Ideal Intercooler & piping selection

[joe4agze]

Hello all.

For a turbocharged 1.6 NA used on the track only, what do you think/know would be the ideal intercooler piping material (dont care about looks just reliability here) and size, also what would be the ideal intercooler size.
The turbo im planning on using would be a second hand SR20 T25 preferably T28 same as the Garrett GT2560.

Thanks.

[bear2230]

Talk to Dann

[Lokiel]

eBay intercooler, look for something like this in the title "Turbo INTERCOOLER 28x5.5x2.5 AUDI JETTA MX5 MX6 BMW"
- cheap, common upgrade choice of MSM/SE owners, just needs some DIY brackets to mount.

If you're DIYing the pipes and don't weld, aluminium pipes with silicon joiners and clamps are the easiest solution - looks messy though if you need lots of pipe "sections".

Guidelines:
1. minimise the amount of bends and overall length of plumbing required
2. there's no point using pipes with a diameter greater than your TBI so let that dictate your maximum plumbing diameter
3. DON'T reduce the diameter size as you progress from the turbo to the throttle body, it restricts maximum flow (try and find an intercooler with the same barb diameter as your TBI)
4. there's not a lot of room to route plumbing on the hotside so use pipes with the same diameter as the compressor's outlet for the hotside to the intercooler, they'll typically be narrower than the coldside so will be easier to fit/route, you'll need a silicon "reducer coupler/joiner" to mate them.

[geofiz]

I used an inter-cooler from an FG XR6 Turbo. Cheap to source ($100 - $150). For a few bonus points
1. The XR6 mounting brackets bolt straight up to the existing mounting points for the AC condensor
2. The pipe size is the same as TBI for NA8.

[joe4agze]

I was planning on using aluminized Mild steel and welding myself Or maybe doing the aluminized after it is made up if I can find someone in Canb that does it.
By the look of Danns Garage post the outlet of the turbo is 1.5 inch and he has run it in 2 inch after stepping up from 1.75 inch.

I'm not sure what the TBI is as yet I"ll have to measure it but I'm thinking it is 2.25 inch or 2.5 inch.

So I guess at this stage I'll run it 1.75" from turbo expanded to 2" ASAP to the cooler from the cooler using what ever is at the TBI.
I'll run it in aluminized Mild unless there is a good reason I should go to something else..

I'm planning on going Naturally aspirated first with the new ECU then as Money permits and the right turbo comes up I'll do the rest of it.

Thanks for the Tip on the FG XR6 intercooler. I will definitely keep the eyes peeled for one.

[speed]

My NA6 TB is 2.5 inch. I'm running 2.25 inch piping straight off the super charger.

Probably go alloy over mild steel, otherwise stainless.

If you want it done quickly, don't get me to do it ;)