After a bit of research I've found a lot of complaints regarding the forge side mount intercooler with some people even stating that on continued dyno runs a loss of power can occur due to heat soak? Bad news for forge. Anyone have any experience with this item and out of curiousety does a s3 or cupra r unit fit and is there any benifit to these coolers??

Cheers lads

The Cupra/S3 has 2 SMICs. If youre going to change the stock one, be sensible and fir a FMIC where it will make a difference.

As stated the TT, S3 and LCR use 2 SMIC's. Drivers side is exactly the same as ours, and they use a 2nd one the opposite side that could be fitted to the VRS . But to do that you would have to fit the TT,S3,LCR inlet manifold to allow the inter cooler pipes to hook up. 2 SMIC's actually works quite well and have been proven tests for it, but for the hassle of getting them fitted and hooked up I would go for a FMIC made for the job.

First time I've heard that the Forge SMIC is cr*p... but then people tend to go the whole hog and get a Forge front mount rather than a side mount so I doubt many people have had the chance to test them. In theory the side mount should be less laggy than a front mount for the little K03S turbo but if it's not as efficient as it should be then I'd take more lag over higher IATs anyday.

The Forge kit doesn't include a replacment for the pancake pipe (cause of major blockage).

iirc one of the other SMIC kits out there does.

Price of the Forge SMIC is so high, most folks would either spend that $ on a better flowing FMIC, or as chicken_eyebrow says, just spend the extra and get the Forge FMIC.

for a stock or stage 1/2 car a good smic (with a good core size) is advantageous over a fmic, certainly for small and hybrid turbo cars. There is no extra pipework introduced into the system, reducing lag, with mods to the front bumper/grill setup, you can introduce extra flow too to the core.

Look at tyrol sport/eurojet who both do decent core size units (approx 50% bigger than stock) or the ebay jobbies that you can get that look pretty decent on paper.

A bar and plate unit will out perform a fin and tube unit, i for one would rather a decent bar and plate smic than a generic fin and plate fmic.

thanks for the input guys dunno if i will be my ic but found what heard to be interesting.

dunno if ill go fmic i hate lag i come for cars with instant throttle response so would not enjoy even more lag!

so would ye guys recommend another brand of smic?

It all depends on the state of tune you have or want to go to.

I have no lag on my FMIC and have stage 2 tune to max on my turbo. If you only want mild tune then as stated a good SMIC is great.

There's a SMIC that most people seem to enjoy that's on eBay from a shop called Turborevs, I think. £105.99 delivered. It's very similar to the Eurojet one. Loads of bods from the MkIV Golf forum have fitted with decent results. I'll he getting one as soon as funds permit...

Ths mk4 1.8t ic fits! And at £200 cheaper than forge its an easy choice for me!!

I would of thought the mk4 1.8t would have been the exact same I mean they both produce the same torque and bhp??

Think he means the eBay one rather than a standard one? You're right they are the same.

Ok my mistake thanks for the input lads

Theres a group buy for the Turborev's SMIC at the moment.....organised by me