Recommend an Intercooler

[Biggs07]

I have read article after article. And with all the recent models and numerous tests done its very overwhelming trying to decide on an intercooler. So I am turning to the forum for what I want. Im looking to spend less than $600, easy install with little to no cutting and trimming.

[mike@x-ph.com]

Originally Posted by Biggs07

I have read article after article. And with all the recent models and numerous tests done its very overwhelming trying to decide on an intercooler. So I am turning to the forum for what I want. Im looking to spend less than $600, easy install with little to no cutting and trimming.

VRSF 5" no trimming
Active Autowerke 6" (minor trimming)

You cant go wrong with either one

[scotty_miller]

I'm in the same dilemma, looking to buy an intercooler and can't decide between vrsf 7 inch or the AA. Not to thread jack, just hopping on board and seeing what your opinions are.

[Miko226]

VRSF 5" Stepped Core FTW!

[e36addict]

I have the VRSF 7 and it's great, minus the trimming required, which really isn't a big deal. I'd like to have a 5 inch stepped core though

[saace7]

I got the COBB intercooler. It's large!! Trimming required. I run anywhere from 5-15 degrees above ambient temp.

Looks great from the front though as it fills the entire bumper.

[houtan]

thats weird, what did you have to trim? i am running the cobb and didnt have to trim at all. i can see maybe sanding the front plastic support slightly at the ends where it curves in to give a mm of space to slide the intercooler in, but that's it.

op, my prefernce would be for a stepped core such as cobb, helix, wagner, vrsf or ambient thermal management when they release theirs. large front surface and should be no trimming, or verrrrry minor trimming. some people report having to trim the temp sensor to install the helix, but when i installed one, i didnt have to, so i guess its a possibility.

if you dont have a dct, the cobb works great. i have the cobb and have logged a lot testing N55 etunes for PTF and it has always done a good job controlling IAT. unfortunately, their is a fitment issue with the DCT trans cooler on the cold side piping so i will be looking to get something else. I am planning on getting the ambient thermal management intercooler when it gets released. it looks good and i believe they are the ones who made the intercooler for helix.

Originally Posted by saace7

I got the COBB intercooler. It's large!! Trimming required. I run anywhere from 5-15 degrees above ambient temp.

Looks great from the front though as it fills the entire bumper.

[///Machiavelli]

Originally Posted by houtan

thats weird, what did you have to trim? i am running the cobb and didnt have to trim at all. i can see maybe sanding the front plastic support slightly at the ends where it curves in to give a mm of space to slide the intercooler in, but that's it.

op, my prefernce would be for a stepped core such as cobb, helix, wagner, vrsf or ambient thermal management when they release theirs. large front surface and should be no trimming, or verrrrry minor trimming. some people report having to trim the temp sensor to install the helix, but when i installed one, i didnt have to, so i guess its a possibility.

if you dont have a dct, the cobb works great. i have the cobb and have logged a lot testing N55 etunes for PTF and it has always done a good job controlling IAT. unfortunately, their is a fitment issue with the DCT trans cooler on the cold side piping so i will be looking to get something else. I am planning on getting the ambient thermal management intercooler when it gets released . it looks good and i believe they are the ones who made the intercooler for helix.

Any info or posts regarding this product? Searched google didn't see anything about e82 development.

[houtan]

I don't think you will find anything yet. I sent them an email because I saw them releasing an intercooler for the f30 I beleive and they told me something should be out soon.

[///Machiavelli]

Yeah i found their f30 group buy posting. I liked what they had to say about cast end tanks and optimizing fitment. Hopefully they actually come through with an option for us as well.

[TurboBullett@Ambient Thermal Management]

Originally Posted by machiavelli9988

Yeah i found their f30 group buy posting. I liked what they had to say about cast end tanks and optimizing fitment. Hopefully they actually come through with an option for us as well.

We are most definitely going to come through, we were the original developers of the Stepped Core concept way back in 2006 designed on my e92 335i with our designs formerly sold through Helix. As Houtan has said he is going to be receiving his unit in the very near future.

Here is a pic of the e90-92, 135i FMIC, the finish is incredible looking sandblasted with a polished logo on the end tanks! It will come with silicone and Murray turbo seal clamps and on 2009+cars a polished aluminum j-pipe!

