Inexpensive Sidemount Intercooler.

[Dorkage]

So, the 1.8T guys found a cheap bolt in intercooler for their cars. It's $135 shipped in the US and the guys on vortex love it! Everything I've found says the 1.8T intercooler and TDI intercoolers are the same, so it should work no issues on the TDI.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=251054481322#ht_4013wt_911
Yes, it's sold by ilovetacotacos.

Here's the thread from vortex. No heat-soak, better sustained boost.
http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?5582874-Is-the-280-Godspeed-SMIC-too-expensive-for-you

And here is mine, it arrived about 5 days after I paid for it. Looks to be of excellent quality for the price and is about 50% larger than the stock SMIC.

Once I get my boost gauge I'll test it before and after with boost and IAT. My car is a stock ALH with a 11mm pump and a 5speed swap.

 

[joseluis.17g]

intrested in this, but I don't think it would be Plug and Play for my PD as the hoses from the turbo to the intercooler have a special type of fiting
why didn't you go for the FMIC it's only 50 bucks more if IIRC

very nice finding, looking forward to see your results

 

[Dorkage]

Front Mount would have required a lot more piping to fit and it might be too much for the tiny turbos we have. My boost gauge arrived yesterday as well so I'll get that installed next week.

 

[joseluis.17g]

Front Mount would have required a lot more piping to fit and it might be too much for the tiny turbos we have. My boost gauge arrived yesterday as well so I'll get that installed next week.

do the upper intercooler pipe fits rigth in?
I migth just buy this but I'm still unsure if it would match my piping

 

[joseluis.17g]

I've done a little search it seems that it won't be a bolt on for us the pd guys but completely bolt on for the alh engine
To bad, with all the cost involved for me to make it fit, may be cheaper get the FMIC kit that comes with some pipes to make it fit.

 

[duwem]

Where does the map sensor go?

 

[Dorkage]

It has a hole for the smaller sized MAP sensor, the 1.8T guys drill it out for the larger MAP sensor from the earlier years.

 

[greengeeker]

For the pd guys all you'll have to do is pick up some used alh upper and lower pipes. If you're upgrading you might as well go with the idparts upper and lower kit. You will have to modify your turbo oulet hose to work but it's not difficult. You may have to purchase a map sensor kit off of ebay for $14 to make the smic work.

 

[joseluis.17g]

For the pd guys all you'll have to do is pick up some used alh upper and lower pipes. If you're upgrading you might as well go with the idparts upper and lower kit. You will have to modify your turbo oulet hose to work but it's not difficult. You may have to purchase a map sensor kit off of ebay for $14 to make the smic work.

it's pretty expen$$$$$ive rigth? I think it would be cheaper to buy the turbo adapter the FMIC kit that comes with pipes and maybe the 1.8T pancake pipe for clearance.
or what would you suggest?

 

[madman3]

I fitted this cooler to my PD130 a few years ago... see this link for how I did it http://uk-mkivs.net/forums/t/368144.aspx

 

[runonbeer]

For the pd guys all you'll have to do is pick up some used alh upper and lower pipes. If you're upgrading you might as well go with the idparts upper and lower kit. You will have to modify your turbo oulet hose to work but it's not difficult. You may have to purchase a map sensor kit off of ebay for $14 to make the smic work.

I bought one. Gonna use it on the GF's ALH wagon swap. It's getting a 3 bar so this will be easier than using the stock MAP/IAT.

I have the Godspeed on my car that I bought last summer for 2x $. I'll let y'all know how it fits.

Thanks for the heads up on this. I wanted to get one but didn't want to pay ~$400. I'm in pretty deep already on this conversion with a new VW shortblock, VNT17 and 6 speed!

 

[Jim_D]

I wonder if this is the same intercooler?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/170860174352?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

 

[Dorkage]

Looks pretty damn close. Though most side mounts look a lot alike.

 

[my1998tdi]

I wish it would fit a new beetle.

 

[Genesis]

How do you strip off the front and passenger-side bits to get to the mounting for this?

 

[LNXGUY]

How do you strip off the front and passenger-side bits to get to the mounting for this?

Take the front bumper/passenger side headlight off.

 

[Genesis]

Got it... sounds easy.

This is one of those "duh" sorts of upgrades, especially at this price.

 

[Genesis]

Done, installed, damn it's nice. 10-15F reduction in intake temps under hard acceleration, doesn't heatsoak at all, 20F (!) IAT reduction at cruise on the highway over stock.

Fits too. If you can change a tire you can do this one. Only fitment comment I have is that if you're running the stock pancake pipe you may (will?) need a half-inch stack of fender washers between the lower mount and the IC bracket. I also cut some rubber isolation washers for the upper two mounts from old inner tube as the factory was rubber-bushing mounted and the holes were the wrong size to move them over.

No interference issues, including the DG skidplate mounting post. Do check it and the AC condensor hose though as they're right there and while I didn't have interference I have no idea how tight tolerances are for individual vehicle fitment in that area. I did not have to lift the car; did the swap with it on the ground although removal of the skidplate would have made getting to the lower mount bolt a bit easier. Hindsight is 20/20. All I removed was the bumper cover and pax headlight for access.

