Intercooler Time!
 

Hey guys, it has come to the point in my build that it is time to buy my intercooler parts, I have heard of some of you guys running Starion IC's, and some running ebay pieces.. Just trying to get some advice on what is ideal for my build.. I''m looking for 225-250whp street car,1.6, T25 turbo, 420cc injectors, MSpnp2, custom mani, blah blah...All help appreciated, you guys have definitely helped a bunch with this build. Thanks in advance.

next stupid lazy thread gets a ban
you're nearing the quota

Asking advice, for being new.. Will get me banned?

You're being lazy. Stop posting and go read. Building a 200-250whp miata has been done many times, and there are multiple people that have documented how they did it. I know there are threads here talking about intercoolers, I have posted in them and many others have as well.

Which is fine, but so rudely threatening someone to ban them is unnesccesary, I have read, and I've heard from both sides, and I asked a question, to get new input... Is that not one of the points of a forum? And instead some people act like they just caught me banging their wife or something, I don't understand it. But from now on, I will read the entire forum before I commit the sin of asking a question.

Buy my Vibrant intercooler and piping

i haven't heard mention of a starion IC for about 6 years. wow.

did someone use the way-back machine and start reading the greddy turbo site?

Do this OP and then go read...

Remember, no one's going to lose any sleep over it if you blow your engine because you refused to read anything and wanted to be spoonfed...

Sending pm psyber_0pitx.. Thanks to some of y'all.

Stop being butt hurt, you turd. You didn't research at all. Last time someone put a starion intercooler on a miata we had a white president.

I'm not being butt hurt man I'm just dealing with a bunch of stuff, my mom just died last week and my dad had a brain aneurysm last night and I'm not sure if he's gonna be a vegetable or not and have a lot of stuff on me and just don't wanna be given more negativity... And I know no one here gives a shit about that cuz most of y'all have parents still... Just stressful ya know? Not trying to throw a pity party nor do I want anyone to feel sorry or anything... Just stating why I'm coming across as "butt hurt" we all have problems, and yes I did do research, that's how I even heard of the starion IC.

That's terrible. Hope things get better for you and your family.

​​​​​​​I thank you, just really really been a rough 7 days and to top, it's almost Christmas, weak ones turn to drugs or alcohol to deal with such issues, and I'm just trying to finish my car as a getaway, again, I genuinely appreciate well wishes.

Welcome to the forum.

I actually wouldn't think a fellow could find a Starion anything these days.

I wish you some comfort in your mind through all your hardships. I know you came here to divert your thoughts from what you are experiencing.

Enjoy the build threads to see what people are doing that works and where they've made mistakes. Much to be learned from them.

Thank you, I have read many things and at this point really do enjoy looking at some of the stuff people have done on here, super clean DIY stuff as well as some "looks bad, but it works" stuff, and you are right, that is exactly why I've been more active on here as of late than I have been in a while, just a way to get my mind of things and work on my build, I've had a lot of help, when I joined this forum, I had an ebay mani that I was dead set on running, with FMU setup... Now my car is on MSpnp2, I have a custom made log manifold, and a few other things that came from learning here. And also, I appreciate the well wishes, hoping my dad pulls through, no word yet as this issue isn't 12 hours old yet, everyone loses a parent, but that don't mean anyone can be ready for it, to break a man, you take his mom away. Once again, thank you for the well wishes, and thank you for the welcome. :bigtu:

You want a Vibrant 12800 intercooler from Amazon. It is the same core Fab9 uses, just a ton cheaper. Quality wise it is much better then the cheap eBay ones and worth the little bit of extra money.

I believe that is the one I'm looking into, psyber_0ptix offered his and his piping for sale earlier in this thread, just waiting on his response now.

^Can't go wrong with that one.

And, yeah, I spent a lot of time on the forum when my father was in Neuro ICU. You must have a space for normal thought and plans for some future something you can occupy your mind with when you can't effect change in other aspects of your life. It's how to survive.

