Anyone have any thoughts on the Godspeed intercooler kit from ebay? I don't wanna spend tons of money on a bigger one as I'm only running the K03. Also I have a 3" test pipe to 2.5" cat-back exhaust, with the APR stage 2 tune. Will this be sufficient to meet my cooling needs?

 

I'm a running a pretty similar setup as you, I run a cxracing 2.5" (check sig for complete dimensions) with 2" aluminum piping. Basically any fmic (anything thicker than 2.5" will be hard to fit under the stock bumper) will increase your cooling capabilities and will be big enough for a k03 as it is very small as far as turbo goes.

 

Thanks for the reply. The 2" piping is important to me as I don't wanna lose power/gain turbo lag from loss of pressure. The bumper isn't an issue, I see it as a good excuse to buy an S4 one with more room . How is the piping that came with your kit? I'm hesitant towards that and I'm thinking of running some silicone piping instead.

 

I didn't buy a kit. I bought a cxracing intercooler, origin motorsports piping and 4 ply silicone couplers elsewhere as I don't trust ebay with silicone. The piping was good quality, 2mm and it measured 2" exactly. The bends weren't perfect but I got them to work

 

I have a question Javan.

I never ran turbo so that is why I am asking.

You say you have a 3'' test pipe, going to a 2.5'' catback.

Wont that cause backpressure? I thought it was better to have more velocity up front than more pressure. You mentioned something about turbo lag so maybe it is related to that?

 

Kamil,

No back pressure would be caused by that. Your source of backpressure after the turbo would be your catalytic converter and your muffler. The only backpressure you need is for the engine, with is supplied by the turbo. The less backpressure after the turbo the better it will run. The turbo lag i reference was to having intercooler piping be too big for the stock k03 turbo which is pretty small. The jist of that is too much space in the tube, not enough air.

 

Somewhat correct, there will be some added back pressure as the exhuast is .5" smaller, however it's not enough back pressure to cause problems. And besides, the cat has holes that measure somewhere around 1.5"-2" (plus the gases have to go through the cells) so even with the .5" in the exhaust/tp difference it is still far less pressure than the cat caused. FWIW I know a few company's taper there 3"tp to a 2.5" outlet hole

 

Oh alright thanks for the responses guys.

 

I found 1 company that tapers as well but I didn't think it was worth the extra $100

 

this is a common misconception. back pressure is not needed in a four cycle engine and is in fact harmful to its operation. two strokes are an entirely different story (at least gas 2 strokes, not diesels).

opening up exhuast restriction will only help performance. as for the step down from a 3 inch test pipe to 2.5 inch exhaust, it wont "add" back pressure. its all bigger than stock and will help.

as for the intercooler, if you really want a front mount, just grab an ebay intercooler and piping kit. total cost, $200 or so. theres really no need to add one unless the car is tracked, driven extremely hard on the road, or you live in very warm climates