Hey guys thinking about making my own kit however it's probably not worth it if there is a ton of welding involved because for one thing i can't weld and second I sure as hell can't weld aluminum Anyways that being said anyone buy an ebay intercooler core and piping and couplers etc... make one and end up really saving money? Any pics? How does it perform etc... Thanks guys.

 

i didnt weld anything on mine. just cut the pipe and used a silicon coupler and some t connectors.

wasnt cheap, but i didnt want to pay to have all the welding done right and pay even more

 

well if you dont know how to weld, do like me, i hired a welder guy to weld my stuff. i brought a IC and U bend Sainless Steel pipes, dont have to be aluminum unless your buildning a racecar, and leave the car on the welder guy for a couple of days and he doit. one thing you have to remember, they charge $30+an hour but sometimes probably chargeyou just by the job like my welder guy. mine IC install cost me like $350sh with the IC and pipes included on the price

 

wow cool so far guys! I'm going to be using (hopefully) a t70 and pushing quite a few pounds of boost so i no i'm going to have to get this thing welded other wise I would do what crackhead did. I need to find a good welder (not some shmo) to do this job and just go for it. Any other good stories or bad please lets make this the official tell your custom ic setup stories!

 

I just finished a fmic setup:
20x9" core
2.5" piping
no welds
$500 total
S5 turbo @ 10 psi

...it likes to blow the couplers on the turbo side, i need to get it welded too

 

no one else?

 

24x7 Core
2.5' piping
No welds
$400 total
S4 turbo @ 8psi

...mine likes to blow couplers on the cold side. I need t-bolts and better couplers.

 

everyone is blowing couplers, lol. what are people doing to combat this? will tbolt clamps work? My friend ordered one of those ic piping kits from ebay not to long ago and his came with tbolt clamps. If I can find out what company he got it from I'll let yall know. This was the 100 dollar kit too!

 

Locally the guys have just added a few beads of weld at the ends. Then grind them out into a smooth bump.

There's your fix.

 

hum......good idea! I guess this has to be whatever is safe for aluminum being that aluminum melts so easily. So you would just put the beads of weld right at the end of the piping itself to make some sort of lip?

 

i used a really strong radiator hose thats black from NAPA...it was cheap..it holds like 30 and more PSI....i didnt weld beads on my IC ends and used NAPA T clamps...no issues of them popping off...

 

cool good to know. So it looks like I'll need to get a big core and the piping from ebay then toss the clamps (if not tbolt) and get them as well as get good couplers.

 

I've had an unrolled pipe with Tbolt clamps popoff before. Definately either get the lips of the pipe rolled, have a bead welded on, or if you wanna do it cheap and ghetto you can JB weld your own bead onto the end of the pipes. I've done it before (not on my car) as a temp solution and it's held up fine as a permanent one.

 

hum..........good idea! I like that!

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/UNIVE...66176213QQrdZ1

nice intercooler piping kit. Tbolt clamps included also the silicone couplers look like they are good quality as well!

anyone else with stories about their custom kits?

edit: also did you guys have to cut your bumper support etc.... like the greddy kit using the size yall said?

 

this a npr fmic cost me 100 dollars for set up plus i bent a couple pipes at a local garage for 20 bucks fmic 40 bucks from junk yard

 

nice...have you decided on a IC??

 

more pics

 

haven't descided on core yet as I'm not quite sure witch one will fit right. I'm going with a t70 so I'm going to need something that will support 450-500hp and really more than that since later on i will take the .84 hoside of the t70 and go with a .96 or 1.0 for max power. So basically I need something big but with minimum cutting involved but if I have to cut alot I will.

dennis nice setup I like the short path to the intercooler must make for some nice spool time

 

thats pretty sweet dennis_black, but one question: Where is your radiator and fan going to go?

 

I was just about to edit my post and say the same thing.

 

My setup:
143.01 -- Bar & plate IC (450mm X 300mm X 76mm -- 3" thick)
46.80 -- 3 to 2.5" Silicone reducers (2)
135.99 -- 2.5" Pipe kit (silicone connectors and t-bolts included)
9.98 -- 3" T-Bolts (2)
----------------------------
$335.78 -- Total cost

All prices were total price shipped to my door. No welding needed. And if I had really been patient I probably could have found some stuff even a little cheaper. This doesn't have to break the bank guys. I ended up buying a peice of metal that I cut & welded and a few nuts and bolts for mounting, but that was less than $20 total I think. And probably not necessary in all cases... Also I didn't have to cut the bumper support or rad support to fit this in. I only cut the hole on the pass side and expanded the existing hole on the driver's side. I did massage a couple of things below to make room, but we're talking minimal cutting overall. Nothing significant had to be cut or removed -- nothing structural.

Here are some pics:







Link in my sig for more details about the entire build.

 

that pipe kit looks pretty good especially for the money.

if you do a search under my username with the terms "greddy FMIC install with bumper reinforcement" you'll find a thread with some pix and instructions about what you'll need to do to keep the reinforcement. Keep in mind this only applies to dimensions similar to that of the greddy core.

 

wow don't know how I saw yalls posts but thats awesome! Thanks both of yall! I just put the bid up for the piping with tbolt clamps and reinforced silicone couplers. Hey Trav do you have any pics of the intercooler itself mounted? Thanks. I'm off to go read ilike2eatricers thread. Thanks again.

edit: is this intercooler too big? Also do I want a 2.5 or a 3" inlet and outlet? Thanks.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/18x12...67247345QQrdZ1

is that the intercooler you used trav?

 

For a T70...I would expect you to want 3" in 3" out. Hell, for anything bigger then stock, I'd want that. Heh.