Anybody actually tried the xspower (ssautochrome) ebay intercooler?
 

I've seen a bunch of threads about this on here, but haven't seen any feedback from anybody who actually tried it. I also can't find the threads that I remember... So, has anybody actually installed one of these yet?

What size are you looking at? I've seen a couple threads with good feedback on some of the larger ones. I bought one very similar to thiers, I hav'nt installed it but I gotta say from the quality of the design, welds etc...It's sure looks worth the price if your on a budget and trying to support some mild mods.

Apparently the super HUGE one, lol.

460mm X 310mm X 85mm
SUPER HUGE 85mm THICK
( 3.25" THICK )
( 18" LONG )
( 12" HIGH )
2.75" INLET AND OUTLET

It sells for $225 with pipes, and yes the connections look pretty cheesy without a proper lip to hold on the connector, otherwise it seems fine to me. Another complaint I've heard is they don't indicate how it mounts to the car and I don't see any mouting tabs or anything.

I have a dp, cb, and intake, just bought a pfc, and plan to put in a hi-flow cat. So I'm really just looking to support 12psi or 13psi without worrying about the stock intercooler. Thats probably all I'll ever do engine-wise, the car is fast enough already to get me in trouble on the track, and my audi s4 is begging for some attention.

Oh, and its the SMIC version.

The ad is confusing because it indicates it is for a turbo II, but I'm pretty sure its a mistype.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Mazda...spagenameZWDVW

I have been thinking about their most recent addition to their SMIC line. 2.75" in/out instead of the old 2.5". comes with pipes to fit the stock elbow. also comes with t-bolt clamps and couplers. one of the pipes has a BOV flange on it. it looks like an M2 medium SMIC. I think its 12" X 18" X 3.5" or something close to that. the only thing is that it doesnt come with a duct.

For $225 + $25 shipping I dont think thats a bad price.

I think thats the same one i posted above... If you ask me it has to at least be better than the stock intercoolr for $250 if you spend a little time crafting a duct. Somebody must have bitten the bullet.

whoops...beat me to it. That is the same one I am talking about. I plan on doing a fiberglass duct for it when I get it. It will not be worth your while if you dont make a duct for it.

I looked at that one for a while before I decided on mine. I found many different opinions on that particular IC as some said it's a good buy and some say It's craftsmanship (welds) are pretty cheezy. I decided to go the D.I.Y way and found with my(24x12x4) is just a little to big without getting real creative and maybe having an Aftermarket bumper to assist on mounting it.

Also, my intercooler is from the XOXO guys.

damn...beat me to it again. lol

Damn, you guys are fast! lol

Agreed, I'll probably just put something together with sheet metal, maybe chop up my stock duct and make a hybrid... Do you see any mounting tabs though? I can't figure out how it actually mounts to anything other than the AST.

I'm trying to distract myself from work...

Were any of the opinions from people who have seen the IC in person? Seems like there is alot of anti-ebay bias.

Yes, there's people with or have tried this set-up. I have not. Maybe someone with experience with these IC's will chime in?

Anyone???

here's pics of my IC I bought.

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?t=454601

I have a 12 X 8 X 3 SMIC currently and it rests on the radiator fan plastic. I just got a couple metal brackets and attached them to the metal brace that goes across.

It doesnt really need a bracket since it rests between the pipes and the fiberglass duct I made for it. I used the stock inlet part of the duct (goes between bumper and radiator), and made a bigger opening to fit my IC.

I am about to finish my mount up of the 12x31x4 from ssautochrome ebay intercooler. The intercooler its self is very very well constructed. Ill post some pics once im done with it. Im just waiting on two more 90's.

you'll have to weld on brackets if you want them, should be pretty easy, especially if you choose the SMIC and just make one lower bracket like the Greddy SMIC.

I think I may try one of the larger ones out for a FMIC project, hell for the price it's worth a shot. At the very least these IC's will force the larger companies to reduce their inflated prices.

