Intercoolers - Whats Better? "Bar & Plate or Tube & Fin"

Hey Guys,

Looking around seen a few coolers at just jap dirt cheep in the cooling pro brand they do a 600X300X76 that will fit our cars ok right?

It has 2.5" and 3" inlets and oulets.

Who knows whats better?
Tube and Fin?
or
Bar & Plate?

And would you go for 2.5" inlet/outlet or 3.0" inlet/outlet?

Regards,
Brent

 

All your questions should be answered here ----- > http://ozvr4.com/forums/showthread.php?t=245

Here is a quick summary;

Bar & Plate is better IMO but heavier.

Go for 2.5" pipes.

600x300x76 will not fit unless you cut out the impact bar.

 

Thanks Hawks, I have read that already.

dont meant to sound stupid but what is IMO??

The impact bar mod seems pretty easy? do you know if the cooling pro coolers are any good or not?

Would it matter that much if it went to 3" on the tanks? i would of thought it would flow more?

Brent

 

IMO = In my opinion

I think the mod to the support bar would be pretty easy, but you would need to cut it out and then box it off and/or paint it to make it tidy.
Going 3" on the end tanks would flow any better as the stock piping is 2.5" anyway.

 

Hey Hawk's

I see that you contacted GKtech in regards to the coolers they had, did you end up in getting one of them?

 

tube and fin is lighter than bar/plate. and flows faster, and cools well (its what we have standard)

bar/plate, heavier than tube/fin, flows abit slower, and cools better

but i doupt you would notice the difference on 2 identical cars with this being the only different part.

there is no better/worse,
they both have there merits and drawbacks,

really just comes down to personal preferance

 

2.5" or 3" doesn't matter too much, the other pipes are fairly restrictive.

Just get a standard 600x300x76mm intercooler, I don't see much point in spending a huge amount of money on one when we have fairly small turbos that don't move a large amount of air anyway.

 

I am waiting to get the car first my wife doesn't look fondley on stacking up parts for a car we don't have yet.

 

I hear ya Mark...

 

tell her it will be cheeper to do it now...

 

I've got a 100mm thick intercooler and it pushes the corners of the bumper up a little bit. That 80mm one should fit just fine, but you won't have much room around it.

 

$1295, I'll pass!