JDM Intercooler in a Legacy Turbo

[Longshot]

Ok, just thought I'd share with you guys.

We originally were running a Saab intercooler in the Legacy Turbo, although better than stock.. it became hot to the touch after long driving, and so we came to the decision something a little bigger was needed.

On a side note, I believe the new Forester Turbo IC may fit in the car (dunno if that's been mentioned here yet), since it is not as deep as the USDM WRX intercooler.

Anyways.. here are the pics..








It was a fairly straightforward install, only the ignitor had to be moved and it required a little bit of prodding to make it fit in well, but there are no hood rattles and its working very well so far.

[Edit]

Almost forgot to mention.. the intercooler is used, so yes it is a bit dinged up. None of the dings are from us being monkeys on the install, and there are plans to replace it with a 'fresher' version of the same IC in the future.

[/Edit]

Feel free to point, look, and ask questions

(Sorry Ian, the 'boost fluid' water spray is gone )

[LegacyPunk]

Nice install. any thoughts on having a bigger hood scoop?

[Longshot]

It was brought up a few times, and once the install was done we sorta decided there aren't many options to make the hoodscoop bigger without either getting a hoodscoop from a car where it wouldn't quite match the hood anymore, or fabricating one from scratch.

As it stands right now, the car will probbly get some sort rubber intercooler seal so all the available air is channeled straight into the intercooler and not just wafted in the general area. If we decide we need more airflow, a FMIC may be in order, simply due to the lack of engine bay space.

A bigger hoodscoop also makes the car less of a sleeper

[boostjunkie]

I have that same intercooler but have the 16G to match. I haven't had TOO many problems with this setup, but I do have a waterspray hooked up that I used on the really hot days. The intercooler still gets pretty darn hot when the temps reach 90 degrees.

[Longshot]

Yeah after about an hour and a half of driving in almost 90 degree weather it was a little warm, but only to the level a stock intercooler on a WRX gets. It was a big improvement over the Saab intercooler tho, because when I said "it became hot to the touch" I really meant "it tried to eat through my mechanix gloves."

The stock turbo stays on for a bit, since the fenders and doors and such need to be fixed and the car needs fresh paint before we worry about outrunning anything more than an angry mom in her Volvo and the usual rice crowd..

[Edit - speeling is fun and porfitbale!]

[boostjunkie]

I'm right there with you. My MAP sensor crapped out on me this weekend and until I get a replacement piece I'm without boost . . .

[Longshot]

That sucks! Hopefully you can get it fixed soon.

[-K-]

I've got the air-water but this would help you also. I want to vent the hood to keep the temps down under there. I'm thinking a big one just back of the radiator, like the wrc Impreza. Some slats to force the air out of the radiator up through it. But there goes the sleeper look

[Longshot]

Yeah that's a novel idea.. it'd basically have the same function as the ones on the 2.5RS and old sk00l WRX. IIRC the rally cars use some sort of dryer ducting type stuff to funnel air right from the radiator straight out the top of the hood.

I can't personally see cooling as a huge problem in these cars, I mean unless you put in a 13B or something However, it certainly wouldn't hurt.

[boostjunkie]

Or a 16G!!

Hopefully I'll be able to be back to boosting again . . . vrg3, money should be in on Friday!! WHOOHOO!!

[magicmike]

Whats this about a forester IC fitting????? More info please.

Mike

[Longshot]

You can tell just by the picture alone that the Forester IC is not as deep as a stock WRX one is, so I'd imagine you could probbly fit that one in without much of a problem. I haven't tried for myself however, so I can only guess.

The flange for the BOV might get in the way, but if it fits easier overall then getting the flange so you can use stock WRX BOV's might be worth the effort.

[IggDawg]

she looks so sexy. I miss her

I'm glad she lost all her saab parts and got some subie stuff. Was that Darshu's IC?

[Longshot]

she looks so sexy. I miss her

I'm glad she lost all her saab parts and got some subie stuff. Was that Darshu's IC?

Yup! We're probbly gonna switch it out with the one North has in a bit since it's in better condition (Apparently the same thing you were planning ).

Eric's got some other stuff to do in the mean time tho, like re-painting, fixing all the rust, and such.

[LegacyPunk]

I don't think the Foresters IC would fit. The BOV on the foresters IC is RIGHT where the throttle body cables are, which is also why a stock WRX BOV wont fit on a stock WRX IC, which is my problem. Unless the Foresters is skinny enough...

[2.2Turbo]

What year JDM intercooler is shown above?

[Longshot]

I belive I remember it being a Version II WRX intercooler.. so that would make it a '95.. IIRC the intercoolers put in the WRX's are all relatively the same up until the Version V.

[legacy92ej22t]

Hey on that turbo Forester, Is the turbo in front of the intake manifold? In that picture it looks like its up by the radiator. Just wondering.

[boostjunkie]

Nope. The turbo's in the same spot. What you see is the intake plumming to the turbo that goes underneath the intake manifold. It's the same setup as the newer wrxs and Stis.