IC + Hardpipe Recommendations?

[SiliconAngel]

Hey kids,

As most of you probably know, I still have stock IC + pipes. Quite a few people got Ivan's kits back in the day, but I don't believe Ivan's been around for years now, has he? What are recommended IC + hard pipe upgrade options? When looking on AliExpress for A/C compressors I noticed they have VR4 kits on there - are they decent or useless? It has been many years since I looked at this stuff and I vaguely remember reading quite a lot about airflow through various core types, so I recall that there is quite a bit of variance in performance, but completely accept that I've probably forgotten most of what I knew in this area.

All suggestions welcome

 

[fubar]

$370 AU isn't to bad seeing its a complete kit, though its restrictive with only a 60m OD and the intercooler is only 35% bigger than stock by volume, 95% of all the hard work is done.

or

Make your own Hard Pipes, handful of SS-316 63mm mandrel bends in varying angles, 51mm 90° mandrel bend, 200mm length of 51mm pipe, 150mm length of 63mm pipe, and a selection of Silicon couplers, a weekend of argon-shield with a couple of profanities and wah-lah

Just buy a stock 600x300x75 intercooler and throw a couple of strategically placed tabs on it, done

Not 100% sure what these cost Kat, $400-500 including mandrel bends, off the shelf intercooler, powdercoating clamps and couplers.

Kat's babbling on about using stock lower PFL hardpipes, the stock FL's route differently and make fitting aftermarket intercooler considerably harder, maybe some of the learned members can confirm this.

or yahoo JP may find a jdm set that don't sting to much!

 

[craig]

Kat's babbling on about using stock lower PFL hardpipes, the stock FL's route differently and make fitting aftermarket intercooler considerably harder, maybe some of the learned members can confirm this.

IIRC it's just the driver's side that on a FL routes upwards to the top of the IC (where as PFLs have longer flexi hoses). On my old FL Legnum we cut the hard pipe back to around where the PFL one ends (not far past the mounting bracket). Makes it level with the other side and where an aftermarket IC inlet would be.

 

[Gav]

Most people just get the hdi gt2 intercooler as it works well.

 

[SiliconAngel]

$370 AU isn't to bad seeing its a complete kit, though its restrictive with only a 60m OD and the intercooler is only 35% bigger than stock by volume, 95% of all the hard work is done.

or

Make your own Hard Pipes, handful of SS-316 63mm mandrel bends in varying angles, 51mm 90° mandrel bend, 200mm length of 51mm pipe, 150mm length of 63mm pipe, and a selection of Silicon couplers, a weekend of argon-shield with a couple of profanities and wah-lah

Just buy a stock 600x300x75 intercooler and throw a couple of strategically placed tabs on it, done

Not 100% sure what these cost Kat, $400-500 including mandrel bends, off the shelf intercooler, powdercoating clamps and couplers.

Kat's babbling on about using stock lower PFL hardpipes, the stock FL's route differently and make fitting aftermarket intercooler considerably harder, maybe some of the learned members can confirm this.

or yahoo JP may find a jdm set that don't sting to much!

Thanks guys, really appreciate the input. I don't know anyone with an aluminium welder and the cost of fabrication is frankly ludicrous - the reason my car's still stock is the lack of justification for funds and time for projects like that Something for a few hundred dollars that I could swap in a couple of hours might be just doable... Need to find someone to tune it though, my fuel efficiency is terrible and that's running on stock boost

Most people just get the hdi gt2 intercooler as it works well.

Thanks for that Gav. Do you mean this kit?

 

[Gav]

yeah thats the cooler

 

[SiliconAngel]

Ok so just to be clear, I can get a GT2 kit, but it only includes one lower pipe and I'd either need to replace my FL pipe with a PFL or modify it. The only way to get a full hard pipe kit would be to either buy an existing one, or have one made - there are no pre-made off-the-shelf kits available. Cheap 600x300x75 ICs are available, but piping would need to be made for it, and efficiency and airflow might not be as good.

Whatever choice I make, impact bar and hood latch 'massaging' with a rubber mallet are necessary to get it to fit. Power steering cooler also needs relocating (I have an oil cooler in a box I bought for this purpose nearly 10 years ago, so that's no big deal). Anything I'm missing?

 

[SiliconAngel]

What diameter pipe should be used for the upper hard pipes if 60mm is too narrow?

 

[fubar]

It's 63mm from where the front and rear turbos merge @ the Y pipe.

Simply use 75mm to 63mm Silicon elbow reducers one at 60° & one at 90° at the inlet/outlet on the intercooler. Using the 600x300x75mm thick intercooler will reduce the velocity of the charged air travelling through the intercooler, which in-turn will reduce the the outlet temp @ the intercooler.