[MuNkY6913]

i just said ef it and went big with the CXRacing Kit. Tons of cutting! works freaking great though. you can fin my thread about it if you search for it. My IAT's stay pretty close to a little below outside temp. Then when the Meth kicked in it went way down. Haha. Install was a nightmare but i'm very happy with it over the past year. The $500 price with a meth bung in the elbow before the charge pipe was nice too. Here's a thread with a log, http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1043567, and you can see before i floor it the temp is at 50 and drops to 48 without meth. obviously the meth brings it down super low, but were not looking at that. Then after the run it climbs to about 53 but with just coasting then a tiny bit of throttle it goes back down to 50. Here's some real life data to consider if you want. but i guesss it depends on how crazy your wanting to get. i knew i would be where i'm at right now one day so i got something that would last me. I know N55 runs higher but the N55 logs show a pretty high temp. He has the ETS intercooler. These two logs are by 2 cars running side by side up a slight incline. Just putting info out there.

[Grinchxvx]

Originally Posted by MuNkY6913

i just said ef it and went big with the CXRacing Kit. Tons of cutting! works freaking great though. you can fin my thread about it if you search for it. My IAT's stay pretty close to a little below outside temp. Then when the Meth kicked in it went way down. Haha. Install was a nightmare but i'm very happy with it over the past year. The $500 price with a meth bung in the elbow before the charge pipe was nice too. Here's a thread with a log, http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1043567, and you can see before i floor it the temp is at 50 and drops to 48 without meth. obviously the meth brings it down super low, but were not looking at that. Then after the run it climbs to about 53 but with just coasting then a tiny bit of throttle it goes back down to 50. Here's some real life data to consider if you want. but i guesss it depends on how crazy your wanting to get. i knew i would be where i'm at right now one day so i got something that would last me. I know N55 runs higher but the N55 logs show a pretty high temp. He has the ETS intercooler. These two logs are by 2 cars running side by side up a slight incline. Just putting info out there.

Glad to hear good things about this IC I'm going to go with this one pretty soon and have been looking for real data. It really sucks that all the threads Big Tom posted about the diy are missing pictures.

[MuNkY6913]

Originally Posted by Grinchxvx

Glad to hear good things about this IC I'm going to go with this one pretty soon and have been looking for real data. It really sucks that all the threads Big Tom posted about the diy are missing pictures.

I can't say completely good things about this intercooler as a kit or the company. I've gone over all the points in my reviews of this. You can search for them. The you tube videos of installs are still there. The company will give you the install instructions for the 3 series. Another problem I had. If you have the short charge pipe the kit will work. If you want to source out the mounts and tubing and silicone you can fit it to which ever you have. I had the longer charge pipe which left me not being able to connect the kit. I also had to modify the ER charge pipe I had to buy as well. This install is definitely not for the faint of Hart. If you like modifying and figuring things out then it won't be so bad. When you do install and have any questions don't hesitate to pm me. For some reason it doesn't like telling me people responded to my posts.

[Grinchxvx]

Originally Posted by MuNkY6913

I can't say completely good things about this intercooler as a kit or the company. I've gone over all the points in my reviews of this. You can search for them. The you tube videos of installs are still there. The company will give you the install instructions for the 3 series. Another problem I had. If you have the short charge pipe the kit will work. If you want to source out the mounts and tubing and silicone you can fit it to which ever you have. I had the longer charge pipe which left me not being able to connect the kit. I also had to modify the ER charge pipe I had to buy as well. This install is definitely not for the faint of Hart. If you like modifying and figuring things out then it won't be so bad. When you do install and have any questions don't hesitate to pm me. For some reason it doesn't like telling me people responded to my posts.

I already read that review just didn't realize you were the one who made it. All the instruction I'll need is where to cut the plastic and maybe plumbing. I work at a shop that does restorations and fabrication for old American cars so I was just going to have one of the techs fab up some mounting solution for me.
I'll look for the YouTube video on it too but never saw anything previously

[MuNkY6913]

@grinchxvx If you have a place like that to do it then you shouldn't have any problem. Little tip. Make sure to place the temp sensor somewhere that it will still get airflow. I just zip tied mine to the subframe but its real close to the radiator and the intercooler blocks most of the airflow where I put it. So now my temp shows about 4-5 degrees higher on the dash. Not to big of a deal since I know it. If I ever take the front bumper off again ill fix it. I see CXRacing has the n55 version out as well. Incorporates the charge pipe. Looks pretty good. Would like to see someone do that. You can try searching the other forum for the big tom stuff. Make sure to take before and after logs. Might even be able to make the first DIY? Haha. Good luck man!

