Looking for a good intercooler that doesn't rely on stock mounting pieces.

LaVernWinston · Sep 30, 2018

Quite a while ago my front bumper was wrecked by a rabbit on the highway. Luckily the damage was center lower bumper, so I cut out the lower bar like some people do. There's no lower plastic or air dam anymore so the intercooler is only mounted using the two top holes. It's quite weak and it doesn't help that the mounting tabs are plastic.

So far, the way that the j-line mounts with the cmbuildz bracket looks excellent, but I keep seeing that it's a not so good intercooler. Any other ideas?

KKaWing · Oct 1, 2018

You can look at the Levels Performance intercoolers. There's street and race versions depending on what you need. They both mount via the two holes in the crash sensor bar.

TyphoonFiST · Oct 1, 2018

KKaWing said:

Good luck with LEVELS...a couple other members have had issues with them due to their lack of communication and delivery of product when stated....just an FYI... [ohcrap]

LaVernWinston · Oct 1, 2018

TyphoonFiST said:

Any other ideas? If I’m left with creatively mounting one of the “direct replacement” options, I’m open to that too. I just think these plastic mounts have to go.

Dirttwurk · Oct 1, 2018

I'm with you on that one, the plastic mounts seem a little meh for anything much heavier than the stock I/C. I really like the looks of that pro alloy one with the whole beam, but its a little more involved.
or you can just cut a hole in your hood and put a top mount like a Subaru [:p]

LaVernWinston · Oct 1, 2018

Dirttwurk said:

I also really liked the pro alloy when I first saw it, it’s the perfect solution and looks sick. And the installation doesn’t seem too crazy as I have to remove the crash bar to replace my radiator support anyways (damage from same rabbit, it went that far into my front end). My only conflict is it’s price for my untuned stock fiesta. I feel like it’s overkill. Now TMIC, that’s the perfect amount of overkill I think 🤔

TyphoonFiST · Oct 1, 2018

Which pro alloy one were you thinking of? is it the large one that covers more of the radiator ? if so....I would have to say its overkill for the stock snail...Now if you were going big turbo I would say sure...but remember when you go with a huge intercooler there can be a psi drop across the core due to its size. But if you were looking to use a different intercooler that doesn't use the stock hardware.... this one is pretty decent...you just have tt make sure you get it with the mounting kit....this one comes with it.

https://whoosh-motorsports.myshopif...a-st-intercooler-w-installation-kit-2014-2018

ron@whoosh · Oct 1, 2018

TyphoonFiST said:

just FYI both Pro Alloy options cover the entire radiator
the stage 3 is a little thinner and doesn't include a crash bar

I agree these intercoolers are not intended for stock turbo use but they are really not intended for big turbo applications either. They are widely used for competition purposes in the UK with X47, revo, and VUDU turbos...not really big turbos at all

LaVernWinston · Oct 2, 2018

ron@whoosh said:

Would you recommend the j-line for my purposes? I’ve heard negatives but if it’s better than OEM that’s all I care about. I’ve been happy with no power mods for 50k miles so if/when I do get an AP I probably won’t be getting anything aggressive as a tune.

ron@whoosh · Oct 2, 2018

LaVernWinston said:

I don't see any real negatives with the J-Line other than weight. It's a little on the heavy side but it's also rather large
There are owners that make great power and have logged efficient BAT's on 2860R's with that set up. It certainly has it's place on the Fiesta

My personal favorites are UK based intercoolers because I'm somewhat of a euro snob which derives from my VW days but I'm an equal opportunity modder
The J-Line probably performs better than any other intercooler on this platform for the money

apex1 · Oct 2, 2018

LaVernWinston said:

I think a good argument can be made that if your car is not tuned and otherwise totally stock, you really don't need to change the OEM intercooler. I doubt you will gain much, if anything, and you might very slightly introduce a bit of turbo lag since you will have a higher volume intercooler.

LaVernWinston · Oct 2, 2018

apex1 said:

Very true, I agree with you. Like I mentioned though, my issue isn’t with performance it’s with the way that the oem intercooler mounts now that I’m missing the whole lower support for it. The plastic mounts are flimsy as hell and because my intercooler is fully exposed, any impact or even snow will probably tear this thing right off. Also because it’s exposed, the oem intercooler looks pretty bad so appearance kinda plays a part as well. I’m also thinking of tuning it in the future although it won’t be anything aggressive.

LaVernWinston · Oct 2, 2018

ron@whoosh said:

I don't see any real negatives with the J-Line other than weight. It's a little on the heavy side but it's also rather large
There are owners that make great power and have logged efficient BAT's on 2860R's with that set up. It certainly has it's place on the Fiesta

My personal favorites are UK based intercoolers because I'm somewhat of a euro snob which derives from my VW days but I'm an equal opportunity modder
The J-Line probably performs better than any other intercooler on this platform for the money

Thanks for the info. I think I’ll be going through you then. See ya next payday!

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Looking for a good intercooler that doesn't rely on stock mounting pieces.

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