I don't recall Kat having to massage anything to fit the Intercooler, I'm pretty sure there was about 10mm of clearance between front of Intercooler and rear edge of the impact bar. I'll get Kat to email if any massaging was necessary on the hood latch. If you'd like I'll get some measurements taken on offset and heights of brackets, happy to jack it up and get the verniers out.

 

[SiliconAngel]

Thanks Nat, that's really good to know. The HDI kit thread suggests a bit of alteration is required, so despite it being made for the car maybe it just doesn't quite fit right?

 

[AKKO]

Thanks Nat, that's really good to know. The HDI kit thread suggests a bit of alteration is required, so despite it being made for the car maybe it just doesn't quite fit right?

As above pipework asside you may have to massage the front reo bar / bonnet latch as I recall ...

The reo bar only gets in the way when you install Evo bumper vents anyway ;-)

 

[Gav]

As above pipework asside you may have to massage the front reo bar / bonnet latch as I recall ...

The reo bar only gets in the way when you install Evo bumper vents anyway ;-)

Lucky my reo is missing then

 

[Albrek]

If you're still keen on pipework I had @TME_Steve make mine though I don't recall how much it cost

 

[Darcy]

I'm currently in the process of doing this. I got an Aeroflow cooler and am figuring out plumbing at the minute. I've got a face lift so I'm thinking I'll trim the stock pipe and put silicone between it and the intercooler on the drivers side, the passenger side should be fine with just a 90 on it. I'm aiming to knock it over on Saturday, I'll let you know how it goes if you want.

I got it a fair bit cheaper but this is the intercooler I got:
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Aeroflo...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

Couldn't justify spending $490 on the HDI kit although it probably would make life easier.

 

[SiliconAngel]

Thanks for all the helpful info guys, really appreciate it

@Darcy definitely keen to hear how you get on. Black anodised is way better than bare aluminium IMO, which is a bonus. $180 isn't too bad for the IC either - I noticed places like SuperCheap have it for $100 more, which is amusingly ironic

@Albrek I emailed Steve a couple of weeks ago about this, haven't heard back from him yet. Sometimes he does take a while to get back to me though, so I'm not too concerned. I just call him when I need something urgently or he ignores me for too long

 

[SiliconAngel]

Just a heads-up - the Aeroflow 600x300x76 AF90-1000BLK by SparesBox on ebay is discounted to $144.76 using the coupon code in the listing. Ends tonight.

 

[Gav]

Just a heads-up - the Aeroflow 600x300x76 AF90-1000BLK by SparesBox on ebay is discounted to $144.76 using the coupon code in the listing. Ends tonight.

Cheap

 

[Darcy]

I'm still getting mine back together but it's pretty much done. It's been a bit of a pain in the arse but only because I did a few things I shouldn't have.
I used this as a guide:

as well as the HDI instructions.
First mistake I made was unbolting the bottom bonnet latch bolt to bend back the centre support, I thought it needed to go way further back than it did. This is way too far:

I had to pull it back out to get to the bonnet latch bolted back in. I did use a spacer in the bottom of it but it might be possible not to if you don't take the bolt out. A few good taps with a big mallet will probably do the job. I also trimmed a bit of the body away where Kaldek did, mine sits a bit higher so I reckon it's definitely worth doing.

The next fiddly bit was relocating the power steering cooler. I ended up mounting it in front of the ac condenser (see silver spacer) after cutting out a section of it and running some 3/8" hose between the factory elbows and the bit I had cut.

The Aeroflow cooler doesn't come with mounts, which is no worries, I just bent up some 3mm steel and fitted it up. Next mistake I discovered was when I went to put the front bar back on the mounts contacted the bar that the front bar clips/bolts onto so I had to take my mounts off and cut them down. Definitely leave that bar on while you fit the cooler so that you know your mounts won't interfere with the bar.

If I hadn't made those couple of mistakes I'd have probably knocked it over in a day, definitely allow yourself a weekend. I just hooked mine up to the stock piping, I used a 45 on the drivers side and a 90 on the passenger side, both 3" - 2.5".

 

[SiliconAngel]

Thanks so much Darcy for that detailed report. That looks very cool, a huge fan of the black anodising - I bet it's barely noticeable on the car?

Any plans for hardpiping?

I've spent the best part of this week under my wife's Kia - the chain slipped off the transmission jack today while I was lining the AT up to refit, damned thing would have tipped off completely if I hadn't grabbed it, but wrestling well over 100kg of AT back into position on the jack wasted two hours and left me rather bruised for my trouble. Hopefully we'll be back to having two running cars by the end of the weekend and I can pull the VR4 apart again

 

[SiliconAngel]

@Darcy were you able to use the S2 stock piping as is? I've been reading that people needed to either cut it down, or use a S1 pipe - did yours just mount up without any modification needed?