I just bought that same intercooler and I have already mounted it in my '93 FD. Damn thing looks good and you are right, there are no tabs for mounting. This concerned me at first,but once you restit on the radiator fan shroud and mount the silicon and hard pipe kit, it will not move. Really, it is in there good. I would send you pics but like I said in a thread yesterday, my ex-fiance took my digital camera. I wish I coul tell you how well it performs but my car has an electrical short right now and is locked up in my garage. Feel free to PM me if you want. I ended up paying 300 for mine because there were a few of us bidding on ebay the last five minutes of the auction. Very high quality it is was on my porch about three days after I bought it.

whats the electrical problem mine is having one as well.

Well, it is kind of embarasing to tell you the truth. I did a couple of mods a once and that is the one thing I never do. I always advise people to do one mod at a time so when something is not rigtht it is really easy to narrow down the problem. Well, basically, I took off the A/C, power steering, and air pump, put on Greddy syle pulleys, put in the ssautochrome 12x8x3 intercooler with hard pipes, Greddy RS BOV, Optima red top battery, and other small stuff. When I went to start the car, the lights popped up by themselves but the bulbs did not come on. When I turned the light switch on, the bulbs come on but the light housings retract back into the bumper. It is like the lights are working backwards. I tried to find a loose ground or a grounded out wire or something but I cannot find the problem to save my life. What is your problem?

Quid

Any luck getting it running? I think I'm going to order one of these tomorrow, I just can't justify the price of new ones, or even used ic's, assuming this one is at least marginally better than stock...

I'm running one currently without a duct. I'm am working on fiberglassing the duct currently. Will let you know then what my air intake temps are. I have not seen anything over 55 though with out ducting and that's beating on the car.

So I tried installing the ic tonight, and it appears to be too tall, my hood won't close. Anybody else have the same problem or have any idea how to fix it?

Got it to fit by removing the old airbox bracket that also supports the upper radiator hose. To get it to fit under my r1 strut brace I also ended up using the old connector from the y-pipe instead of the supplied silicon.

Two more questions:

1) Any ideas how to block the BOV flange?

2) The intercooler sits right behind the radiator and blocks practically all of the exit path for hot air from the fans, isn't that going to cause major cooling problems? Seems like this would be a problem for all of the medium sized intercoolers.

Thought I'd post my results after some highway driving and 2 days at the track. On the highway, in ~80 degrees ambient I'm seing around 45celsius air temps. If I stop for 10 minutes and let it heat soak temps will rise to around 65 celsius, and it takes about 10 minutes of highway speeds for it to drop back to 45. This is with the air temp sensor in the stock location so I'm not sure how valid the heat soaked numbers are...

At the track I was seeing temps in the mid to high 50's after the 26 minute session. Between staging and hard driving I'm sure the temp sensor was pretty heat soaked.

The biggest problem I found with the pipes is the one that leaves the y-pipe has a very short neck after the bend. To get it to fit under the r1 strut brace, over the air-pump, and onto the intercooler low enough to clear the hood, you have to connect it to the y-pipe at a weird angle. I had to use the stock y-pipe coupler because it was lower and more plyable, the weird angle stressed it and ended up tearing the coupler.

Other than that I'd say the intercooler was a success!

Somebody should make fiberglass ducts and sell them for these...

odd, that pic of the frontmount on that page is a turboxs wrx fmic. ?

nm, it looks like they ripped the design of that off too. what a scumbag company.

no, what an opportunistic company in a capitalist society

the scumbag company is the one charging 3-4 times as much for the same product because they put their name on it. Don't even thinking about preaching R&D to me either, IC design is pretty common among companies (except maybe Apexi).

Thanks for reporting back, I figured the piping would be a slight problem for those with an airpump and strut bar.

What kind of ducting are you using?

yeah, its just too bad that everything they sell is a blatent ripoff of other companys. The thing that pisses me off the most about it is the poor quality of the products which cause reputable companys to get a bad rep about their products.

and not everything is made in china like ssautocrome. most companys cant even afford to sell the products for what they do, let alone pay for warehouse space, yes r&d and tech support not just a cell phone and basement.

