I'm after a bigger intercooler for my MY00 and I don't want to go for a front mount at the moment - want to minimise turbo lag and save a few pennies.

So I'm after a bigger top mount...

The first one that came to mind was one from an STi or the same year or a P1. Was then advised that the WRX02 has a slightly larger one that will fit.

But then there's the aftermarket ones from MRT, BPM and APS which are huge...

So just wondering, what would be the best (i.e. BIGGEST) to go for that will still fit ontop of the MY00 with a strut brace.

 

any ideas, anyone??

 

I have the MRT one on mine and although it isn't cheap I have to say it's the best uprated top mount I've seen. I've also produced some impressive results with it I think.

Nice and shiny too!

It can handle significantly more boost pressure than the OEM one. I run mine happily at 1.4 bar (and sometimes more) without even a sniff of knock.

Superb bit of kit. Well worth it. And if you come to sell the car it takes about half an hour to swap back, if that.

Cheers

Rich

 

Cheers Rich - do you have a strut brace on your car? If not how much clearence is there between the intercooler and the bulkhead. Just concerned cos I've got the big fat e-tech brace and that already brushes the standard 'cooler over bumps.

Good to hear how much boost you can run though - is that with the standard TD04 turbo charger in the 99/00 cars?

And i like shiny things on the car - so that's good.

Sorry to fire so many questions straight back at you. LOL!

 

Hmm - Trouble is 'save a few pennies'.... I'd like to go TMIC upgrade, cos its less lag (TD04 man) and ,in theory, should be cheaper, but the FMIC hybrid (Harveys GB) was under 400 quid and the MRT TMIC is 850 !!

I'm not saying that its not worth it, I'm just saying that the TMIC route isn't any cheaper - in fact twice the price !!!

I'm surprised someone can't do a TMIC for under 300, given that the FMIC comes with the pipework etc....

Mark

Oh - PS _ Would you need a remap to cope with the extra flow - cos I just had mine done at PE and I'd have thought it would affect the boost etc...

 

I've heard that the ECU will compensate a bit for the cooler air and give you some advantage but a full remap will give you the best gains.

If you're worried about saving pennies a 2nd hand WRX02 or P1 / STi5/6 intercooler from someone who's gone front mount is something else I'm considering. Not quite as good as an MRT or APS top mount but you're probably only looking at 150 to 200 quid.

So it's just is it worth all that extra.

BPM's top mount is £580 or something from scoobynet shop - bit cheaper than the MRT.

 

I run the APS TMIC. Much less pressure drop across it than the stock tmic, but I'm not convinced of it's cooling benefits over stock (although it's heavy so heat soak is slow in coming....but slot to go too).

Rich - do you have photos of your MRT? Did you ever do any analysis on temp reductions? The APS after 10 minutes at 100mph takes 67 degrees in from turbo, and outputs 24 degrees to TB.

Side-note: since fitting 6 speed STi gearbox, temp creep is occuring - there's no longer enough airflow out the bottom of the intercooler (6MT is a tight fit).

Richard

 

i've got a v5 i/c on my MY00, its 95% the same as the standard 99/00 i/c although it has cast pipe work underneath but that was at the wrong angle to the turbo, so had to swap the intercooler manifolds off the standard i/c and keep the samcos.

it is silver and has got the all important sti stickier - gotta be worth 10bhp imho!!!