racing unit. And the welds inside the cx racing unit looked better.

 

I don't know where the stupid lies about mishimoto being similar to precision came from..

..But you should stop blindly spreading them

Mishimoto = rebranded ebay crap
Precision = proper intercooler

Doesn't mean the mishi won't work or get the job done, but to compare them is an insult to quality intercoolers everywhere.

 

Late to the party. I would have recommended the 28x7x2.5 Ebay/Cxracing special, which are about $70 shipped. Tube and fin, good enough for 200rwhp, and cheap enough to keep an extra in the trailer and treat it as a wear item.

 

Really?

I haven't bought anything from them in about 6 or 7 years, but back then they were pretty good parts. Have they gotten that bad?

 

Mishimoto has always been a knockoff. Just like all the ebay fmics. Its not crap, but its nowhere near precision.

Heck even Vibrant is better then Mishi. Its still way less efficient design, but much sturdier and higher quality metals and welding.