I would never buy something from ssautochrome. you get what you pay for.

Just the intercooler for 175 which is what I paid for it is definetly worth much more than 175. Make your own piping and either modify an existing or make your own duct. An intercooler is not something that takes all that much R&D or tech support. Either of which I can do for out for the low price. Stop complaining because someone is making stuff for cheap. I personally thinks its good for the do it yourselfers.

please, of all the trite comments


So I guess the $70 shirt I just bought the other day for $20 isn't as good as it was in the beginning of summer when it first came out?

You want the added piece of mind that a big business's name brings, then spend the 3 times as much for it, and steer clear of threads like this. :bigthumb:

For now I just cut part of the stock duct off so its really just the neck reaching in front of the radiator. Then I put a piece of sheet metal below and to the right side of the intercooler to block the output of the radiator. The left side of the intercooler is blocked off by my damian style intake. I then ran weather stripping along the top edge of the intercooler and along the aluminum. So when I shut the hood it seals against the weather stripping and the stock duct just feeds into the area. I thought it would look really getto but overall I kind of like it, not as good as some of the expensive ducting, but better than some. And i know it is working because I can hear the aluminum flex and pop over 100mph as the duct fills with air.

I don't know about you, but I liked paying $2.10 for 93 octane gas alot more than I like paying $3.70. And its the same gas...

I have yet to read any actual factual evidence that there is anything wrong with this intercooler.

i looked at their website and i might have to buy one of these. i wanted to see if they mad one for a single turbo but i guest i'll just have to fab something. it might even go look good V-mounted. just weld some backets and some piping work and voula v-mount. some ducting required of course. it looks pretty good. i had their SR20 exg. manifold on my silvia and it worked really good. as for copying yes they do but its good for the consumer. if it puts out the same numbers as the M2 intercooler for a 3rd of the price then guess what i'm gonna buy. also those beads around the outlet pipes are an ez fix take it to any decent welder and they could trow a bead around each one for maybe 20 bucks. i'll buy one. just got to wait for the next auction.

That's where your logic has vanished. In this case it's not the same gas. For the clown that tried to equate buying a summer shirt in fall for less you need to pull your head out of the darkness. That's a simple supply and demand situation, along with cultural norms "trends" that will likely make the shirt undesirable the following year. It's cheap now because nobody wants it and it likely won't be the "in" thing the following spring so they need to unload excess near worthless stock. Lucky for them people like you are willing to scoop it up. Both of the analogies are pretty far fetched and without merit.

If you want a real analogy use the following. The "as seen on tv" electric shavers with a free garden hoe, color tv and family pet included for the low low price of $19.99 must be just as good and the same quality as any $100 electric shaver. I know someone that said it really does cut hair so that's all the proof I need. Until someone can prove to me the others are any better I won't believe them.

What kind of ignorance is that? You have no real test data of any kind, no pressure drop figures, no nothing but you've convinced yourself that someone is going to waste their time trying to prove to you what a POS your project is? Why would they waste their time? You're clearly extremely defensive about it and not going to accept it even if someone did show you the truth. So when little pieces of casting debris and shavings from inside the core go bouncing through your motor pat yourself on the back.

And yes what others have said is normally true, you get what you pay for. You'll learn that as you get older and experience it often enough for yourself. Yes on occasion prices are inflated simply because of popularity or marketing hype but overall it is true.

Kevin T. Wyum

There are no castings on the the endtanks. Whether it works at 90% of what an M2 does I'm fine with that. The money was definetly worth not paying. In the end the core is the only real difference. The piping is up to the setup you have duct also. I have serious doubts that this core is all that different in efficiency from the one M2 uses. Mine without a duct is still giving me better temperatures than the stock IC. Maybe your the one being defensive trying to justify the money you spent on another IC setup. That would help explain why you decided to post your opinion in this thread.

I can tell you the IC I received looks much better in quality than the M2/ASP IC that's shown on Max Coopers site.