You are absolutely right, and some people take a path that ruins their life when something of that magnitude happens (i.e. Drugs, drinking, etc) and its nice to get on here and talk to people that share a common ground and let the bad instances in life sleep for a little bit, hate to hear about your dad as well... My mom was my best friend, she also loved my Miata, haha. Just focusing myself on trying to finish The Boy (my car's name) and taking advice and talking to many of y'all is really helping me with all of this, in both progress as well as in spirits, and I would also like to personally thank you for talking to me, you are a total stranger that has taken time out of what I'm sure is a busy day, just to give some uplifting words, thanks man. Very, very appreciated.

Depending on where you are, I'd recommend reaching out and seeing if folks on here are local to you. Offer to lend a hand, hang out, show up with beer and pick their brain. It's a pretty great way to get your mind off things.

Hope things look up for your family.

I thank you, I hope they do as well, been a terrible week or so... Life is good nonetheless, and yeah.. I hadn't thought about that, I don't know if many people here are local to the Bristol TN area, would be nice though.

I used the starion core :)

Just utilizing this opportunity to whore it out!

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...ff52b90b57.jpg

This is exactly like I want my IC setup to be, talk to me. Haha :bigtu: looks awesome man.

BTW, who in Bristol told you it was OK to turn right?

Not too sure what you mean by this?

NASCAR joke :party:

Ohhh haaaa I see, went over my head.. NASCAR is so implemented here that any talk about it is just the norm, makes for incredible natural disaster style traffic twice a year, wooooo!

Found this ebay water to air contraption... Anyone used one of these? https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...5c9fdfd191.jpg

I have seen exactly one water to air cooler that worked well.
It was about 100X more complicated and worked no better than a simple air/air cooler.

There is absolutely not reason to use a water to air IC in a miata. It will be more complicated and not work any better then a normal air to air IC. They are good, when you don't have room to run a regular IC. The miata nose has plenty of room for the IC up front, so that is not an issue.

That's what I was figuring.. Ha, I'm trying to run a small "shorty" setup, I was offered a Vibrant stage 2 for an incredible price, but it's a little more than what I need.

What in the world do you mean by "more than what I need"

For my power goal, idk... I just didn't think I would need a big ass one... But, it's still on my mind for the price given.

He told me that with it's size, it did cause some heating issues.

The only reason to even consider an air-water is if you're supercharged and throttled volume is critical (even then I don't think it's worth it). Or if you are building an autocross car, and want to keep an ice bucket in your car to super cool the air charge for short periods of time.

are we talking about the big boy vibrant? not the 350hp core?

Then he probably didn't have good ducting.

​​​​​​​You might not need that size, but it definitely won't hurt a thing to have more intercooler than you need.
Just buy it if you are going to do this.

I'm guessing so, psyber_0ptix just said it was a vibrant stage 2, I don't think that is the 12800.

in my mind, the only limitation is size. I don't wanna hack up the front end to fit a giant cooler. other than that, you can run as big as you want with no observable ill effects.

otherwise, like was already said: no such thing as too much cooler

don't try to think outside the box on this. this isn't one of those areas where you have to be creative. the legwork is done, reap it's rewards and stop wasting time looking at stupid water/air coolers. that's just dumb

Also said he had to notch something, maybe the subframe? A little, but other than that it went together well.

Yes the big boy vibrant requires a bit of trimming of the support where it mounts to the frame rails. its not a big deal for some, but others don't wanna cut their car.

or just get the smaller one and it will go in without a single issue

The smaller vibrant IC is more then good enough for a stock motor. No real reason to go any larger, especially if you have AC and want to keep it.


There are some decent eBay cores out there, but the time and energy you will spend to find it, is not worth the little bit money you will save. At least that is how I feel about it.

I disagree, but then I spend insane amounts of time actually researching parts, and then sourcing them, and actually know how to use the search function.

But yeah, for n00bs that can't search, just push the easy button and get the small vibrant.

