[BmwECY]

Godspeed (found on eBay) makes a very solid intercooler. I have logged it versus a $700+ bmw 335i specific "quality" intercooler, and the Godspeed actually lowered IATs better and recovered temps after prolonged WOT faster.


Don't let the "us-made" vendors trick you....almost all intercooler cores ate built in china or worse now. Ets, ams, hpf, etc all buy cores from overseas.


One more point: who cares what brand intercooler you buy/have? Unless you stencil on a logo, nobody will know any different.


Get a Godspeed or similar with a thin core that's tall. Stett and AA used to sell the same intercooler for $1,000 or more.

[dsm25psi]

Originally Posted by ar design II

+1 for getting what you pay for, AMS or ETS are the best options!

true that, ETS and AMS quality is awesome. The only reason i run cxrasing is because im so use to evo style intercooler so thats why i bought it. But I know from experience ETS makes the best parts out there, plus all there parts are proven power gains and lots of testing went into them. I ran ETS parts on my Evo8 made 800awhp, they are one of the best companies out there for support in anything.

[Ghost170]

Helix.

[yoiko]

AMS

[boostd92]

Stock FMIC.

Spend your money on a quality Methanol Injection kit. No FMIC kit out there will lower your IAT's below 100F on an 85F day after a full 1-4th gear pull (typical dragstrip run or Mexican street race from a dig)

NONE OF THEM.

I've logged the stock FMIC on single gear pulls only and even on a 95F day, they never get above 130F, and most of the time under that. It's really frustrating to see aftermarket brands touting their low IAT datalogs of *ONE GEAR*... The real challenge regarding keeping your IAT's low to prevent ignition timing retard is doing it in long, multigear pulls or long 5th and/or 6th gear pulls (not sure who's doing those, but there are some crazy autobahn wannabes out there).

Recovery time is meaningless to someone interested in straight line speed or drag racing. The stock FMIC returns to pre-boost temperatures before the car even returns to the pits from the end of the strip.

Almost every upgraded FMIC out there increases your wastegate duty cycles because of pressure drop. Log your WGDC and see when/if they get to 100% (not good), this will happen sooner/more often with an FMIC that has more/more restrictive core area.

The *ONLY* surefire way to keep IAT's in check consistantly, repetatively, and most significantly is by water/methanol injection.

Believe me, I wish this were not true. Meth is the very last thing I want to do to my car and I've been trying to find any other solution, but heat is heat. When you push tiny turbochargers to their flow limit, you're not going to be able to bring the temps down passively.

<flamesuit on>