Opinions on intercoolers

Mr nanotech · Postby **Mr nanotech** » Wed May 22, 2013 4:50 pm

I have a BA Falcon XR6 intercooler in my car at the moment which has been modified so the inlet and outlet pipes face opposite directions rather than both facing the same side. This is great and all and I love OEM quality, especially for a bigger engine but the outlet pipe sits on a 45 degree angle facing the ground which means the pipe to the throttle body has to go down before it goes up.
Doesn't sound so bad, but the lowest section of the pipe sits below my LCA, oh and my car isn't exactly low! It's actually raised at the front right now.

So my plan is to sell this one on and get a simpler intercooler with in and outs that come out the sides and as such avoid the road.
Something like this would be nice:

However, I've heard a lot of conjecture when it comes to intercoolers. Some seem to say that they are simple in design and it's very difficult to mess up, therefore ebay cheapo ones will do fine. But there are others that stress to me that there are intercoolers and there are 'intercoolers'. Cheaper lower quality i/c will not be efficient and you can actually lose potential power through poor flow and design. Also poor cooling too. There are others who sit on the fence and seem to say that unless you are regularly tracking the car, a cheapo will do fine but if it's getting a lot of use and dríven hard, you should pay up.

So I'm wondering what you guys think, how important it is and maybe shoot me some links to setups that you think worked fine for you or ones to avoid.

aka_juffa · Postby **aka_juffa** » Wed May 22, 2013 5:06 pm

So what you are saying is that you currently have one of these?

And you want something more like this?

J.

timk · Postby **timk** » Wed May 22, 2013 5:37 pm

Hey where'd you get the picture? That's my SE in BitRusty's garage!

sailaholic · Postby **sailaholic** » Wed May 22, 2013 6:11 pm

I can only comment that on one visit to my tuner, when I remarked about the size of an inter cooler on another car, he said, yah but its a cheaply and gets horrible heat soak.

A.Chen89 · Postby **A.Chen89** » Wed May 22, 2013 6:52 pm

Have a look inside the core from the in/outlet. Better coolers have a lot more surface area.

Postby **Okibi** » Thu May 23, 2013 12:08 am

Mr nanotech wrote:... a cheapo will do fine but if it's getting a lot of use and dríven hard, you should pay up...

That was my logic, i've stuck a chinaspec one in for now but will consider upgrading it when I get a proper turbo.

http://tinyurl.com/nerzutj

Mr nanotech · Postby **Mr nanotech** » Thu May 23, 2013 12:55 am

This is mine as it sits right now

Unfortunately because the intercooler outlet faces the ground, the pipe to the throttle body sits hell low.

I'm after something like this pic below, something that tucks up nicely under the bumper and doesn't bash against everything known to man.

Postby **NitroDann** » Thu May 23, 2013 12:59 am

Of interest how much ground clearance do you have on your car, that pipe I mean?

Dann

Mr nanotech · Postby **Mr nanotech** » Thu May 23, 2013 1:03 am

I'll measure some time tomorrow and get back to you. Your welds look fantastic on it btw!

Postby **Okibi** » Thu May 23, 2013 1:09 am

The ebay IC on my NB

Mr nanotech · Postby **Mr nanotech** » Thu May 23, 2013 1:13 am

That is bang on perfect. Pretty much exactly what I'd be after, especially in black too.

Postby **Okibi** » Thu May 23, 2013 1:43 am

This might give a better idea how low it hangs, I made an extra bracket to help support the intercooler.

geofiz · Postby **geofiz** » Thu May 23, 2013 4:49 am

I have an XR6 intercooler on mine, but I grabbed one from an FG.

The inlet & outlets are correctly oriented, and it fits using the OEM
ford brackets to some existing pickup points.

I will post some pictures shortly.

Mr nanotech · Postby **Mr nanotech** » Thu May 23, 2013 2:40 pm

Okaaaaay. I took some pics. Although I couldn't find my measuring tape, I estimate approximately 100mm at lowest point of cooler pipe to ground using rough sizes of other stuff in the garage.

From the front it doesn't look so bad, but when you look at it from the side you can see how low it is. It's probably one of the lowest points on the car now. To give you an idea of how low the pipe sits, I put a 2.5" silicone hose directly under the pipe to illustrate how close it is, as photos can be quite deceptive.

I know it's not the end of the world if I knock it, most likely it will just pop a silicone hose and I'll have to put it back on. However, I really don't want the inconvenience of having to keep reattaching an intercooler pipe after ever speed hump LOL.

Postby **NitroDann** » Thu May 23, 2013 2:47 pm

You know that I dont think that there will be a problem with it at all, but I thought id put it out there on more time.

It was a similar height on my car.

Dann