Ebay Intercoolers and piping
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Ebay Intercoolers and piping
Hello,
I was searching on ebay and found front mount intercoolers for evos and one thing made me think of buying one of those was the price.. $140! the brand is cxracing and I found a lower intercooler pipe but I'm not sure about the brand (nothing stated) for $100. I want to know what do you guys think about these parts. Shall I go for them or not?
I was searching on ebay and found front mount intercoolers for evos and one thing made me think of buying one of those was the price.. $140! the brand is cxracing and I found a lower intercooler pipe but I'm not sure about the brand (nothing stated) for $100. I want to know what do you guys think about these parts. Shall I go for them or not?
Ebay parts will typically perform like ebay parts. In other words they might be better than stock, but may not add as much power as well known and trusted brands such as buscher and ams parts may offer. Ebay parts are also known to be less durable and more prone to irregularities from the manufacturer. Keep in mind that you always get what you pay for. I say save for the better parts :]
just for reference I have made over 500whp very easily on Ebay intercoolers a few times.
A few were nicer ones with cast end tanks and supposed Spearco cores. The others were and also on my Evo are the XO2 ones.
Never cracked and seem to hold pressure very well and cool very well considering.
I have not done a side by side and put thermo devices in each, but I wouldnt hesitate to use another one to be honest
A few were nicer ones with cast end tanks and supposed Spearco cores. The others were and also on my Evo are the XO2 ones.
Never cracked and seem to hold pressure very well and cool very well considering.
I have not done a side by side and put thermo devices in each, but I wouldnt hesitate to use another one to be honest
and/or you can always go with ETS FMIC a little bit cheaper if on a budget! Regardless they're both Top of the line.
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Been looking at the cxracing one also. I agree you get what you pay for, but sometimes a good product at a low price can be found. I also would like a BR, ETS, AMS, ect. but If I can get a good FMIC for under $200 shipped and fitment and performance are good will I really miss the few extra HP the others may produce? The cxracing is 3.5 in core, there is also a XS power one 3.75 core with piping for under $200 shipped. I don't know how good either is but hell for less than $200, (I've spent more that much on drinking in one night) it's not that risky of an investment. As for the LICP, that $100 one reduces right after the bend, I'd get a Muse for $135.
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The problem is heat soaking the ebay intercooler. Here is a good review on our intercooler done by the Supra community.
History
When my stock SMIC failed (endtank busted off on parkingblock), i went for a 3" Ebay intercooler. I though i had the deal of a lifetime, it worked, i was happy. The intercooler performed great during the winter but the car just became a complete dog in Texas temps ranging from 85+ to 100+. I'll show comparison pics later and beat down on the ebay intercooler as so many have done before. Good to a certain extent probably (low boost / colder climats) but for a 16psi turbo Supra in Texas, not so.
The pictures
Getting a box like this just makes you feel like one bad ****
One serious intercooler, a lot heavier then i would have expected.
Piping for throttle body side with Blitz dual drive bov flange.
Close-up of welding.
A proper intercooler, huge density within, staggered setup.
And my old ebay intercooler, low low fin density, and they are all inline. You can literally look straight through it! Good for flow / pressure drop perhaps, but not so for heat transfer.
Zoom in of Ebay inside to show the fins are all lined up staight and see through.
Outside comparison. ETS is an inch thicker (4inch vs 3inch) and has better (fatter) endtank design. Some might say "An intercooler is an intercooler", yeah right.
Blow off valve now located in drivers side duct as opposed to my previous mounting off the throttle body.
Intercooler piping, it didn't line up 100% straight with the throttlebody, but this is probably fixable with some adjustments, but i had everything clamped down already.
Elbooow.
The part i was less thrilled about, having to cut the brackets off the A/C lines and pull them down a lot because the piping routes exactly where these lines used to be. I don't understand why they didn't route the piping underneath these. It would only have brought the piping down a slight bit, but it would still be flush with the underside of the car.
Hot sex.
No more skinny rabbit-tooth ebay intercooler ****; we are now open for business.
In the end, as seen in the pictures above, clearly the ebay intercooler isn't worth buying / putting on your car (hindsight is 20/20 huh). If you are on a budget it is worth it to just get the ETS intercooler and fab up your own piping with an ebay piping kit, but seriously, after i looked into both the ETS and Ebay intercooler i was literally shocked at the difference.
