I am considering a new front mount intercooler and am confused by the massive price differences. What is wrong with this spec? If nothing why does everyone spend over £500 on front mount intercoolers?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/4-Turbo-Intercooler-31x12x4-Mazda-RX7-3-Center-Inlet_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33742QQihZ001QQitemZ110086354887
would imagine diference is quality of manufacture and a good fit if you buy a branded make, if it doesnt work as well think of rebuild costs that to me puts it into perspective IMHO
A lot will depend on the core of the IC and what it will do to your boost, most of these cheap USA imports are poor quality and like thier cars \'all show and no go\'
this is a standard mass produced in a sweat shop in china intercooler
while the unit\'s themselves are not that bad for 80% of us
The down side is that it\'s universal
so you have get your own piping made,
alot of the FMIC kits come with:
Core with properly facing inlet/outlet
Mounting brackets/hardware
Piping
silicone Couplers
Good clamps
power steering relocation kit (sometimes)
Guaranteed fit and finish
and of course your partially paying for the brand name and R&D expenses
basically if you don\'t mind getting your hands dirty, have access to a mandrel bender, know a good welder and have alot of free time.. go for it.
If your time is more valuable.. and u want a kit u can put in ur driveway in an afternoon straight outta the box ... you may want to consider the Full kits...
you may think your saving alot with an Ebay core.. but once u add the other expenses of parts and labor... There\'s not always much difference..
Like john said. they aren\'t made aswell as the big brand makes & also they aren\'t as efficient at cooling the air charge! you would probably find it would be better than the stock one but not a good as a HKS, Blitz, etc!!
Just keep an eye on ebay mate.... I picked up a genuine blitz front mount IC off a 200sx for £68. so bargains are there to be had!!!
Jono
Pressure drop is one consideration
there is nothing wrong with intercoolers at all. The only difference is as mentioned above, this is not vehicle specific, if buying one designed for an FD a lot of work goes into making it fit easily as a kit, supplying the required pipes and bends and also making sure it will work and not blobk up the intercooler.
As already stated if you are prepared to get your hands dirty and you buy the right sized core (like the link above) you will have no problems. You will need to make sure you get enough flow to your rad.
I have a similar sized one made by XS Power and it works great with no probs. Its run upto 1.2 bar and lasted nearly 2 years and still going strong.
^^^^^^^^bang on old bean, nothing wrong at all...
rmaj
I would say that you often just pay more for a named item.
I have found the alot of these intercoolers whilst not a direct fit,actually work quite well.You just need to do alot of work to fit the individual application.
Regards
Carl
Does anyone have experience of the poor quality of these items? The tech spec (if it is to be believed) is comparable to Japanese after market items. Apart from a \'tricky\' fit I guess only a measure of the temperatures would truely illustrate how it performs.
Thanks for your views.
generally it\'s known and accepted that they\'re not as effecient..
they usually use a Less dense fin design.. and have good Pressure drop results
but they\'re cooling effectiveness is less..
but for the amount of money u save.. u can get a much larger core to compensate.. and/or spend the difference on other places in the car..
the FD has an ebay SMIC kit which is pretty good.. it only lacks a proper ducting shroud... which can be easily fabbed from sheet metal or FGR
it depends on what you plan on using the car for really
hahaha
Get what you pay for - don\'t make me laugh. Some of the worst components i\'ve seen for my RX7 have been made by Blitz and HKS. The turbo I had for my car from HKS was pathetic; i\'ve now got a Turbonetics one (which costs 1/2 the price) and its a far better turbo in every aspect.
My intercooler was custom made from a pace products core, flows extremely well and cost around 1/6 the price of a HKS item.
Why not purchase a slightly better item such as pace/forge/spearco and save money without loosing performance?
Yes, I\'ve been looking at Spearco items and I like them. It\'s interesting the almost obsessive fascination that RX owners have with Jap performance parts. I have a few on my car but most are US sourced, generally because it\'s cheaper.
There is a massive array of well established RX tuners and specialists in the US and with the dollar as weak as it is, it seems a \'no brainer\' to source stuff out there. Racing Beat , SR Motorsports etc. sell top quality kit at great prices.
I agree that the item I selected on ebay may not necessarily be the best intercooler, but it would potentially offer better cooling than a standard mount (coincidentally I have an SR motorsports SMIC replacement already...and it\'s been great for the last 4 years) for the fraction of jap alternatives. I\'m not convinced by the \'it\'s cheap therefore its poor\' arguement and I\'m not one for just accepting without some proof. I also suspect that many jap parts are merely badged \'cheap\' items anyway. Thats a discussion for another day.
I do appreciate the comments. Cheers guys.
I\'m using cheaper universal types (not the one mentioned, but similar ebay find) on two of my projects. The have both needed modification to fit. One was modified by a reputable radiator manufacturer who remarked on the good build quality!
Down sides are low core density giving lower efficiency but good flow. But at that price, just get a bigger one!
Also they are quite heavy. My 600 * 300 * 100 cored one weighs about 14 kg :-(
Keith