Alright so first off I don't want to hear anything about ebay sucks. Intercoolers from ebay are just fine. That being said how efficient would this intercooler be? I'm running 15 psi. Is the intercooler too small or should I go bigger?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/JDM-28-TURBO-INTERCOOLER-BLK-2-5-ALUMINUM-BLACK-PIPING-PIPE-KIT-BLUE-COUPLERS/251338833553?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D31195%26meid%3D1a26e3a05d6d46bc887d370205dffe82%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D6%26mehot%3Dpp%26sd%3D171818704010&rt=nc

 

would be good to know what kind of car its going in. Assuming you have a TII

Now, if you are going to generics/ebay, you should compare the core of other legitimate manufacturers.
I believe most RX-7 cores FC and FD are normally 3inches (2 row) the standard upgrade, where 3 rows are 4.5inches, and their elbows FC and FD are about 2.75inches.

To my understanding smaller pipes = less room to expand/cool

Just food for thought. So for this intercooler, 2.5inch piping, and only 2.5inch thick, wouldn't stack up well against the standard brand names already, regardless of where it came from

 

TII, U-trim hybrid, 15 psi tuned

 

I don't need a huge intercooler, just big enough to efficiently cool 15 psi. I firmly believe in name brand 99% of the time, but intercoolers are the exception. Many people are just as successful with ebay intercoolers as Greddy intercoolers but at a fraction of the cost.

 

nobody?

 

The core looks kind of too small to me

 

I would go with one that fits your car unless you like cutting and welding. The one pictured would probably work but the core looks a little small.

 

If you route fresh air to your intake filter, this does a couple of things. It reduces your pressure ratio (run a large filter as well), and your turbo will expell less heated air. We have used ducted intercoolers as small as 7" x 9", 3.5" thick and run ambient temps for air intake temp.

The key to the whole process is getting ambient air into the intake filter. From there you don't need nearly as much cooling power from the intercooler.

Those who run filters in the hot engine bay are at a lose-lose situation, the turbo grabs hotter air, runs at a higher pressure ratio expelling a ton more heat, and intercoolers aren't the most efficient way to cool the air, much easier to start off with cold air.

just our experience with all 6-8 cars we tuned here.

Prioritize intake filter location, find an intercooler that will fit in the space left.

 

Wow, thanks for all the info

 

does anyone know the stock top mount intercooler core size?

 

Photo of an ebay intercooler with intake in the cold air ducted. local car.

 

my intercooler set up. modified greddy fmic into a V-mount.

SMIC also do well for making custom set ups.

 

Any issues when driving in the rain?

 

I try not to drive in the rain but I went into the mountains and got caught in a downpour. I didn't have any issues with the rain. The weird thing about that day is it was lightning all around me, ground strikes, etc. The clouds felt like they were only a few thousand feet above me, I was around 9-10K feet up. They were loud as hell strikes.

 

Great pics and conversions. What I'm thinking about doing now is actually taking the intercooler off of another vehicle like a starion or eclipse. My question is, what intercooler would be best?

 

There is no intercooler is best because the intercooler holds the least amount of value in the set up.

You need to optimize the intake air filter getting cold air and the radiator for cooling. Then fit the intercooler in the open spot that can be held in place with brackets, and also fabricate the piping to fit. You want to run a large air filter, large is being as large as you can possibly fit. There is a pressure drop across the air filter, you want to minimize this as much as possible to reduce the pressure ratio of the turbo. Most people talk about how important the exhaust back pressure is and making more power with the turbo, not many talk about the pressure drop across the intake filter. This is as just as important, you are sucking through the straw and if it has a tiny low flow air filter its making the turbo work much harder. You can also add a velocity stack to the end of the tube to increase flow and spool. After you figure this out, find an intercooler that fits in the open space. Another benefit of running a really large filter with a low pressure drop across it is it filters the air better.

We have run cheap ebay intercoolers with much success. One guy runs an MR2 intercooler that is 7" X 9" and I think 3 or 3.5" thick. He runs a large air filter right off the turbo and ducts cold air over the air filter and turbo. I tuned the car to 17PSI, we got out of the car and grabbed the hotside of the intercooler and to much suprise the piping was not all that hot. We just ran the car here at 94F degrees at 6,600FT and his engine temps were 89-90C and his intake temps were 36C, ambient was 35C. When heat soaked the temp would rise in the mid 40C range and go back down when moving again. I ran mine at 89F (31-32C), and my intake temps were low 30C on mine, I would hit the water injection and it would drop into the 20C range. On colder days I see mid 15C in AIT.

running a small filter with a high pressure drop in a hot engine bay is a complete lose-lose situation and NO intercooler can make up for it. Change the inlet conditions the turbo works under and it makes all the difference.

 

Well right now I have a 3 in k&n cone filter with cool air ducted through the headlight it sits behind. Where would be a better place to put it?

 

I am not going to tell you what to run but I run a 4" intake tube (same size as my inlet of the turbo (ported shroud)), and run a 4" to 6" velocity stack at the end of the intake tube, I then have a 6" ID air filter with 7.5" or 8" OD filter that cones down to 5.5" or so and is 10" in length. It also can suck through the end of the filter.

Perhaps yours is in a good place to grab cold air, what are your intake temps?

 

when doing a hybrid turbo setup, the Japanese seem to like to take the top mount and add another half of a top mount, so they get a 1.5x the stock intercooler.

the stock IC is too small, but stock plus 1/2 is about right. it also stays in the stock location, so the radiator and oil cooler aren't blocked, the piping runs also stay short.

if you must go FMIC, then its probably best to buy a medium size, but good quality core, the ebay cores aren't that great, so you need a super giant one. they are also copies of the Greddy kit which requires a lot of cutting, they should have copied the later HKS kit as it bolts in, and you only trim the undertray

 

intake temps pre turbo? I get recorded them today. the air temps outside were 89F. When on the highway I recorded air temps of on average about 5-7 degrees higher than 89F. On a dead stop though and on in town driving the intake temps were much higher

 

I took the car into the mountains today and drove it hard. was following a motorcycle most of the way. went up the mountain going 100+ mph the entire time. water temps got up to 97C as its 80 something degrees out and AIT was 19C at the top. I have just water injection only.


When cruising around temps were 83-90C and AIT was mid 30's to 40C depending on how slow I was going.

 

But what was the temperature outside and was that pre or post turbo?

 

I am using the temp sensor on top of the engine in the stock location.

outside temp was 86F or 30C.

 

How are you using the stock temp sensor?

 

I can view the readings on my powerFC.