I currently have a ebay brand 3" intercooler on the Evo IX SE I purchased a couple months back. I've swapped the piping to ETS short route piping since purchasing the car.

I'll be installing a BB FP Black (as soon as they get parts to build them and ship it) along with other supporting mods for the turbo.

My question is should I go with a 3.5" or 4" ETS core?

My goal for the car is 500-550whp on the current stock block. Then later build a 2.3L RPM and shoot for 600+ awhp

The issue with the 4" is I believe you have to trim the crash beam or remove it which I don't want to do.

From personal experience will a 3.5" core make the power I want without a lot of heat soak?

Pump gas and meth is what I'll be using.

 

If you plan on going crazy in the future then you might as well get the 4", I personally hate buying parts then buying upgraded versions of the parts it is a huge waste of money

 

+1. Just get the ETS 4" right off the bat.

 

I would go the 4.0" route as well. It's much cheaper for you to do it right the first time and go with the larger core. No down side in running the larger intercooler.

Michael

 

Pressure drop would be the only downside to running a larger than needed intercooler.

 

Im running the 3.5 making 650hp. I thought the same thing. I didnt want to delete the crash beam or make a custom one and I didnt want to upgrade later down the road. Turns out that the 3.5 was all i needed. My intake air temps are not screaming hot either because I used the 3.5 over the 4 inch core. The only thing really holding me back from making more power is the turbo. 650 is plenty for a DD.

 

You won't even be able to tell the difference. A few years back we put a 5.0" on factory turbocharger and spool changed by less than 100rpms.

Thanks!

Michael

 

yeah even 300 rpms later spool you really wont feel the difference. but the 4" will do fine. my 3.5 fits and works great!

 

Love my 3.5" AMS IC. Works fantastic, little pricy though. I didn't want to get rid of the crash beam and it now works with my cusco brace