Intercoolers - Which Are The Best

[Tough R34]

hi guys

just wondering if those cheap ebay intercooler kits for our skylines are good????

has anyone got or used one of these kinds on their cars???

im interested in buying a front mount but i dont want shit quality or risk blowing my turbo.

any ideas/prices?

cheers

steve

[nuffsaid]

The brand name jap kits will fit easily and nicely. They will probably use the existing piping so everything will look quite neat.

The cheaper kits e.g. JustJap will take some mucking around to fit. and have different piping.

I'd say the brand names flow better and are of better quality. They probably perform a little better too, but I dont know whether it warrants the price being doubled (or more).

Personally, I'd go a proper brand name kit.

[mad082]

it depends also on whether the cooler is bar and plate, or tube and fin. tube and fin are better for street use as they don't heat soak as much. and the better brands would probably flow just a touch better.

[Wink]

The actual intercoolers themselves will have very little difference on performance (unless you're chasing big big HP).

Eg a Justjap FMIC will perform just as well as a Trust/ARC/HKS one.

However, the difference is in the piping. JustJap and other Hybrid copies are notorious for the issues they have with fitting (eg trimming of the rad fan needed in R33s) whereas the JDM kits will be much easier to fit and require less modification to go in. Also, I've noticed that the Justjap FMIC piping is pretty thin compared to the brand name FMIC kit piping.

[JVP]

ive got a GKtech intercooler kit fitted to my 32

workshop had to trim the bumper and mod the pipes a bit but it seems pretty good

reasonable price too

[RCEBNR]

ive always wondered why didnt cheaper kits (eg hybrid etc) just model their piping on the more expensive kits, thus save all this fuss? surely its be easier for u to just buy the core and get some custom piping (wouldnt be more than $250) made copying the pipingg route of the better brands?

[Wink]

ive always wondered why didnt cheaper kits (eg hybrid etc) just model their piping on the more expensive kits, thus save all this fuss? surely its be easier for u to just buy the core and get some custom piping (wouldnt be more than $250) made copying the pipingg route of the better brands?

They probably did and they had shit copying skills.

[FOG35]

Get a GTR cooler. Less likely to get hassled by the cops (when painted black) and they are perfect size for medium mods.

[SiR_RB]

Get a GTR cooler. Less likely to get hassled by the cops (when painted black) and they are perfect size for medium mods.

can u get any of those cheaper intercooler kits with piping that conects to the original SMIC piping?

i rekon it looks neater, plus less hassles.

i no Blitz r selling a kit that uses stock pipes but thats going for around $1500 !

[aquariuz6]

How efficient in its cooling purposes say a bar and plate cooler compared to a tube and fin?

I notice that a lot of cheap coolers are usually bar and plate.

I wonder which one would be better as in summer here in australia, its a daily driver. Mind that you give it a little push everynow and then but no track days.

[2BNVS]

tube and fin doesnt cool as much but has less pressure drop, bar and plate cools alot more but has a slightly higher pressure drop, also the tube and fins from what ive been told will flow more air thru to ur radiator....bar and plate are used more common in cars that like to drag, i have bar and plate hybrid cooler

ben...

[Michael_1882]

These days the price of good brand name cooler kits are so competitive, hence my signature, you can get a Greddy kit for $700, it comes down to preference if you want to go brand name or generic, i can't say brand names will allways be the better option, as sometime the same factory makes both, but i feel in 9 out 10 cases you will find the brand name is of a higher quailty.

Brand names now have made cheeper coolers to tackle this generic market, like Hyrbrid, Greaddy etc. and unless your chasing huge power these coolers are perfect.

Michael

[Michael_1882]

Btw the Mspecs i'm selling for $699 are bar an plate.