The big Intercooler thread.

[cstewartj]

Fortunately, an intercooler is a pretty simple device that is not highly stressed, i.e., you can see essentially what it's made of. I might be more concerned if I was buying internal engine components, such as pistons, rods, crank, etc. "Proof is in the pudding". If it allows me to maintain full boost longer, to slightly higher revs, it will be money well spent. I'll certainly post a follow up in May.

Agree that it is a rather simple device, but that doesn't mean cracked welds or cracked/swollen fin rows don't happen from eBay intercoolers and that comes from composition of the product - and people have documented instances of that in the forums, that's all. But I agree that for that price point it is difficult to argue against, for sure.

Sponsored

 

[Vicr]

Cost aside, what is the best non race IC? I'll be in AZ in a year and will be tracking the car so heat soak is an issue.

 

[MakStang]

I like the cp-e DeltaCore. This is what I have on the car for the last two years. It does wonders with my setup (see my signature).

 

[car_ter2903]

Hi guys, quick question as I couldn't find any answers scrolling through the previous posts' (so apologies if this has already been answered).

Has anyone installed an uprated intercooler (regardless of brand) with stock hot side/cold side piping? I'm wondering if I can get away with running a higher tune on stock pipe work or not? Trying to figure out if it's worth the extra £225 or not...

Thanks for any advice you can give

 

[SVO MkII]

Hi guys, quick question as I couldn't find any answers scrolling through the previous posts' (so apologies if this has already been answered).

Has anyone installed an uprated intercooler (regardless of brand) with stock hot side/cold side piping? I'm wondering if I can get away with running a higher tune on stock pipe work or not? Trying to figure out if it's worth the extra £225 or not...

Thanks for any advice you can give

I'm using all stock components except for the intercooler. I suspect this is probably what the majority of people who upgrade the IC are doing. If you do enough searching, you can find some dyno tests showing the improvement of an upgraded IC alone. As expected, it will essentially add a little power in the higher revs, above 4K to about 5.5K. Obviously, combine this with a tune, and you can get significantly higher increases.

 

[car_ter2903]

I'm using all stock components except for the intercooler. I suspect this is probably what the majority of people who upgrade the IC are doing. If you do enough searching, you can find some dyno tests showing the improvement of an upgraded IC alone. As expected, it will essentially add a little power in the higher revs, above 4K to about 5.5K. Obviously, combine this with a tune, and you can get significantly higher increases.

Hey, thanks a lot for the feedback. I thought this may be the case, just wanted to check if anyone else had any experience of running this set-up before I took the plunge myself. Appreciate the advice

 

[Cardude99]

Hi guys, quick question as I couldn't find any answers scrolling through the previous posts' (so apologies if this has already been answered).

Has anyone installed an uprated intercooler (regardless of brand) with stock hot side/cold side piping? I'm wondering if I can get away with running a higher tune on stock pipe work or not? Trying to figure out if it's worth the extra £225 or not...

Thanks for any advice you can give

I'm in your boat, unsure if it's needed or not. Intercooler is a must but the charge pipes I dunno. I am all for supporting mods but if there is no benefit then I will forgo them too. Hoping we can get some more information on this.

 

[300mag]

I'm in your boat, unsure if it's needed or not. Intercooler is a must but the charge pipes I dunno. I am all for supporting mods but if there is no benefit then I will forgo them too. Hoping we can get some more information on this.

In my opinion I would go aftermarket if you go anything higher than a stage 1 tune. after that you wouldnt to chance the increased hp with the stock charge pipes and you would want to take advantage of the (slightly) lower charge temps.

 

[cvf-jason]

Thanks for throwing this up - it's interesting to get an actual comparison with pics. If I'm not mistaken I'm seeing that the ETS has about 12 fins per inch and the cp-e 11 fins per inch. To be honest I expected the ETS to have a few more than that, but it compares pretty well to the cp-e.