[Moutamid]

VRSF

[Freon]

There are very few objective, quality data-driven tests available out there to inspect.

CP-E did one with their own but only against the factory unit.
http://cp-e.com/tech/n54FMIC.pdf
Nothing to unsurprising. It performs much better than factory, and I believe their test is using very good protocol, does the math correctly, and overall highlights the truly important dimensions of the product in performance terms.

Wagner did similar with their four available units against one another. From that test it seems the factory connections are very limiting for flow, leading to a large pressure drop with little flow. Also just interesting to note their two "best" units are tube and fin. It seems very hard to find those two good units, everyone carries their worst one that quotes a pressure drop of 2.5 psi and barely more than stock flow rates.
http://www.wagner-tuning.com/Interco...O-II_p_10.html
240 g/s is close to bone stock flow. 2.5 psi drop is just barely acceptable. The next one up (top right of the four square picture they posted) I believe is identical but ditches the factory couplers and gains 40+ g/s airflow at the same pressure drop. For this reason I would not replace my factory unit with any factory coupler unit.

Plenty of people have run their own logs, but I've never seen one that was measuring enough to be that meaningful for comparison or did much to eliminate variables. A before and after showing much lower post-IC temps probably confirms it is at least somewhat better than stock, but there is a lot more to a good intercooler than a quick before and after log can show. I don't think anyone has posted a "bad" log of any brand. I'm not trying to knock anyone who has posted logs, but they really don't tell us much (other than it works and is in some circumstance better than stock) and shouldn't be compared to one another. So unfortunately, I think it is a complete crapshoot to pick out the "best" one in objective, performance-based terms.

Good luck!

[Miko226]

Vrsf 5" V2 Ftw!

[saace7]

Originally Posted by houtan

thats weird, what did you have to trim? i am running the cobb and didnt have to trim at all. i can see maybe sanding the front plastic support slightly at the ends where it curves in to give a mm of space to slide the intercooler in, but that's it.

op, my prefernce would be for a stepped core such as cobb, helix, wagner, vrsf or ambient thermal management when they release theirs. large front surface and should be no trimming, or verrrrry minor trimming. some people report having to trim the temp sensor to install the helix, but when i installed one, i didnt have to, so i guess its a possibility.

if you dont have a dct, the cobb works great. i have the cobb and have logged a lot testing N55 etunes for PTF and it has always done a good job controlling IAT. unfortunately, their is a fitment issue with the DCT trans cooler on the cold side piping so i will be looking to get something else. I am planning on getting the ambient thermal management intercooler when it gets released. it looks good and i believe they are the ones who made the intercooler for helix.

See if I can explain. I had to cut out the black pieces (long and narrow) that are in front of the stock IC but behind the plastic mesh grill in the bumper. I didn't even know it was there until I took the stock IC off. They also came with new fitment brackets that didn't work. Pushed it too far back or forward. It fit by simply screwing back into the OEM spot. Trimming took 2 minutes and even if I put the stock IC back in you would never know.

[houtan]

good explanation. i know exactly what you are talking about. i didn't have to cut them. i guess that goes to show there are slight variances between cars.

as for the aluminum brackets that came with the kit for the 1 series, i didn't use them as well.

Originally Posted by saace7

See if I can explain. I had to cut out the black pieces (long and narrow) that are in front of the stock IC but behind the plastic mesh grill in the bumper. I didn't even know it was there until I took the stock IC off. They also came with new fitment brackets that didn't work. Pushed it too far back or forward. It fit by simply screwing back into the OEM spot. Trimming took 2 minutes and even if I put the stock IC back in you would never know.

[project jayden]

Originally Posted by e36addict

I have the VRSF 7 and it's great, minus the trimming required, which really isn't a big deal. I'd like to have a 5 inch stepped core though

Is there a reason why you would rather go five when you already have 7? Does it perform better or look better?