I decided to buy an EBAY Intercooler for my car because I had a $153 bucks burning a hole in my pocket. I read from several posts that this Intercooler was a copy of the AMS unit so I figured; heh why not try it out. I went ahead and did the BUY IT NOW feature and paypal'ed the money. Two days later the intercooler arrives in a long rectangular box with the words on the side, "INTERCOOLER EVO" So I opened it up and it is exactly as it was in the picture. Right after that I started taking apart my car to get the stock intercooler off. First thing I notice is that this is a nice piece considering it is O.E.M. It had a nice perfect fit and nice rubber insulators for the bolts. It is also light weight. Next I put the cores side by side and starting taking pictures.

The Stock Intercooler is about 2 and 11/16ths thick:


The EBAY Intercooler is about 3 and 9/16ths thick:


The Stock Intercooler is about 11 and 7/16ths tall:


The EBAY Intercooler is about 12 and 7/16ths tall:


I did not measure the overall length but they are about the same as seen in this picture:


Here is a picture of the Intercooler installed:


Installation:
The EBAY Intercooler is pretty much a bolt on part just as it was advertised. The only modification I had to do was slot one of the holes on each of the three brackets to have perfect alignment for the threads. A few passes with a file and I was good to go. Each bracket is held on the Intercooler with 2 screws so I put some thread locker on for extra insurance and re-used the factory mounting hardware. I am currently using the stock intercooler pipes and hoses and everything worked fine. I start to put everything back together and then I realized that the stock splash guard will not fit. I did not feel like cutting it so I will run without one for now.

Performance:
I fire up the car and start to check for leaks. Everything was cool so I began to warm up of the car. Throttle response is the same as it was before during low speed driving. I get to the onramp and I go WOT 1st through 4th. Initial butt dyno results tell me that the car has a little extra power from 5000 rpm's up to 8000 rpm's. I get off the freeway and jump right back on doing another power pull through the gears. Again, I can feel a little difference when she is at full boost and everything is looking good. I get off and right back on to do the same thing for the 3rd time. This is where the stock intercooler would heat sink on me and I could feel a small drop in power. Again the power is the same as it was on the first run. One last time I get off and get back on and the power level is the same as it was on run one. I am pretty happy at this point. I now have repeatable power and I can see were this would come in handy at the road course. I get off the freeway and just for kicks I park at the gas station to touch the Intercooler. Hot side is warm and Cold side is Cold.

Overall I am satisfied with my purchase. I feel that I got a good value for my money, and a few extra ponies too. Not bad for $153 dollars shipped with insurance.

 

Niiicccce!

Can you post the link to the, or a similar intercooler that you purchased. There are just so many different ones, don't want to make a mistake now...

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/jdm-E...74640342QQrdZ1

 

Nice....thats one hell of a deal for that IC. Im not sure how good it is vs the AMS ect. But I like it !

 

Sweet!...Any plans on getting tuned with this unit?

Thanks for the write-up

 

did your boost drop any?

example

22psi with stock

ebay

20psi so you just turned your mbc up to get 22 again.

did that happen

 

Can you still run the factory undertray with this IC?

 

this is what you need to cut off the undertray to clear this IC.

 

There must be a downside to using this IC. Just remember, you get what you pay for.

Ebay IC ($153) <> AMS IC ($695)

let us know any downsides to this IC that you notice. i.e. More than 1psi drop in boost, etc.

Is there anyone else with feedback on this product?

 

Nice display of pictures and measurements. I have this IC and for the price it is at least a cosmetic upgrade to the stocker. Although it does weigh like 10lbs more.

Now get your self a LICP and you will really feel some gains.

 

how did the lower intercooler line up?

 

A good amount have used this with no problem at all...I have read a few threads where people are very satisfied. I believe that these are XS Turbo cores. I had one of these Ebay IC's on my old 11.1 sec / 507whp SRT-4....so they are proven!!!

 

Nice! Thanks EvoAnthony

 

I ran that same intercooler on my car for well over a year. Never had any issues with it. I actually sold it to a friend and hes now using it on his turbo Nissan.
I had a 25G turbo set up and made 439 HP with that intercooler, I was upgrading to a GT 37R turbo so I thought let me change the intercooler to make it a little tricker. I bought the Perrin FMIC, installed it. The Perrin is much wider and alot more expensive. I put the car on the dyno to see if there was going to be much of a difference and the car with just minor tuning to compensate for the intercooler made 436 HP. Yes it went down, but I was not worried as it could have been different gas in the car (maybe lower octane evan though it says 93) the air temps or humidity may be different, etc. I took it as basically the same reading. 439 vs 436 is pretty close. So what I am saying that on my car it really was not worth the extra money to upgrade.
Now, I am running the 37R turbo with the Perrin intercooler and I also like this intercooler. Its great and it looks really nice. Is it worth the extra $$$ thats up to your pocket.

 

nice input man!