Regarding the higher end of the spectrum; i still didn't feel like dishing out $1,900 for the Greedy and in reality, i don't think the extra $900 will help it outperform this intercooler. (don't go crying about the overflow bottle and PS relocater of the greedy, cause that still doesn't justify the extra $900)
It is hard to give you a 'i drove around and the car is 10x faster' review, cause temps before install were 90's and currently Texas is seeing 100+. I also upped the boost from 12psi on the ebay to 17.5psi on the ETS. So yes, my car is faster, and now that i know it is cooling properly, i feel confident running higher boost.
I hope this info helps out all looking into aftermarket intercoolers!
Luke.
Source: http://www.supraforums.com/forum/new...eply&p=6909217
We have also tested the ebay vs our intercooler on the dyno and after a couple runs there was a 100hp difference between the two. I have a dyno graph to show.
Evo w/ our 67mm Turbo Kit
Thanks,
Michael
History
When my stock SMIC failed (endtank busted off on parkingblock), i went for a 3" Ebay intercooler. I though i had the deal of a lifetime, it worked, i was happy. The intercooler performed great during the winter but the car just became a complete dog in Texas temps ranging from 85+ to 100+. I'll show comparison pics later and beat down on the ebay intercooler as so many have done before. Good to a certain extent probably (low boost / colder climats) but for a 16psi turbo Supra in Texas, not so.
The pictures
Getting a box like this just makes you feel like one bad ****
One serious intercooler, a lot heavier then i would have expected.
Piping for throttle body side with Blitz dual drive bov flange.
Close-up of welding.
A proper intercooler, huge density within, staggered setup.
And my old ebay intercooler, low low fin density, and they are all inline. You can literally look straight through it! Good for flow / pressure drop perhaps, but not so for heat transfer.
Zoom in of Ebay inside to show the fins are all lined up staight and see through.
Outside comparison. ETS is an inch thicker (4inch vs 3inch) and has better (fatter) endtank design. Some might say "An intercooler is an intercooler", yeah right.
Blow off valve now located in drivers side duct as opposed to my previous mounting off the throttle body.
Intercooler piping, it didn't line up 100% straight with the throttlebody, but this is probably fixable with some adjustments, but i had everything clamped down already.
Elbooow.
The part i was less thrilled about, having to cut the brackets off the A/C lines and pull them down a lot because the piping routes exactly where these lines used to be. I don't understand why they didn't route the piping underneath these. It would only have brought the piping down a slight bit, but it would still be flush with the underside of the car.
Hot sex.
No more skinny rabbit-tooth ebay intercooler ****; we are now open for business.
In the end, as seen in the pictures above, clearly the ebay intercooler isn't worth buying / putting on your car (hindsight is 20/20 huh). If you are on a budget it is worth it to just get the ETS intercooler and fab up your own piping with an ebay piping kit, but seriously, after i looked into both the ETS and Ebay intercooler i was literally shocked at the difference.
Regarding the higher end of the spectrum; i still didn't feel like dishing out $1,900 for the Greedy and in reality, i don't think the extra $900 will help it outperform this intercooler. (don't go crying about the overflow bottle and PS relocater of the greedy, cause that still doesn't justify the extra $900)
It is hard to give you a 'i drove around and the car is 10x faster' review, cause temps before install were 90's and currently Texas is seeing 100+. I also upped the boost from 12psi on the ebay to 17.5psi on the ETS. So yes, my car is faster, and now that i know it is cooling properly, i feel confident running higher boost.
I hope this info helps out all looking into aftermarket intercoolers!
Luke.
We have also tested the ebay vs our intercooler on the dyno and after a couple runs there was a 100hp difference between the two. I have a dyno graph to show.
Evo w/ our 67mm Turbo Kit
Thanks,
Michael
You got me! I just hate to see people throw on one of those intercoolers, get a tune and waste money. It's cheaper in the long run to do it right the first time. Thanks,
Michael
This is what happens when you combine bad economy + cheap teenagers in cheaper evo's. They want ebay parts and then claims are "oh its just as good as ETS, AMS, BR, etc" Go buy a honda if you want ebay parts....seriously you bums its $600 for a nice intercooler, if you can't afford that then you own too expensive of a car imo. Oh and for people that say I gained x amount of horse power on a dyno...well that doesn't mean squat. Go to a road course and watch your IAT's raise faster than you run out of gas. Also no ebay intercooler comes with Spearco cores...get real.
