I am thinking about buying an intercooler off of ebay. Have any of you bought an intercooler off of ebay? I am looking at the XO2 intercooler and it claims to only have a .2psi drop when pushing 15psi. I know that is pretty good but I do not believe it. Have any of you bought this intercooler or know anyone who has? Also, 24x12x3 is a good size right? If not what do you all recommend? Thanks guys.

Quid

 

if you dont believe it, or are unsure i wouldnt get it. i need one and dont have enough, so i look on ebay. if you havnt hear of it i wouldnt trust it. once in awhile you can find a nice used one...i always get outbid tho hehe

 

If it doesn't come with a proper air duct, the IC is basically useless...

 

How would I know if it comes with a proper air duct? What should I look for when I am looking for an intercooler? What is the difference between the name brands like Greddy and the ebay brands like XO2? Thanks.

 

obviously if you buy from someone like greddy, lots of people have used it and know it will work. if its from some brand you havnt ever heard of... ...ive seen some on ebay that just the way they look i dont see how the hell it would possibly work on this car.

(and usually a good seller will have pictures of everything included they are selling...which should include the duct. but yeah make sure! thats a good point)

 

Most of those cheap eBay IC's don't have a duct or piping at all. Those are the two biggest pains for putting together an IC "kit" as anyone can slap some endtanks on a IC core for just the "intercooler" part. Making the piping with the correct bends and a good duct to direct air into it is also vital to having a good setup.

 

I know this sounds ghetto, but wouldn't pvc pipe work for the piping?
The ducting is a diff story of course. I really want a nice intercooler on my car, but if I spend another dime on the car my wife will beat me with a large stick. I've been searching all over the net trying to figure out how to cool the charge air for cheap.

 

No PVC would not work and please don't ghetto your FD.

There are good deals for used intercoolers all of the time -- $500-600 for used Greddy, PFS, Blitz, etc.

As far as your wife goes, there's been threads on that before....search under "how to get your ***** back"....

 

PVC piping won't work because the IC piping needs to make a few bends in order for everything to fit correctly.
Tell your wife you want your pants back...
Problem with that is it's not possible without a lot of work and fabrication on your part.

 

*****? What are those?
Actually, I was pushing the limits of my testosterone levels when I "told" my wife i was buying this car for 6k because it too good a deal to pass up. Don't worry Rynberg, I won't do anything that tasteless to my beautiful VR R1. Water injection experiment maybe...
My problem is I just have an obsession to invent **** that usually doesnt work.

 

if u say u want a GOOD intercooler kit, y wold u even think about pvc?? i want one and i cant aford one either! just wait...do absolutly NEED one now?? some of the cheaper smic i seen that are still good would be the blitz, i think greddy has a smic and a fmic under or around 1000, the pfs is about 1100 and looks better to me. petitt like 1200-1300 which is what im saving for...from there they get higher priced, but if you want a good one you get what you pay for so save up. no ghetto intercooling please!

 

check out the Piping on this FD..

RX7

I have never seen piping like that before.. i though it was pretty kewl.. I was going to go the same route but didnt know what kind of piping that is. I am not sure if its just plain old Flexible exhaust tubing that you can get from JC whitney for like 30 bucks.. but it definitaly would have been cheaper.
but i it was more of a headache to get the reducers and elbows and elbow reducers to all line up and Fit. so i just saved up and bought a Greddy Kit for 900

But PVC.. come on.. you want to have have an FD "powered by Home Depot" ?

 

I didn't say I'd DO it! Cut me some slack! I just know that it can handle the pressure...as in potato guns. Some pretty well known people on here have home depot boost controllers.
Hmmmmmm? Am I right?
I'm a turbo newbie and admit I am obsessed with the amount of heat this beast puts out. I cant believe how f'n hot the UIM and aft turbo intake gets.

 

My local shop here is going to replace my radiator and install a front mount intercooler for around $1500. That’s installed with all new parts, he says a guy around here is running 85 water temps. Now it’s not polished which I could careless about, I use this car not show it. He's also working on air to liquid setup that includes upper and lower intake manifold for under $2000.

My advice, talk to some local shops they may have custom solutions that cheeper than the off the self units. Just make sure you can get some airflow and temp reading so you know it worth the effort.