what do you think?
i have the uk legacy turbo with the factory fitted chargecooler. i was thinking of ditching it and fitting a front mount intercooler instead.
would it be worth it, or is the chargecooler fairly good?

thanks ;)

ian

p.s. the chargecooler has its radiator down the front of the car, forwards of the radiator.

thanks for the info mate :D
i was thinking it would be better with a front mount, but wanted someone else's oppinion first.
i can mod it myself to make it fit etc, so it shouldnt be a problem. ill have a gander on the pace website now.....

thanks again ;)

ian

Ian,

Are you measuring your intake temp ? This will tell you if you need to change anything.....

From my playing around with the Legacy chargecooler, I would say the pump is the weak link - the pump I am using flows six times the amount of water as the standard one - £175 + VAT - Jabsco CentriPuppy

The radiator you have at present is probably bigger than the one I am using.... :)

The system can work VERY well but if you have your heart set on a front mount....

Thanks

Gavin

While the std setup can work well with mods. I do believe that the intercooler is a much better setup. Recently at a track day, my car ( std chargecooler with 2lt tank added ) and my friends car ( pace equipped ) were both running on e very sunny day. Obviously there is a lot of heat soak due to stopping to queue for more laps ( we were doin about 3 laps at a time ) After a run, Everywhere in my chargecooler system was very hot to the touch. The intercooler car was very much cooler, although still a little hot. The reason we removed the chargecooler form his car was because he was seeing temps ( motec fitted ) rising very rapidly to in excess of 80 degC, mid november ( running close to 1.5 bar ) Now with the intercooler temps ( while monitoring ) have not exceeded35 degC, after a good hard run on the road, but they are more usually around 20 degC. In fact the only time they do rise is after the car has been sitting for a while, and the heat from the engine/rad has heated up the IC core.
For approx £1000 they offer an aluminium radiator and intercooler package. Although the kit was NOT complete, and a bit of work to fit to a legacy. It seems better value than any other kit I have seen. Go for it

Were you using the standard pump ? It is apparently a two-speed item which switches to high speed (15 litres/per min) on boost.

I am using a pump running continously at 70+ litres/minute which obviously makes a bit of difference.... ;)

My car is running at 1.2bar so there is a bit less heat involved as well.... - I can get the intake temp to reach 40 degrees C if I REALLY try but normal fast road driving, you get nowhere near that.

Thanks

Gavin

A front mount is probably best. The standard chargecooler can be improved with biggger water rad/pump, but an good big intercooler up front will be less restrictive than the fairly small chargecooler as std. Not sure if anyone does a kit for the legacy, but we fitted a Pace Alu Rad and Intercooler Kit to my friends car. ( The kit was for an impreza, although it would have been incomplete even for an impreza ) It is of fairly good quality, and considerng you get a radiator also, fairly good value. It cost the same as most Front mount intercooler only kits. Check it out on www.paceproducts.co.uk
As I say, it is not a straight fit for a legacy, and some mods are required, but if you are able to work a bit, then you should be able to get it fitted ok.
It certainly has improved air temps massively over the std chargecooler setup, so I would definately say FMIC is better.


[Edited by ustolemyname??stevieturbo - 4/8/2002 1:39:50 AM]