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What do you think of this intercooler?

Acadia18

Autocross Champion
Location
The Greater Boston Metropolitan Area
Car(s)
2019 Golf R
There's a whole thread on the eBay twintercooler. Consensus is it's better than nothing, not as good as an actual IC upgrade, but leagues easier to install.
 

swcrow

Autocross Champion
Location
Virginia
Car(s)
7.5 GTI
Meh....pass and apply toward FMIC
 

billbadass

Drag Racing Champion
Location
your moms house
i went with the neuspeed FMIC and regret it. I should have gotten APR or the IE stock location intercooler. I have not seen any data from any FMIC that shows me there is any FMIC better than the APR or IE stock location ones
 

scrapin240

Drag Racing Champion
Location
IzzaGolf
Car(s)
Golf
i went with the neuspeed FMIC and regret it. I should have gotten APR or the IE stock location intercooler. I have not seen any data from any FMIC that shows me there is any FMIC better than the APR or IE stock location ones
The CTS stock location one is pretty great and hold its own against those. I know my one at WOT never goes above 10-15 over ambient.
 

billbadass

Drag Racing Champion
Location
your moms house
I don't have a ton of data but

didn't your testing show other FMICs did not flow as well as the APR oem fit? I beleive the ebay one had decent flow but testing here has shown IATs to not be amazing, plus it looks like the fastest Golf R and GTIs out there have OEM placed intercoolers (like Ed's which uses AMS intercooler)

if there was an intercooler that performed as well as the APR/IE one I'd be all over it to replace my Neuspeed, but I think at this point I'm going to assume the APR/IE stock location intercoolers are best combo of flow/IAT (presumably because they have a ton of size and volume to them?) until i see some data that shows otherwise.
 

Hotfart

Ready to race!
Location
LFK Kansas
As others have said, check the eBay Twintercooler thread and look around for some install tips. Apparently the hoses going to the stock IC on this version can be a bit oversized, so you may need to buy a small piece of hose and "stack" it. See https://www.golfmk7.com/forums/index.php?threads/ebay-twintercooler.354522/

But yeah, for around $200 this pretty much can't be beat. Hell, bring him $150 and see if he'll bite. I'd be willing to bet you'd like this intercooler, and will certainly will notice a nice increase in power, especially during warmer months. That is, unless you plan on a big turbo, or are just looking for the absolute best unit available, do multiple back-to-back runs, track the car, etc., in which case I'd say get ready to shell out the $800 or whatever for a high end stock location replacement, not to mention all the cussing you'll do during the install.

I bought the Forge Twintercooler clone off eBay before the Mabotech clone was released, and for what it is, I love it. It was a cheap, great upgrade over stock, and was MUCH easier to install than a stock location IC (I do not want to do one of the stock location jobs again). At full throttle, temps drop rapidly to 10-15 degrees or so from ambient, sometimes even less, even after a handful of back-to-back runs. That's on an IS20 with a 5150 tune (27-28ish psi on e40), and the stock downpipe. It netted me 0.2-0.3 sec and 2-3 mph at the strip, so probably a bit over 20 hp, give or take.
 
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MyGolfMk7

Go Kart Newbie
Location
FL
Car(s)
B5 S4, Mk7 GTI
I don't have a ton of data but

didn't your testing show other FMICs did not flow as well as the APR oem fit? I beleive the ebay one had decent flow but testing here has shown IATs to not be amazing, plus it looks like the fastest Golf R and GTIs out there have OEM placed intercoolers (like Ed's which uses AMS intercooler)

if there was an intercooler that performed as well as the APR/IE one I'd be all over it to replace my Neuspeed, but I think at this point I'm going to assume the APR/IE stock location intercoolers are best combo of flow/IAT (presumably because they have a ton of size and volume to them?) until i see some data that shows otherwise.

Not flowing as well as APR isn't a benchmark I'd use to characterize a FMIC as poor flowing. You probably want to look at pressure drop and do a sensitivity analysis on that variable to see how it affects performance. Flow is just a convenient measure for comparison due to test limitations.

Likewise with IAT I'd be content with very good, which the eBay bicooler is. I'm all for finding the best product that there is available, but I don't think everything else is poor performing just because it isn't the best.
 

jimlloyd40

Autocross Champion
Location
Phoenix
Car(s)
2018 SE DSG
Not flowing as well as APR isn't a benchmark I'd use to characterize a FMIC as poor flowing. You probably want to look at pressure drop and do a sensitivity analysis on that variable to see how it affects performance. Flow is just a convenient measure for comparison due to test limitations.

Likewise with IAT I'd be content with very good, which the eBay bicooler is. I'm all for finding the best product that there is available, but I don't think everything else is poor performing just because it isn't the best.

If it's pressure drop wouldn't the boost need to be turned up to compensate? That's what I experienced on a Veloster Turbo I had. On that car my HP dropped because of the pressure drop.
 
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