I'm going to replace my factory intercoolers with a single front mount, but I'm not sure what kind..If you have an aftermarket front mount please leave me some feedback as to what kind and what you think of it. Thanks, oh and 1 more thing, let me know if you had to trim or cut anything.

 

Unless you are stage 2 plus tuned I would not bother. Stock is fine as far as the stock turbo can push. That would be last on my list after the bigger turbo. Too much money for very little help.

 

I would probably do it before big turbo. Either way you wouldn't see much gains if any with the stock turbo.

 

ER Dual SMIC kit is a good setup. People that have installed them did notice a difference vs the stock DSMIC setup. Even better throttle response.

here you can read it yourself. Person bought the kit from me.
http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...rade?styleid=8

Here he posts some graphs of vagcom logs.
http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...ER-SMIC-review


Another person here in Socal did a stock vs ER dual SMIC kit pulls and saw difference in IAT readings even in 40 deg temps. This was on a 100% stock car too.
This was just on a 1 gear pull. Run threw all the gears and do it in much warmer temps and the difference between the 2 will be even larger.



So when people say there isn't going to be any gains when upgrading from a stock DSMIC kit they are not actually giving the correct info. Just like people used to say upgrading to a FMIC on a chipped 1.8t wont help either, but that was showing to be completely wrong too.

 

Dollar vs gains are better spent elsewhere first. The cost of an Intercooler will not be better than a chip stage 1 or a testpipe or downpipe for stage2 or a fuelpump for stage 2+. Maybe if you can afford an intercooler after that then go for it. Thats why I say not worth the cash unless you have gone the other routes first.

 

True, but just because the car wont be chipped doesn't mean upgrading the SMIC isn't worth it. Its all about keeping the power you have instead of losing it when the stock DSMIC heat soak which you can see happens even in 40F deg temps.

 

Thanks for the replies, I posted this thread because one of my intercoolers may have a hole in it, can anyone tell me an easy way to pressure the intercoolers to see if it is actually punctured?

 

ditto w/ 2wd. you're wasting your money changing the intercoolers with a stock or even stage 2 chip and exhaust. the stock intercoolers are extremely efficient. remember: the stock engine has no bottlenecks even with a leaner/meaner chip.

 

But yet the graphs up above actually show a different story even on a stock car. lol
Lower IAT's mean more adv timing or less timing correction which equals more power and/or more sustained power.

Here is a graph from a B7 owner and the car is chipped

 

Best way would be to pull the hose off turbo outlet hose and the hose off the TB. Block the TB hose and then block off the turbo outlet hose with something that has a compressor hose fitting. Then use a compressor starting at 10psi to see if you can find a leak.