How To: WRX Intercooler Install

[J-MoNeY]

I've see a lot of posts about the WRX install, but not really comprehensive ones. I thought I'd make a thread about how to do it step by step, with as many pics as needed. So here I go.

PS: It's going to be a slow start for a few days untill my BOV get's here.

PPS: I hearby take no blame in any errors I may have made result in damage of your own personal vehicle.

Step One: Buy WRX Intercooler. I'm still debating if a silicone Samco hose or something would make a better Y-Pipe. For now I'll be using the stock one. Notice in the pic that there is no BOV. Now from what I have read we cannot use the stock BOV on the stock IC. I suggest you pick up a different one of some sort. My choice has been a Forge. I'll get pics with the BOV and IC when I get it in.





Step Two: Replace the stock Y-Pipe for ease of fit. The stock Y-Pipe on the WRX is very small and very brittle. It will not provide the flex needed to make the installation easy. I picked up a Samco Y-Pipe used for 40 bucks. The process to remove the old Y-Pipe is to just get a flathead screwdriver and undo the two clams holding it onto the intercooler. Installation for the new Samco Y-Pipe went in the opposite order. Sorry for being so slow on getting these things, done. I'm trying to get the info and pics up as fast as I can given the period that I have to work on the car. *Note* - You can use the stock Y-Pipe but since I am not going to use it, I suggest going this route.



Step Three: Moving the coolant tank. Sorry, about the shitty picture, but your going to need to move your coolant tank from it's current location in order for the WRX IC to fit. You may do this however you want, but I'm going to decribe my method. What I did is buy a WRX Coolant tank. Since my AC is removed I had some extra space there and decided to make it fit. I took off the stock tank and waited for the coolant to drain out. There are *I think* four lines going to the tank. The smallest one going to the overflow tank, the next largest one going to the hard coolent line connecting to the radiator and, finally the last two are the same size. One goes to the turbo for coolant flow and the other one to the coolant line that I think comes from the water pump. All of these lines correspond with the size fitting off the WRX coolant tank. I bought 10 feet of the bigger hose, and 2 feet of the next to smallest hose(not sure on size). Next, I mounted the tank. This consisted of using the connector that hung down and was a half circle. I just found a bolt that I could screw into the stock AC mount, then placed the tank on the screw and tightened. This isn't the best discription of the whole process, but if there are any questions I can take pics upon request. A final note is that some of the lines were a tight fit. It is up to you to make them work and find your own place to route them. As a tip, I'd suggest sending some of them under the intake manifold.


Step Four:Making it fit. I'm guna go in steps here. It's not finished so I'll get that done later.

1) Take off the TB to Turbo tube. There are two clamps that need to be loosened with a flat head screw driver. Undo those, find all the little hoses going to it and disconnect those. I think that there are 2 hoses going to that tube. One is off the intake and is the bigger one and one is a small vaccuum line that is on the right side connected to the diverter valve.


Set this aside for now.

2) Move the ignitor. It has two 10mm bolts. One under the main harness and one that you can see. Undo those and take it off after disconnecting it from the plug. You can see where it was once mounted.


3) Test fit. Just put it up there and take a look at what needs to be moved and hammered in to make it fit.




5) Hammer time. Your guna smash the shit out of your fire wall where it needs to be hammered and the little thing where the ignitor sat on. Have fun. I may have went a little far...



6) Test fit it again. After the pounding is done the IC should slide in a little ways then get hung up on the throttle body. Your going to have to shave some metal off your TB or IC. Your call on the place and how much.



Step 5:Hookin it up. I really don't want to show any pics of what my setup looks like, because it looks like arse. I had to hack my Samco up, find some 2in exhaust pipe, hack that up, buy some radiator hose, hack that up, then hack my stock TB tube up. All I have to say it OYE! Never ever do this ever. You guys can be the ones who makes this baby work. I've never been so frustrated by this damn car ever. The WRX IC is so not ment to fit in our cars. For sake of everything, please go by a SAAB 900 IC or do something besides this thing. The car pulls like a bat outa hell though. I do enjoy that and the BOV now. Other then this. I hate the setup. I'm going down to a local speed shop this week to have a custom hard pipe made. Perhaps then it will look and run a little better.

NOTES: Your going to have to shave the IC or TB a lot to get it to fit. There are 3 hoses that are attached to the IC. One is from the valve cover on the drivers side. Hook that up to the pipe on the IC. The other one is off of the other valve cover. Hook that up. The last one come off the compressor inlet and goes on the IC pipe also. The big line for the DV in the back needs to be plugged. I think it's a 1in OD hole and a 3/4 ID. Find something to plug that with. Other then that the car runs pretty good.

[BAC5.2]

I was going to give this a shot, but decided that I didn't want to put the resources into something that I did not forsee being around for more than a year.

[dzx]

That Y pipe does look a little restrictive

[greg donovan]

here's something i have always wondered:

what are those two hard lines on the top/front of the IC?

[BAC5.2]

Greg - They are coolant passages. They are removable. Just bolt on-hardlines for moving coolant from one side of the engine bay to the next.

[vrg3]

They're actually PCV pipes, not coolant passages. They're the WRX version of part #12 in the PCV diagram on this page:

http://www.graphics.cornell.edu/~v/vacuum/ej22t_pcv.gif

[Warp3]

Step One: Buy WRX Intercooler.

Done...next?