Uhh... relax dude. I don't expect anybody to spend time time proving anything, but throwing out opinions that say the intercooler is a pos with no facts is pointless. I decided to post my results from an interesting alternative to the high priced IC's, take it as you will.

My shirt example was to show that the trite saying "you get what you pay for" is entirely false. You proved my point with your explanation. There is a lot more at work in determining price than the manufacturing costs. This is why if you buy at the right time you can get the same quality product for a reduced price; once again proving the expression "you get what you pay for" entriely WRONG. BTW: A solid color button up dress shirt won't be going out of style anytime in the near future. ;)

But some people need the reassurance of a well known brand. I guess this is why Gotham sells so many urethane motor mounts for $350 when it takes $50-60 worth of urethane, any saw, and 10 minutes of your time. Nothing like relying on the uneducated consumer.

I think you're failing to understand the basic concept. The shirt is for all pratical purposes a commodity in your example. It's value is relative to time. It IS NOT the same shirt it was in spring when you buy it at 40% off in fall. The characteristic that has changed is that almost nobody wants it anymore. Heating oil prices ramp way up in the winter, it's still the same heating oil but people actually need it in the winter and it's desirable. Intercoolers are a durable good that doesn't fit remotely into your analogy. You should have used a different example, such as buying a nice fake Christmas Tree in January. Of course you now have to take the effort of storing it for an entire year before getting to use it for the first time. I haven't noticed a seasonal change in the price of intercoolers over the last 11 years, have you? This is pretty funny.

Kevin T. Wyum

I just realized which IC we were talking about here. This is the:


"BUY FROM THE LEADER IN ALL OUT SUPER PERFORMANCE
WE KNOW WHAT YOU NEED
WE KNOW THE NEED FOR POWER

OUR TURBO'S , MANIFOLDS, WASTEGATES, BOV, DUMPS, EXHAUSTS ARE
PROVEN RACE PERFORMANCE"

What race was that? Sadly it seems the FD has reached the trailer park. I really liked how they responded to someone that got the wrong flange:

"Reply by www.ssautochrome.com: You suck and your mother dresses you funny - retarded ? not reading the auction"

If you are still curious, I have the intercooler in and I figured out the electrical problem. Anyway, I have the car running and the intercooler works great. Let me know if youwant to know anything about it. I do not know what the PSI drop is but I do know that the car spools up a whole hell of a lot better.

Quid

Kev, I have this intercooler in my car. It took a lot of custom fit work but the results are excellent. At 13 pounds boost on a 90 degree day, my stock IAT temp readings are about 130 degrees. I did'nt believe it so I borrowed another sensor from Railgun69 and the readings were the same. We did a track session at Gingerman last week and temps read the same differential. This is front mounted and a stock radiator . Water temps never rose above 210F in full throttle runs of about four seconds, two seconds of corners,etc on a 1.88 mile track, for 20 minute sessions. As far as casting pieces in the engine, it has been in the car for 3500 miles and I have'nt seen any evidence of schrapnel in the exhaust.

http://www.stockreco.com/0a110719.jpg

:puke:

i would be embarrassed to pop my hood with this thing.

With my installation, you can't see it under the hood mister neat freak

OK, let's keep this thread to those who want a cheaper alternative to the name brand IC's. I mean why did you guys who love to bash cheap products even come to this thread?

I'll drop the stupid debate and wait for the hard numbers.

but most of all: thanks for trying something different, that may benefit everyone, and actually reporting back with results.

Properly installed and ducted, this intercooler kicks ass at mucho dollars less than NAME brand. My radiator is stock with 111,000 miles and sits directly behind this allegged POS. 210 degrees F on an 80 degree day water temps and 120 degree IAT is nothing to sneeze at under practically 20 minute full throttle runs. If you think these IC's are crap, don't buy one. If you don't run one, then keep your speculation to yourself.

You're talking about a front mount but the other people are posting pictures of stock mounts with no duct at all etc. Who's talking about what here?