Fabia vRS Intercooler...have you uprated yours?

[BonnevillevRS]

Hello Guys,

How are you?

Just wondering if anyone has uprated the intercooler on their Fabia vRS 1.4 twin charger?

If you have, please feel free to post up what you have, what it was like to fit (if you did it DIY), what difference you feel it makes and if you felt the price was fair (feel free to post how much it cost if you are willing).

To those of you who don't have one, what is holding you back? Is it purely cost?

Would be nice to get an idea on what the market offers for a very important part on this car?!

Cheers guys!

Edited 4 May, 2012 by BonnevillevRS

[Ad Lav]

I think vrsy has done his - fairly expensive job.

Not done mine as happy with the car as standard and getting married August so no funds for modding - she'd notice

Master tech at my dealer said the intercoolr could have pipework re-worked so its not as bendy and won't get so hot if that makes sense?

[apmaman]

Purely cost on my end. Not wanting to fork out £800 just for an intercooler.

Then again im Scottish so im as tight fisted as they come

[Moist Von Lipwig]

I think there are a few people on here who have uprated the intercooler, most I have seen have been proper parts rather than diy. Not sure how many options are currently on the market as there have been at least a couple of people on here getting it done cheap so the place doing it can use their car as a test bed.

Having not remapped mine and not doing track days, don't really see the need just now, that may change though when I see what the temps are like over the summer.

[stu_mcl]

purely down too cost, would happily lend mine for development but id be lucky if there was a tuner within 200mile

[vRSy]

As the OP has said the standard IC is woefully inadequate. A member from here was at APR today when i dropped my car off and speaking to Keith they were having issues on the dyno of the inlet air temps staying above 55^oC which saps the power quite severely. 40^oC above ambient temperatures!!! My car even on a hot day rarely stays more than 10^oC above ambient.

Im running the Pace Products setup which comes as a radiator/intercooler package. It cant be bought separately. They chose to design it this way because of the way the radiator is supported on the intercooler makes design an absolute pain which from what i gather is why Forge are still in their development phase.

This is from a previous post i made on here.

Looking at the current intercooler options

The stock cooler is pretty shallow but the whole front face is in contact with the air entering the lower grill, plus with the cooling fins and deep core it has a lot of surface area for that air to interact with.

80mm Tube Width

96mm Stack Height

617mm Tube Length

= 4.73 litres

The Pace cooler seems to keep the stock design philosophy by having a deep core that is in direct contact with the air entering the lower grill. I asked about why it wasnt higher and they said it would require cutting if they wanted to keep the same depth of core, so either have a thinner core with more height, or a thicker core but less height. They chose the latter. The biggest isue for guys is cost as this isnbt available as just an intercooler, it comes as the intercooler and radiator combo and is £1100 for the pair delivered. Me and Hurdy currently a running this combo.

90mm tube width

145 stack height

550mm tube length

= 7.17 litres

= 35% increase

Forge have gone for a slightly different approach with cast end tanks. The core doesnt look quite as deep as the stock cooler but it is a fair bit higher. Ive not seen this core on a car yet as this was only the development shots but i suspect some of the cooler will be hidden behind the bumper/reg plate etc so not in direct contact with the air flow. Not to sure of the final dimensions but i imagine a fairly large increase in volume. The Cupra one is around £700+VAT. No t sure whats happening with this and Forge right now as they have been due release for months and months!!

APR Australia decided to cobble their own intercooler together for their Polo GTI. They went with a stepped design with the thick lower section and a thinner top bit to allow for the exra height. I asked APR Uk about this and its not affiliated with APR LLC or APR USA, and wontbe sold here in the UK although you might be able to order it from the APR guys in Australia. its not cheap though, around £1100 without delivery or import costs!!!! A fair few guys in Oz are running this kit now and seem pretty happy. Plus Polo/Fabia intercooler parts are one and the same.

HG Motorsport went with the stack height approach and went for height over thickness. But alot of the intercooler is hidden behind the front bumper. Seems priced reasonably at 700 euro incl VAT(around £570 currently). Think a couple of guys on here are running this intercooler at the moment.

40mm tube width,

310mm stack height and

450mm tube length

= 5.58 litres volume

= 16% increase.

This image shows what i mean. Only half the intercooler is open to air flow, the rest is either behind the crash bar or bumper

The measurements used for volumes etc are outside measurements not including end tanks

[philhoward]

Given the packaging constraints, why not go for a chargecooler?

[vRSy]

A water-air charge cooler might be more efficient than an air-air intercooler, but you then have a load of hot water to cool down so will need a better/larger radiator or an additional radiator to cool the water back down and knowing how high the water temps get on this car when used hard i wouldnt be a fan of this route at all

[BonnevillevRS]

Yeah the constraints on the front end of this car do dictate what you can do!

The Twintercooler is not the way to go IMO...its just quick product to get market to make money in the interim of them doing it properly!

I saw your build progress vRSy on your intercooler and I think a straight swap item is where I am going with this!

Gas flow against cooling efficiency is what dictates a good cooler from a bad one, I also think a water injection port on the intake side of the cooler would be a nice option.

APR have the dyno I used to run so I know the cooling fans are not the best on it, charge coolers are good for sprint cars or drag cars...not road/track cars as you eventually start heating your intake charge once you have transferred all your heat to the coolant!...its start transferring it back!

lol