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1.8t upgrade to Golf R intercooler

erza

New member
Location
Alberta, Canada
I saw a low km takeoff intercooler from a Golf R advertised locally and was thinking it might be a low cost upgrade to my 1.8t (2016 m/t GSW). Any drawbacks associated with this modification? I've read that I won't see gains outside of avoiding heat soak more effectively. I don't have a tune right now but I will likely be going that route soon. definitely interested in hearing what people think.
 

Nyulak

Ready to race!
Location
SheffVill, OH
I installed the R intercooler last year on my APR Stage 2 TSI. I don't think I had any heat issues with the stock intercooler, but I upgraded hoping a vendor would do me proud and release an IS20 or IS38 map. ;)

Anyway, the car did seem more responsive after I did the swap, so that was nice.
 

MonkeyMD

Autocross Champion
Few questions for those that have done this.

1) any power increase
2) any reduction/increase in turbo lag
3) install difficulty or if done by shop, labor cost

Live in Texas and even with stage 1 apr and stock ic, haven't had heat soak, but maybe just don't notice. Figure if only upside and easy install, might give it a shot as they are available for about $220 vs APR et al for $700+
 

Nyulak

Ready to race!
Location
SheffVill, OH
1) No noticeable change in power.
2) Felt more responsive, so would assume a reduction in lag.
3) I pretty much removed the front of the car. I did everything myself except the actual swap. I followed some instructions online that stated to leave the headlamps in place. This meant I needed someone to prevent the headlamps from flopping out and stressing their wires. I would just disconnect and remove the headlamps if I ever did it again. Other than that, I didn't find it too difficult to do. Just keep track of all of the parts you remove and you should be fine.
 

MonkeyMD

Autocross Champion
Thanks for all the info. Exactly what I was looking for.
Saw a video from Revo showing the procedure to change.
Seemed pretty involved.
 
Location
St. Olaf
How could a bigger (higher volume) IC make the engine feel "more responsive"?
More air to compress makes it less responsive (if at all noticeable). Don't get
me wrong, guys, but this is probably self imagination.

;)

Get the R IC when you have a tune/piggy back and live in a hot climate. Other-
wise you won't gain nothing.
 

Nyulak

Ready to race!
Location
SheffVill, OH
The air won't get more compressed by a larger intercooler, it will expand to fill the larger volume of the intercooler. I understand your point, though. If the stock intercooler poses a significant restriction to flow, than it's possible for a larger cross section to help reduce the restriction. Otherwise, the larger volume should reduce responsiveness.

Outside of that, I can only go by what I felt. It's not a huge difference, but it was something I noticed via butt dyno. :D
 

Slick99

Ready to race!
Location
Karachi, Pak
is the 1.8TSI stock intercooler same size as the mk7 golf Gti? i have been researching for intercooler for long time and here the dimension size of all the brands i have collected

• 24.25" x 16.25" x 1.25" - 492.5 in³ volume - OEM GTI
• 24.25" x 16.25" x 1.37" - 541.8 in³ volume - OEM Golf R
• 24.00" x 16.25" x 2.25" - 877.5 in³ volume – APR
• 23.5” x 16.5” x 2” -- Unitronic
• 25.2” x 16.1” x 2.5” -- Wagner Tuning
• 25" x 16" x 2.25 - 900.00 cubic inches -- CTS Turbo
• 24" x 16.4" x 2.25" --Integrated Engineering
• 24.4” x 16.1” x 2” --HG motorsport HF series
• 23” x 16.54” x 2”- 760in --Revo Technik
 
Location
St. Olaf
The air won't get more compressed by a larger intercooler,
I didn't say that, at least I didn't want to. Bigger IC mean bigger capacity,
meaning more air. In highly dynamic situations = quick change of load, which
is described by "responsiveness" describes, this increased air volume requires
more time to fill. As mentioned before, it's not s significient difference between
stock ICs since no stock IC is really that huge to cause issues. Slick's list suggests
that the 1.8 TSI's IC could be another 10 % smaller compared to the GTI's IC.
Guess all factory ICs share the same frontal area, while thickness varies.



it will expand to fill the larger volume of the intercooler.
The air will "expand"? :confused: When air is cooled down, the opposite happens. That's
why ICs are used.



I understand your point, though. If the stock intercooler poses a significant restriction to flow, than it's possible for a larger cross section to help reduce the restriction. Otherwise, the larger volume should reduce responsiveness.
Alright. :)



Outside of that, I can only go by what I felt. It's not a huge difference, but it was something I noticed via butt dyno.
You know about butt dynos . . . :D
 

Slick99

Ready to race!
Location
Karachi, Pak
I ve asked few tuners about A3 1.8tfsi stock IC is same size as Golf Gti so i guess Golf TSI got the same IC size as Gti's

Sent from my HTC One_M8 dual sim using Tapatalk
 
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fullyswitched

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
US
The 1.8 TSI and 2.0 TSI use the same intercooler. Only the Golf R and S3 get the better unit. From what I've seen both of the stock intercoolers are made by Mahle. The Golf unit in the US is made in Mexico while the Golf R / S3 unit is made in Poland.
 

Ton

Go Kart Newbie
Location
U.S.
The 1.8 TSI and 2.0 TSI use the same intercooler. Only the Golf R and S3 get the better unit. From what I've seen both of the stock intercoolers are made by Mahle. The Golf unit in the US is made in Mexico while the Golf R / S3 unit is made in Poland.

Thanks!
 

MonkeyMD

Autocross Champion
So is something beyond an R intercooler, say an APR or Wagner, considered overkill for a stage 1/2 tsi? Keep in mind Texas consistent 100° summers.
 

Slick99

Ready to race!
Location
Karachi, Pak
So is something beyond an R intercooler, say an APR or Wagner, considered overkill for a stage 1/2 tsi? Keep in mind Texas consistent 100° summers.

dont think so, it will better than S3/R intercooler. Some guy did fmic twintercooler from Forge and felt better response.
 

TwinDad

Autocross Newbie
Location
Fort Lee, NJ
Has anyone actually compared the flow of the intercooler? Yes we know they are larger, but larger depth usually means more rows to run through and cool off. Intercoolers work just like a radiator. If the coils inside are not any less or more restrictive, it won't affect the boost response, but will help cool the charge more. Until a flow test is done, the larger sizes don't mean anything other than potential cooling possibilities.
 
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