yes, but the hidden value in all this is that between myself and aidan, you have saved(us) a few hundred dollars

 

And Vlad, and a few others lol.

 

just make sure not to use e-cool cause it will freeze your engine
e-cool+ebay intercooler = cure for global warming

 

It's me!

I bought that ebay IC a long time ago when I was really stretching a dollar. I really, really wanted the Fab9 IC and he was shipping me other stuff anyways so it would have been the optimum time to buy it. I love the mounting tabs and I do remember when I pulled my car apart that my old IC had somehow cracked a DIY steel mounting tab so I was thinking how good a nice custom fit one would be. Plus wouldn't you know it that Vibrant is a Canadian company. But I just ran way over budget at that time. Plus I have a soft spot for cheap eBay stuff as well, just ask my bicycles! Anyways, I'm still a long ways from the IC part of my build but let me get a picture of it next week and give it some twist. I do remember it had a slight bow in its length.
I tried to justify it because where I live we might get an 80 F day 10 times a year at most so I was assuming that cooling wasn't as critical and I'm street driving it as well. Right??

 

Here she is:
I tried to twist it but it would not budge. Perhaps If I mounted one side into something solid it would, but it felt pretty stiff.





Front

 

When do you expect to get the newer fin design on the Stage 1 cores? I would love to pick a stage 1 intercooler up with the current tax sale, but would be willing to wait a few weeks or months for the improved core.

 

I don't think there is a good answer for this one or if they will be doing this with the 350hp cores (although I imagine they will). However if you'd like to purchase it under the Tax Season promo and have us hold the order please send me a PM with an order number and I'll flag it.

 

I pulled the trigger and got the Stage 1 Fab9 (Vibrant) intercooler. It showed up this past weekend.






This guy is real beafy and super strong. I wouldn't doubt some of the claims that you can jack the front end up with this thing . The intercooler itself is very well made and you can see the internal core is of much higher quality than most ebay cores. My only concern is that the fin count internally seems pretty low. As you can see in the pic with the ligh shining through the intercooler, each internal passage is nice and straight with no fins or protrusions into the air flow. This is awesome to ensure the minimum pressure drop accross the intercooler, but as an mechanical engineering I am concerned that this will reduce the heat transfer between the inside and outside air since turbulent air moving through those passages will transfer more heat from the hot charge air to the outside air.

The core is 18" long (FAB9 site claims 20") which is 50% longer than the core of my current old BEGI intercooler at 12". I wasn't looking for more HP capacity, just more surface area to transfer the additional heat for track use.

I know the BEGI cores are more efficient, but by how much? Will the 50% of increased frontal area of the FAB9 at a reduced efficiency still give me more cooling capacity than the smaller BEGI with higher cooling efficiency?

Here are some pics comparing the outside of the two intercoolers.



Here is a picture of the inside BEGI core fins. I know its a crappy pictyure, but you should be able to tell how the internal fins are shaped to cause a turbulent path of the air to pass through the core, similar to how the external air fins look like. This is the main difference that I am concerned about.


Lastly here is a weight comparison of the two. The Fab9 is right at 11 pounds and the BEGI came in at ~7.5lbs. Just for info.



No doubt the FAB9 is much better quality than any crappy ebay intercooler.

I am just concerned that I will not be gaining that much more cooling effeciency due to the lower cooling fin count with no internal fins or flow disturbing measures. I might have to return this one for now and wait until a newer core comes out like the updated one avaliable with the Stage 2 cores (see post #20). The pictures below show the staggered fin design that I was expecting.

 

Also, the Fab9 inlet/outlets are 2.5" while begi is 2.25"

This was a nice surprise when my FM pipes wouldn't adapt over. I ended up hacking it up and just built a custom charge pipe with odds and ends.


If the stage 1 utilized the newer core design, and Fab could offer an intercooler with a pre-welded IAT bung on the end tank, that might tip the scale for me

 

Psyber were your FM pipes the one piece silicone or older? My FM one piece pipes are 2.5" and worked perfect.

 

FM pipes are 2.5"
FM and FAB intercoolers have the same size inlet/outlets

They had to be modified to work on my begi#3 which is 2.25"

 

My old BEGI intercooler has 2" inlet/outlet. The newer BEGI intercoolers might have slightly larger connections.

 

Midpack, why did you picture our water core? I think precision shares the same core maker.

Once the turbulators, tube length and flow area are well in hand, the streamlining and air distribution of the end caps needs getting straight. I love seeing those square boxes sitting on the ends of a core.

Yielding to enormous (?) pressure, I did move the alpha/omega IC to the center. I agree, it looks better. It's just a bit tighter fit up with the longer tube core we use than others.

corky

 

2.5 inch tubes ? The 1000 horsepower Miata would certainly be a hoot.

cork

 

<3 from the 2" tube club.

 

Corky, you are the same Bell as Bell Intercoolers - Custom Intercooler and Core Solutions correct? I know you both are in Texas and share an 830 area code and Manta is showing the same address for both Bell Experimental Group and Bell Intercoolers...

 

Then why is the bell intercooler site like 1000x prettier

 

Yes, basically. There is some legal split between the two, but Corky is involved with both and they are in buildings right next to each other.