The side of the new SMC is basically up against the outside bumper cover/lower valence junction with it all buttoned up but does not interfere with it. If you get hit there you're screwed but that's true with the stock unit too -- there's very little clearance with the stock unit between the valence and the SMIC and no protection of any sort; I don't think the situation is materially worse than it was before. The only comment I'd make on that is that the new mounts are aluminum .vs. plastic -- what bends or breaks first if you get hit in that area of the vehicle is open to some debate.

One note: The mounting bolts for the MAP sensor are NOT INCLUDED and the stock screws will not work. Don't get surprised and wind up needing to go to the hardware store with no running vehicle!

 

[runonbeer]

LUK DMF Pressure plate screws work for MAP screws and they look cool.

I am considering drilling out the mounting holes for the intercooler to accept the rubber isolators out of the stock unit.

 

[Genesis]

Yeah, I thought about doing it but I don't think it's necessary. As noted I did cut a couple of pieces of inner tube to provide a non-metal-to-metal interface for the top mounts, as those are load-bearing. The bottom one needs the spacer as well (it's about a half-inch forward of where the bracket is) but otherwise is fine.

The MAP sensor is O-ring sealed so the bolts/screws just need to be tight enough to avoid backing out of course.

 

[Dorkage]

I put it on the TDI, had to drill out the MAP hole as I have the older larger sensor. It was fairly bolt on, it sits slightly crocked on the mounts, I just cut up the old mounts and used them as a crappy bushing between the car and the intercooler. Just cranked down the bolts until it didn't move, I'll check on them in a few hundred KM.

Results:

It lowered the IAT during normal driving nearly 10 degrees C. I didn't notice any boost loss, still spikes to 22PSI and hits limp mode. It does get as hot as the stock one did, about 66 degrees C, but it cools down much faster and settles around 46C, compared to the stock one which sat around 54~57C.

It has much more torque at lower RPMs, like 1500RPM it takes off like it did at 2000RPM before with the old intercooler. I think with some minor mods and better IC piping this intercooler will be awesome.

 

[Genesis]

Dork those mounting "ears" are easily bent with a vise and will line up exactly with a dry fit run or two. Just fit it up with the pipes and it all lines up fine. The only "gotcha" is the half-inch stack of washers (or a similar-size shim) for the lower mount.

I concur with the IAT reduction at cruise; it's significant, 15-20F. With better IC plumbing I bet the airflow and responsiveness goes up too. The other thing I noted is that the boost curves have less spike in them, possibly due to larger internal volume or better flow dynamics. All to the good.

The car feels much-more responsive in the midrange as well.

For the money and hassle of installation (little) this is a no-brainer upgrade. I have larger nozzles but no chip and a stock turbo.

 

[Dorkage]

I guess I could bend them, I was on a time crunch so I guess I didn't think about it. I'll leave it for now until I do some other work on the car.

I wonder if it lowered EGTs at all, it does take a bit longer to warm up than the stock one, so I would think it would help a bit.

 

[Genesis]

I don't have a pyrometer.... if/when my stock turbo blows I'm going to add one before I put the new unit in. Ideally you want the probe IN FRONT of the turbo, not behind it, even though it's more difficult to put it there. I added them on my diesel boat a number of years ago and they were invaluable -- caught a bad injector on one bank with them that could have been a very expensive fix (and was instead $150 for a new injector and a couple of hours of my time to put it in and re-tune the rack)

 

[Dorkage]

 

[runonbeer]

You didn't refit your scoop? Mine grabbed onto the sides of the new cooler. Seems kind of important.

Incidentally, the VR6 that I'm mounting this on comes ready made with a side mount bracket that holds a tiny supplementary side coolant radiator and scoop identical to the TDI and 1.8T intercooler mount. Silly gassers...

 

[n1das]

I've done a little search it seems that it won't be a bolt on for us the pd guys but completely bolt on for the alh engine
To bad, with all the cost involved for me to make it fit, may be cheaper get the FMIC kit that comes with some pipes to make it fit.

I've seen this problem solved in a PD application by swapping over to ALH piping, including the upper IC pipe. The rest then becomes plug 'n play.

 

[Genesis]

I didn't re-fit my scoop either, and see no particular reason to put it back on; performance without it is excellent. It's easy to do if I change my mind.

 

[Dorkage]

You didn't refit your scoop? Mine grabbed onto the sides of the new cooler. Seems kind of important.

Incidentally, the VR6 that I'm mounting this on comes ready made with a side mount bracket that holds a tiny supplementary side coolant radiator and scoop identical to the TDI and 1.8T intercooler mount. Silly gassers...

I couldn't get it to stay. I'll try again.

I do think all MK4s have those mounts, since only one modle from North America didn't have a radiator there, the 2.slow. I'll check my Golf later, now I'm curious.

 

[spartan]

Yeah I am tossing around the idea in my head of going this route or the $200 ebay fmic. I think that either way I am going to run about the same cost to do it on a PD engine. Both would need a kerma adapter outlet, and if you figure new pipes for the smic I think you end up being over the cost of the fmic.