I am looking into getting a fmic real soon here but am not looking to buy a $1000 name brand one. Right now I am looking into the small NPR or the starion one. Are there any I am missing? What would be my best bet? I want as little pressure drop as possible and don't feel like relocating the battery. I searched and searched but didn't find anything specific enough to what I am asking. Thanks.

 

Spearco (Turbonectics) makes good intercoolers.
Mine fits nicely.
I find the fins bend super easy though....damm bugs!!!

 

Spearco is just about the same price for just the intercooler as GReddy is for the kit with pipes and all, isn't it? I mean don't they want like $500+ for just a spearco i/c? I am looking for a stock one, more like $250 or less. Thanks though.

 

First off, avoid the Starion front-mounts - the DSM guys have conclusively proven that they suck. As in, they're worse than the stock DSM side-mount IC, which is horrible. Don't take 2 steps back and 1 forward!

Unless you have access to a welder and a chop saw, fabricating intercooler piping is a TON of work. You can try jury-rigging stuff up, but you end up with couplings that blow off under boost and a setup that looks SUPER ghetto. If there's a shop in your area that can do nice, quality work it might be worth talking to them, but it ain't gonna be cheap for the piping.

I bought my Greddy front-mount for $885 SHIPPED. That's a DAMN hard price to beat. If you try and make your own the right way, you can spend more than half of that on a good core. The NPR core is another possiblity, but it's back to the piping problem - that's a bigger problem than you'd think.

Also, you have to remember that the 2nd gen wasn't designed for a front-mount - you have to get REALLY creative to put an intercooler up there and run piping to it.

At the end of the day, I think you can spend say $400 all told for a homebrew intercooler that looks and works ghetto, or spend $885 for the Greddy that looks and works like a million bucks. Trust me, I had an intercooler kit that was good, but in some instances one step up from homebrew, and there was MANY times I was on the side of the road putting an intercooler pipe back on that blew off - real cool.

My 2 cents...

Dale

 

Thanks for your input, where can you the GReddy one for $885 shipped? That is about $150 less than what I was thinking it would cost with shipping to me. Makes me think. I believe there is a shop pretty close by that can do the intercooler piping for me. I can get an NPR for prolly $150 if I look around and have the money right then and there. Say even another $200 for piping and I'm at $350 for a much better i/c than stock and a 1/3 of the price of the GReddy. BUT...I have heard very very good things about the GReddy. How hard was the install of the GReddy? Everything fit perfectly? Thanks.

 

I'm still about halfway through the install of my Greddy IC - I have the ENTIRE engine bay stripped down right now and primered getting ready for new paint.

That said, you do have to cut 2 holes to run the pipes through, and you have to do some trimming of the front bumper support as well. But, this is going to be the case with any front-mount, especially trying to shoehorn in an IC that's that big.

http://www.turboevo.com is where I got my IC from. Best thing is to e-mail them - turboevolution@hotmail.com - and ask for a price quote. Their webpage is nothing special, but I got *fantastic* service and a great price. I just double-checked - I was quoted $925 shipped, but I think I ended up paying less somehow - I put a down payment on the IC to get it in, then paid the rest when it came in.

Anyhow, it's good stuff .

Dale

 

Starion ICs are no bueno. The small NPR is more than good enough for your FC, and you can usually find them for less than 250. The end tanks make for easy plumbing too. Id go that route.

 

Ok so you say the NPR over the starion. Anyone have any idea how much press. loss you get with the NPR, like compared to the GReddy? I know people said they don't have to remove the ac, p/s or relocate the battery with their NPR installs.

 

You don't have to remove AC, PS, or relocate the battery with the Greddy either...

I don't know all the numbers on the NPR, but I know it's good. But, again, the intercooler is the easy part - you'll tear your hair out on the piping.

Dale

 

Alright I'm going to get in touch with the shop nearby and see how much I am looking at for the piping to be done. If its cheap enough I'll prolly go for the NPR for as long as I have the stock turbo.

 

I picked up my starion IC today. I'll hopefully have it in within the month... I'll try and get some pics of the IC in the car tomorrow to show how / where it fits.

 

If you can, Scott, get a better intercooler - like I said above, the Starion is a waste of time.

Dale

 

well I know someone who installed the NPR one and their boost droped from 8psi with the stock one to 1 psi LOL...

 

They probably installed the big NPR IC with the stock turbo.

 

just did some test fitting with the starion and dam it fits nicely!!!. I'll make a new thread with the pics

 

Thats funny, on my DSM I went from the stock sidemount to a spearco core (2-221) and GAINED BOOST. The stock turbo should have NO problem filling an intercooler and if you are loosing boost you have leaks or the core just plain sucks bad.

The starion core sucks. Throw it in the cylindrical file and try again. Thats my opinion, its your car, your time, and your money, if you want to waste any of the above, be my guest and have at it!

 

Shouldn't any new intercooler raise boost if its an upgrade? I mean the more dense the air, the higher the boost, right? Like when its colder out, you have to watch for boost spikes. I think if you don't gain boost when you go to a fmic, you definitely did something wrong.

 

Im getting ready to join 2 ser 5 coolers together for my car with 2 1/2 inch pipes. As soon as i get it done I will post up some pics for you guys to see. I just got 2 ser 4 coolers joined for one of my friends for his ser 3 13bt, it dosent look to bad in his car. I have to get a camrea so I can show you all... He is doing his car on a tight budget...

 

The biggest reason you gain boost with a good intercooler versus a stock intercooler is pressure drop - the pressure drop on the stock IC is horrible. It's something like 2ish PSI at 9-10 pounds of boost.

Think of it like exhaust - the stock mufflers, for example, don't flow well and create a good deal of backpressure. Same principle with the stock intercooler - if you had 2 boost gauges, one before the IC and one after, you'd see a sizeable difference in pressure that increases as you up the boost. A drinking straw isn't that much of a restriction if you're lightly blowing through it, but it's a big restriction if you're really trying to move some air through it.

Dale