Economy Intercooler DIY

Looked at upgraded Intercoolers for D1's and thought I could do it for less than a bespoke brand kit, so onto fleebay I went and purchased a 600x300x75 core double pass one, it had both inlet and outlet 3" bore pipes coming out of one end, of course this made it too long to fit, off to the local engineering firm for som mods, both pipes cut off and blanked and replaced with 2" tubes, another trip to fleebay and purchase a couple of silicone pipes to complete the job.

Total costs were:- £80 for the Intercooler another £80 for the Ali welding mods £20 for the pipe work and some of my time = £180 so quite a saving on the norm



Intercooler fitted just radiator to refit



Comparison old to new

Is that not going to block the radiator causing cooling isssues?

Paulmitchell1984 said:

Is that not going to block the radiator causing cooling isssues?

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Never caused issues for me.

And anyhow, I doubt people like Alisport or Allard would even make them if it caused cooling issues.

It should do because:

1. The incoming air passes through the intercooler and then through the rad;

2. TDi motors tend to run quite quite cool and with a larger intercooler should run cooler still, unless you cane it all day long!

Nice job there DT


Dave

Looks good. I've got my old(but brand new:s) fmic that I bought for my Impreza... Been toying with the idea for ages. Have you seem much improvement.

I have a few intercooler s I think, gathered from mates for a project that never took off. Don't think any I have will get any where close to fitting

RKServicing said:

Looks good. I've got my old(but brand new:s) fmic that I bought for my Impreza... Been toying with the idea for ages. Have you seem much improvement.

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Yes defo improvement to the point that my tired clutch now slips under load with the extra torque, pumps been tweaked and now smokes less as burning the fuel nicely , new clutch going in on Wednesday lol

You got a link to the sellar of the cooler or was it a one off sale ?

Bubble300tdi said:

You got a link to the sellar of the cooler or was it a one off sale ?

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Hi I bought it ages ago and can't remember the seller, just searched double pass Intercooler on eBay, I'll see if I can find a link

Item number 231036895540 is the same as I got, seems the price has gone up since I bought mine about 10 months ago, I originally thought I could fit it without modding it but found that it was too wide with the end pipes on so decided the only way was to have it modded, not having an AC tig at home or access to one I used a local engineering firm to do the mods

I searched universal fmic and found a 600x300x75 for £90

dizzytim said:

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Hi I bought it ages ago and can't remember the seller, just searched double pass Intercooler on eBay, I'll see if I can find a link

Item number 231036895540 is the same as I got, seems the price has gone up since I bought mine about 10 months ago, I originally thought I could fit it without modding it but found that it was too wide with the end pipes on so decided the only way was to have it modded, not having an AC tig at home or access to one I used a local engineering firm to do the mods

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Yeah thats what i found. Thanks mate

my bad, mine seems to over heat on ong up hills, may be rads on its way out other wise runs cool,

dizzytim said:

Yes defo improvement to the point that my tired clutch now slips under load with the extra torque, pumps been tweaked and now smokes less as burning the fuel nicely , new clutch going in on Wednesday lol

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Thanks. Well in that case... Busy weekend for me!

Hi, nice job, any chance of some pics of the pipe work, and how you connected it up to the existing outlets pipes?
Cheers

StuRox said:

Hi, nice job, any chance of some pics of the pipe work, and how you connected it up to the existing outlets pipes?
Cheers

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Will take some pics tommorow as been a bit busy today changing clutch

If anyones interested in a cheaper alternative to allard, allisport etc i just fitted a Direnza intercooler got it off fleabay for £225 delivered big improvement over standard and is a direct replacement

StuRox said:

Hi, nice job, any chance of some pics of the pipe work, and how you connected it up to the existing outlets pipes?
Cheers

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Top pipe on Intercooler was lined up with water pipe so 90deg up then 90deg back to clear pipe and water pump pulley






45deg off bottom pipe onto original boost pipe from turbo, had to shorten this pie by about 2" to fit new 90deg pipe onto turbo

Thanks for those - as looking to do a custom fit myself, so it all helps me plan mine

Sorry, one last question - what size outlets did you get for the intercooler? Are they 2.5"?

This is the kit I was looking at, as its a bit smaller in length but greater width...so hoping it will fit in without needing the outlets re-welded...

2.5" Intercooler Kit - 450x230x65mm

Any thoughts with just doing yours?

StuRox said:

Sorry, one last question - what size outlets did you get for the intercooler? Are they 2.5"?

This is the kit I was looking at, as its a bit smaller in length but greater width...so hoping it will fit in without needing the outlets re-welded...

2.5" Intercooler Kit - 450x230x65mm

Any thoughts with just doing yours?

Click to expand...

I use 2" pipe to match up with existing pipe work, I take it you plan on running the offside pipe back to the near side for fitment? I had both pipes on nearside as it was a double pass not a flow through Intercooler, be careful on the length when you add pipes it will be a lot longer and you've only got 620mm to play with.