96PonyGT

hey, im thinking of doing a DIY intercooler setup on my car and was wondering what are some good, not to expensive intercoolers and the largest dimensions I can get away with on my car. Thanks!

vanquish

I've heard ebay is the way to go for at least the piping. I do not know what the best actual intercooler would be. You read the sticky on this forum about doing this probably right?

nanaki

i had an ebay IC kit on my stang. worked perfectly. only cost like $300 shipped for the IC and piping.

96PonyGT

yeah, I read the article about it posted here. I was thinking of trying to get it all from ebay so as long as it works well enough that will be my plan. Thanks

Fobra

well my .02 is this - does the el cheapo intercooler work? yes, does it work well? No, not really, while it may be fine for people doing the 400 rwhp route, its not going to be good for more than 500rwhp, and the odds are it drops 2-3lbs of boost, as to where a good one would drop half that... I think it depends on your goals - if your going to upgrade blowers later then get a good one, if not then do the el cheapo because it wont make much differece which one you pick - youll still that 400rwhp range pretty safely

FoxGT

I would suggest ebay or a salvage yard. If you're wanting performance I would suggest modifying the end tanks. In some cases cutting the core is required. Getting the lowest possible pressure drop is not related to how well it performs. There was a company that did testing on intercoolers & found that a setup that had a 3psi pressure drop also had the lowest outlet temp of them all.
Intercooler performance is going to be mostly based on how much area you have to work with & what tools you have to work with. Most intercoolers aren't designed the greatest out of the box, ebay intercoolers are a good example. The cores generally aren't the problem, the end tanks & inlet/outlets are.
I don't recommend going over 3" in core thickness because the air is heated up quite a bit by the time it gets past the first 3", but there are exceptions to this.

96PonyGT

Thanks for the info. I will probably spend a bit more on a better intercooler then. I just dont want to have to do things twice. anyone know the best dimensions of an intercooler that would fit nicely on my car?

dannyp

go to treadstoneperformance.com click on intercoolers, then on treadstone intercoolers, and they have good intercoolers for fairly cheap, then you get the piping off ebay for about 70 bucks

96PonyGT

I actually tried them already but they do not accept credit card payments from international customers so I didnt want to hassle with money order or wire transfer so they are off limits. They did have some nice ones tho, im kinda pissed

Fobra

Ill agree that surface air is also important... critical, and that boost drop wont necessarily tell you about cooling peformance, however if the example you just stated above, if your blower can only hit 16-17psi a 3lbs drop is alot - depending upon your goals. All I want to add is to say that you should probably just look to brands that others have used / have verifiable performance with your present and future goals in mind