I've seen threads about WRX ICs and their various fitment issues, but a full writeup (with pictures) like this will be very welcome compared to bits of text descriptions here and there about what does, doesn't and "kinda" fits.

[vrg3]

Yeah, this thread should be a good resource when it's done.

I should mention my homemade BOV adapter. I went to the local hardware store and bought one of each of these:

http://www.cornerhardware.com/productdi ... _id=220304
http://www.cornerhardware.com/productdi ... _id=224466

I punched out the center hole in the box cover and enlarged it a little so it would fit the copper elbow. I soldered the elbow in place and then cut the box cover along the diagonal so it would fit neatly over the intercooler's BOV flange. I drilled two holes for the bolts, and it was done. I wish I took pictures.

This, plus some 3/4" heater hose, should let you use the stock blowoff valve.

[J-MoNeY]

TTT for step two. Step 3, will be the BOV, then it comes in soon.

[vrg3]

Is it just me or does that Samco hose look kinked? Is it installed in the correct orientation?

If I were you I'd look into getting some hose clamps that are kinder on hose than the stock ones. T-bolt liner clamps would be ideal but you can also get worm-drive clamps that have rolled edges and stuff. Those Samco silicone hoses are much more prone to tearing than the stock plastic pipe.

Is this writeup going to be for the stock turbo, or with an upgraded turbo?

[dzx]

It does kinda look kinked

[Warp3]

I should mention my homemade BOV adapter. I went to the local hardware store and bought one of each of these:

So basically you made one of these (shown below is the TurboXS BOV adapter)



but with a curve at the end, right?

[vrg3]

Shane - That's exactly right.

[J-MoNeY]

It is kinked as of now. I just test fit it. I really need to get some new clamps on there. The stock ones barely fit. Also, this is going on a stock turbo.

[Cliff2.2]

I'm going to be putting mine in soon as well, but I bought a high temp silicone adapter to come off the turbo and I'm having an exhaust shop custom bend pipe to go from that connector to the stock Y pipe of the WRX intercooler.

[vrg3]

I just got a PM asking me about the specifics of how I soldered the BOV adaptor together.

I actually used silver bearing solder meant for electronics, which is what I had lying around. I think ideally I would have chosen a solder with a higher melting point (silver bearing solder melts at around 430 degrees), but I think it should be okay.

I soldered it with a propane torch and used CLR cleaner as flux (again, just what I had lying around). Both these metals (copper and what appears to be galvanized steel) are very easy to solder to, though, so you could use almost any flux, possibly even just relying on the flux core of the solder.

If you're very patient, a soldering gun could probably do the job. A torch is just so easy though. I just dripped some flux around the joint, wound the solder around the base of the copper fitting a few times, and applied heat to the top of the copper fitting. After a minute or so the flux started to bubble and the solder melted and got sucked down into the joint, and now it looks like it grew that way.

I would have brazed it instead if I had had the necessary stuff on hand (brazing rods and flux, and an oxy-gas torch of some type).

[J-MoNeY]

TTT for step 3. It was going to be the BOV, but I couldn't wait.

[vrg3]

Cool, it looks pretty good there! Let me just add a little to your writeup:

There are indeed four fittings on the tank. Two "small" (7.5mm) ones and two "large" (11.5 mm) ones.

The small one that's directly on the radiator cap neck (on both the Legacy and WRX tanks) is the one that connects to the overflow tank.

The small one that's on the back of the Legacy tank and sticking out of the top of the WRX tank goes to the fitting at the upper passenger-side corner of the radiator. In stock Legacy form it goes through the hard pipe that goes across the manifold, but when relocating it might be easier to just run your own hose directly. Be sure to use hose that can handle pressure for this.

The lower large fitting on both tanks connects to the water pump. In stock Legacy form it goes to a hard pipe that runs along the lower driver side of the engine, but again it might be easier to run it directly when relocating the tank.

The remaining large fitting goes to the upper coolant line of the turbo.

1/2" heater hose works well for the large fittings. 5/16" hose fits the small fittings well, but it's hard to find 5/16" heater hose. Fuel hose should work just as well as heater hose though.

When routing the hose be careful not to create any areas where the hose rises and then falls, because it will make burping the system difficult. And don't let either of the large hoses rise above the level of the top of the tank, since that could reduce or ruin the effectiveness of the whole after-shutdown cooling system.

To help with routing lines, you can create your own shaped hard lines easily out of copper tubing from the hardware store. There won't be a bead at the ends of the pipe, though, so be sure to slip the hose fairly far onto the pipe, and use a wide hose clamp if you can find one.

If you get a WRX tank that's painted black on top, you may want to first remove the top from the tank and then use paint remover to get rid of all the paint. Apparently the black paint is also applied to the underside and some WRX owners have had problems with the paint flaking off and getting into the rest of the cooling system.

[J-MoNeY]

I think our systems use covection to keep the coolant flowing though it. I have a turbo timer so I just let it cool down for a little while.

[BAC5.2]

We have a Gravity Syphon, that keeps the coolant flowing.

I have a turbo timer, because I have an aftermarket cooling system, and I lost the stock design engineered into it.

[J-MoNeY]

OOO! BOV is supposed to be here tonight! I'm pretty stoked. I forsee lots of "firewall reworking" tonight.

[Cliff2.2]

You'll probably do a little hood pounding too.

[dzx]

Bout time it got there.

[J-MoNeY]

You'll probably do a little hood pounding too.

If needed, I'll straight f**k my hood up. Gangsta style.

[J-MoNeY]

TTT for new steps!