Intercoolers? wat you got

[djtez]

i've been going up the wall trying to think of wat mods to buy the G this month, i thought i thought of everything. apart from absolutely going mental with pistion and knife edge crank..

puttin all they toothed belts and gt inlets and this an that... and still only using that tiny little i/c ?

wat could i fit with regular ease? or wat would be the bomb for gains and best for car?

i've not seen a straight bolt on polo i'c yet?

[g40_jez]

I've heard that the standard one is good for 180bhp, but obviously the cooler the air the better, so depending on your level of tune it could be worth doing. You do have to think about how and where to fit it, probably have to make up some brackets, and source all the necessary hose bits. I'm sure someone heres who's done it can tell you more.

[Gary]

If you plan on modding your engine further, a front mount would be the best option to cope with the increase in power. PSD made a front mount kit, however with psd shutting and steve vanishing you really aint got much chance of getting one of them, unless one pops up for sale on a forum or ebay.

Other front mount options are a 2wd cossie one, or even one from a bmw 330d, altho all the pipework would need to be custom made.

[dubmanic]

my mate chris used a land rover freelander intercooler,mounted behind lower bumper using vw golf 20vt pipework from a local vw brakers,an samco hoses,il see if he has any pics of it,as he sold the car after.

[hayesey]

get searching your local scrapyards with a tape measure. There's loads of small front mount ics in there that are suitable for fitting to a mk3 polo, vw sharan tdi, bmw, frontera tdi....etc....

Or there are loads of universal coolers on ebay.  Of course, any of these will require you to make mountings and get necessary boost pipes to suit.  THe other option is to take it to somewhere like jabbasport, forge motorsport, allisport etc...etc... and just pay them to do it all for you.

I've got a 2wd sierra cosworth one with modified end tanks on mine.  But to be hoenst you're better off getting something that'll more of less fit right on in a scrappy.

[djtez]

thanks for the replies,
im gonna have a wee search on the net and forums...

i might try the psd to source.. however hard it is,, ill try my best..
if that fails then a cossy cooler could be the one.. depends all on availability ..

[hayesey]

PSD don't exist any more....

[djtez]

yes i know, but someone , somewhere where ever in the world will have one.
which at some point they will eventually decide to sell... to me!

[Dan]

You could measure one up and have it made to suit you. Cores are availble and then it's getting a fabby to do your end tanks and mounts !

[Dan]

BTW I wouldn't worry about the size of the intercooler. Without doing some calculations to work out things. I think the std one is adequate for G lader use. Might be a different story if you go for an eaton heat pump or turbo though ! 

[hayesey]

yeah for me the worst thing about the stock item is the position of it.  Not exactly in a good place for air flow and the charger itself stifles the flow out of the back of it.  Plus even if the standard one "does the job", getting more heat out of he air can still only be a good thing.  Plus the standard one is 1980's technology, more modern cores should in theory flow better whilst still taking as much if not more, heat out.

[Dan]

I think the position for air flow is pretty good as standard. Not too near the exhaust and rad, plus the ducting is fine.

I'd be interested to know how and in what way intercooler cores have improved. 

[hayesey]

well I only said in theory!  But I would have thought that in 20 years they'd have done some development into intercooler technology?  If you know otherwise then fair enough.

[Dan]

I'm not sure what difference is in the type of core. Will have a look when i get one and what alternatives there are. I'd be tempted to make a replacement in the original position if new cores will flow better.

[G-spot]

I bought myself a BMW(E46) 330d intercooler just recently, brand new for £50(including postage), according to my measurment and calculations it should fit in front of the rad, but within the bumper without to much modifying. Just waiting for my subframe to arrive to start the task of rearranging the front end a bit.