I'm not really surprised that the cp-e has more space in between rows, though. More rows = better cooling, obviously, and some companies even try to market their adjustments to that as a benefit (think ATM and their "rounded header bars" talk - which I consider BS).

cp-e's end tanks are better (more flow) but ETS has a much larger cooling area, more fins per inch, and less space between rows. I'd personally trade off the cast end tanks for the larger cooling area of the ETS. The pricing helps too, as if I'm not wrong the cp-e in question is almost the same price. Everyone's got their opinion, though.

EDIT: Obligatory "We all have opinions, but IAT's don't lie" callout. Only on apples-to-apples comparisons, though.

Since we're talking fin packs, here's what we're working with on our units:

We're averaging about 20 fins per inch (2x as many as cp-e, and comparable to Garrett and at over half the price), high-flow cast end tanks, and an unbeatable price-point . PM me for forum discounts!

https://www.cvfab.com/products/cvf-street-intercooler-2015-ford-mustang-ecoboost View attachment 343168

 

[solodogg]

Since we're talking fin packs, here's what we're working with on our units:

We're averaging about 20 fins per inch (2x as many as cp-e, and comparable to Garrett and at over half the price), high-flow cast end tanks, and an unbeatable price-point . PM me for forum discounts!

https://www.cvfab.com/products/cvf-street-intercooler-2015-ford-mustang-ecoboost View attachment 343168

Man, I'd love to see IAT2 differences between the Mishimoto I currently have on the car and this one. If it performs as well as it looks, it would be a very good upgrade for hot climate vehicles.

I've always believed big IC's were bad for stock turbo due to too much pressure drop across the core, this one seems to have overcome the issue by packing more cooling capabilities into the smaller unit. Well done

 

[SVO MkII]

I've always believed big IC's were bad for stock turbo due to too much pressure drop across the core, this one seems to have overcome the issue by packing more cooling capabilities into the smaller unit. Well done

FWIW, I have not noticed any change whatsoever in throttle response with my larger (roughly 3 times larger than stock) IC. Totally stock motor in all other respects. As always, "your results may vary".

 

[Blk18EcoPP1]

Hey guys just installed the ETS IC ... Looks great and performs great as well. Now time to start my tune plus data logging !

 

[Blk18EcoPP1]

Hey guys just installed the ETS IC ... Looks great and performs great as well. Now time to start my tune plus data logging !

Some more pics

 

[5.0yote]

As far as cold and hot side pipes go, there is little variance to using aftermarket charge pipes, add to that to be honest the plastic stock ones resist heat better IMO. Other than the bends etc maybe affecting some airflow, you are not increasing or decreasing the inlets on both ends on a stock turbo, so its a moot point unless you have an aftermarket turbo with a larger inlet, and larger TB as well. (however the hoses because lets face it the stockers are not pipes, will soften over time so a real charge pipe is better due to its rigidity and you will not need to worry about them collapsing). You should be fine to run the stock tubes on the aftermarket intercooler as that is the real workhorse of the setup anyway.

Other than that looks are really what you get with the aftermarket charge pipes more or less. There are only certain circumstances where they make a real difference over stock. None of them are if your running a stock turbo, or even a stock style drop in like the Precision/Turbonetics/Vagas, etc. You are still downsizing the pipe at the source.

 

[5.0yote]

Man, I'd love to see IAT2 differences between the Mishimoto I currently have on the car and this one. If it performs as well as it looks, it would be a very good upgrade for hot climate vehicles.

I've always believed big IC's were bad for stock turbo due to too much pressure drop across the core, this one seems to have overcome the issue by packing more cooling capabilities into the smaller unit. Well done

You can go too big of an intercooler in some situations, that being said I am pretty sure our turbos are so small stock that there would not be enough of a drop in pressure to affect the performance that much, I think it is pretty well balanced, and you can always tune that out either way to make up the difference on the back end. I think the overall benefits of a much larger intercooler could outweigh any loss of boost at the TB side of things with the quicker cooling recovery you get with more surface area. This leads to more consistent performance in a heat soak situation.

I was fine with the mishimoto in my stock configuration but found it lacking with the larger turbo application. I learned my lesson from the lost benefits during that trial and error situation and I went with the full size ETS as well for the drop in larger unit.

Sponsored