what is the biggest intercooler fitted to a VR4?

[Davezj]

these are the sizes i have a choice of:-

800x300x100
not heard of anyone fitting this but obviously bigger is better.

600x300x100
bit of a squeeze behind crash bar will take a bit of fettling

600x300x76
normal size fitted so it tucks behind crash bar without any mods to crash bar.relativly straight forwand fittment.



you all know which one i want to fit, can you see any reason why i couldn't fit the 800x300x100 intercooler. price is not an issue as there is only about £10 difference between all of them.
can you fit an inter cooler that is too big?

[Nick Mann]

My understanding is that you can have an intercooler that is too big. The internal volume increases, which then takes time to build pressure on spool. I am no expert, and haven't looked in to it, but I would whole heartedly suggest checking the philosophy of bigger is better.

[MarkSanne]

Is your "too" big a question of size or capacity?!

Size obviously: no
Capacity: there probably will be a downside when an intercooler is (much!) bigger than the common sized ones: I'd think the pressure build-up would take a bit longer hence cooled air delivered to the engine takes slightly longer and thus performance might have a bit of lag. And since our turbo's have only so much (little) puff, there will be much air fed into the intercooler system which would partly remain 'unused' in the system when power was desired.

Those are my 2 cents. That said: for 800mm size I wouldn't expect too much of a difference in real world. The good side of a larger IC is the probable gain in cooling effect. And... (a big bonus for me personally) would be the way such a big IC would look! The ICs' side tanks would be invisible. When I had my VR2 just for just a year I thought of going for an unconventional big IC, but time and funds never matched. Now I'd love to do such a thing on the Legnum (and I'd paint the IC black).

Got any links to those 800mm IC's Dave?


EDIT: Nick typed faster...

[swinks]

Agree with what's being said. Too big volume of IC will have rather negative effect on performance, especially with such small turbos like our TD03.
It's not only a size that gives difference but design.
You can have IC much smaller than mentioned above but more efficient due to design.
Good example is Evo 4-9 intercooler. Stock one has very dense fins etc, where aftermarket one has common design, but is much less efficient. And IMO so far the best upgrade is stock Evo 4-9 IC which is bigger than our stock IC but also have better design than most of aftermarket 600x300x76.

[adaxo]

Dave, to fit 600x300x76 crash bar need to be modified slightly, next thing to consider is a space behind bumper, don't know if you remember but my bumper split due to very tight fit of FMIC, now to bring things looks 'normal' I had to remove plastic mesh from bumper and is fit much better now but still my bumper touching IC. I got 600x300x76

[Davezj]

i had forgotten the problem you had adam, didn't you push the metal frame back towards the radiator rather than modifying the crash bar.

did you intercooler preass right back against the lower support bar at the bottom of the front end of the car.

[Davezj]

I think mike (miller) fitted a 600x300x100
in the this thread and he cut the crash bar up a bit.

http://www.clubvr4.com/forum/showthr...cooler+fitting
Pic 549 for lower bar
pic 525 for intercooler

[swinks]

IIRC it's 600x300x76mm Dave. Looks very same to mine.

[adaxo]

i had forgotten the problem you had adam, didn't you push the metal frame back towards the radiator rather than modifying the crash bar.

did you intercooler preass right back against the lower support bar at the bottom of the front end of the car.

You have a proper look on sat if you not in rush to get one now, OK??

[Davezj]

cheers adam, i will do that, it make sense to be sure.

thanks Tomasz it makes sense looking at your setup i should not need to go any bigger. do you have any temp figures with respect to inlet and outlet temps from your intercooler.

[Louis]

I have 600 x 300 x 76 and did not have to cut bar!. The bottom of mine sits just above the lower part of the bumper, not sure if others are fitting theirs higher??. but no cutting the bar on mine!

[Goreden]

I have 600 x 300 x 76 and did not have to cut bar!. The bottom of mine sits just above the lower part of the bumper, not sure if others are fitting theirs higher??. but no cutting the bar on mine!

Same with my 600x300x76 fmic, didnt have to cut the crash bar and sits just above the bottom of the bumper, did have to push the metal in front of the rad in a little though

[swinks]

Agreed with above statements. No hassle with fitting 600x300x76mm IC. Sits nicely.

[Wodjno]

I agree that no modifications are needed to the crash bar to got a 600x300x76mm FMIC.

Sent from my HTC Wildfire using Tapatalk 2

[wintertidenz]

You can angle the intercooler slightly under the crash bar to get a 600x300x76 to fit. Works just fine.

[Davezj]

well after much consideration, i have bit the bullet and bought an intercooler pipes and clamps.

i have gone for the 600x300x76
basiscly all the stuff adaxo (adam) posted links to. it should be with me in the next 2-3 days.

Thanks for all the options and commects it has made the descition much easier.

[jjayokocha]

Sorry for digging up an old thread, I have come across a few evo 4/5 intercoolers going cheap and they are 600 300 76, this would be ok then for an upgrade for my FL?

[wintertidenz]

600x300x76 will fit fine with some slight angle on the intercooler.

[jjayokocha]

Will that not restrict air flow to the radiator tho?

[wintertidenz]

I haven't had any problems. Mine is on a 15 degree angle (at most) and you can slightly massage the centre bar as well to allow it to fit in with less of an angle.

The other option is to slightly space out the crash bar with some longer bolts and a couple of washers, but I'm unsure if this may cause other issues.