PS: I was really impressed with the 2 cores I sourced as per the hi_im_sean/deezums egay intercooler selection. Same price, excellent sizing and turbulator count/placement. Very effective

When was the last time you actually searched on eBay for those cores? The one I bought about a year ago that was the specs from sean/deezum for about $70 and it turned out to be extremely shitty turbulators. I know Aidanj bought one within the last few months for around $100 and it had crappy turbulators also. So I think it is very hit or miss with the eBay IC and the quality of them at the exact moment that you look.

Fixing to search the 12800 now, you had told me amazon carries them.. Too bad piping isn't included, I've seen some threads here where people have gotten their piping from 2-3 different places, idk if one of those random kits seen all over the internet would work or not, from what I've read it could go either way.

3/2015

https://www.miataturbo.net/build-thr...-67328/page32/

That's a bummer, so they finally ran out of them I guess? Best 50 dollar intercooler I've ever seen

You know you can just buy the stage one from fab9 or the 12800 from amazon and have a local shop weld something up for you for the end tanks, right? If you can't do it yourself, might be cheaper to just get it from fab9 for the extra hundo depending on what it costs.

The ebay intercoolers have been written up pretty extensively on here and may work for you depending on your goals. Getting a better radiator isn't a bad idea either.

Seriously though. Start reading some build threads to see what people did!

Fortunately I am running a Mishi radiator already, I have about a $200 budget for my intercooler (excluding piping) currently checking out the hi_im_sean/deezums thread on routing and such... Too bad those intercoolers in that thread are no longer as good as they were when it was posted 😔

Here, here, and here are the top 3 hits on ebay for the 27"x5.5"x2.5" intercoolers. Only one actually shows the turbolators and they look like crap. It is the one I have sitting on my garage floor at home. The slightly more expensive ones don't show the turbolators so you are really hoping they are good. So to me the extra $50 to make sure you a known "decent" core, that shows up in 2 days is worth it.

I don't think the Vibrant is the best on the market at all, just the best bang for the buck, no hassle core.

I specifically searched by seller name when looking for mine. Searching by size yields 5 billion hits and likely most of them the wrong one. But I have no idea if they still sell the one I had, nor do I care enough to check, so I'll take your word for it. I figured they were just selling off an old batch of properly made knockoffs and once it was done, it was done.

I do wish the cheaper ones at $50-$70 range were still decent. I would much rather use those when I get around to building an IC setup, then the more expensive ones.

I also recommend getting all aluminum pipes, couplers, and t-bolt clamps from siliconeintakes.com. I use 2" on the hot side, and 2.25" or 2.5" on the cold size. I have found the eBay IC pipe kits subpar overall. Generally not sizes you want, not having all the bends you need, and needing reducers and adapters.

I talked to someone that recently bought and ran one of the speed daddy j2 racing or whatever they're called intercoolers recently with good results. I think it might have been Borka?

You can also call them which is nice...

They also have intercooler piping that's like 90 bucks. Might be worth a shot to start with and then get rest from silicone intakes.

$185 & comes with piping. Haven't installed it yet, so... Grain of salt etc, etc.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00FDCFT60/ref=ya_aw_od_pi?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00FD...?ie=UTF8&psc=1https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...5fc9b798a3.jpg

That's a tube and fin setup, not bar and plate.......

​​​​​​
doh. Didn't catch you guys were specifically discussing B&P.

We're discussing good intercoolers..... Bar and plate> tube and fin

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...029b3bf51c.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...0da30c1b61.jpg
So, went to a garage sale on my street yesterday.. And found this box labeled "car radiator stuff" box was unopened, and priced for $10.. IC, BOV, Piping. Sure it isn't everything I need, but I almost fell trying to hurry this to the homeowner to pay for it. :bigtu:

that's like the worst intercooler. but for 10, I guess it should work

My thoughts exactly, and if it sucks too much... I could sell it and easily make a few dollars, the dimensions are good, pretty sure it's the same as the $185 kit mentioned above. Hahaha

Really fit my budget well, as I broke down and bought a new Honeywell Garrett GT25 last night, instead of trying to make what I have work or buy a used one, got an awesome deal on it as well at $655.

And Merry Christmas/Christmas Eve to all that read this ☺️