Jason:
The pre-1997 WRX air-to-air intercooler is okay, but not on a par with a
$1,000 Spearco unit. It sits at an angle on the WRX and on the Legacy. It
covers my clutch fluid reservour. None of the mounting ears line up to
anything. You have to undo the dog-bone engine mount and cram the AC line
under it. Be really careful or you'll eat a hole in your freon line (as I
did), which is about a $300 mistake. The stock plastic turbo-to-intercooler
pipe is problematic and designed for an EJ20 turbo which is bigger and sits
at a different angle. Be prepared to monkey around with silicone or
radiator hose elbows and pieces of aluminum pipe. I cut my stock plastic
pipe off at about 4" to keep the triangular flange, but silicone-sealered
(eat your heart out Road Warrior) a silicone hump hose to that dirty tapered
sonofabitch. When doing this, be sure to hold the hose in place with zip
ties until the silicone sealer completely cures (4 days in hot sun or two
days lowing through) before affixing it with a pair of worm drive hose
clamps. If the silicone sealer is wet, it serves as a lubricant and the
hose clamps will crawl down the tapered plastic tupe as you tighten them.
The shear tackiness of this method makes my son nauseous, but it actually
works well and is all hidden under the intercooler anyway. Silicone Sealer
looks terrible, but it is an intercooler misapplicator's friend.
I put diamond expanded metal protective grates top and bottom on my
intercooler and I am glad that I did. The fins are incredibly delicate
(aluminum foil) and there are a lot of hoses, wires, dropped screwdrivers
etc. to bend them.
I think the best thing one can do is to wrap the turbo and downpipe,
insulate the intercooler from engine heat and duct the airflow. My
intercooler has a rubber bib that hides the throttle body and mates the
angled intercooler to the straigght oversized hood scoop. I used river raft
floor for the bib and foam neoprene garage door bottom gasket for the
uprigght portions that seal the bib to the underside of the hood. I intend
to do the Larry Witherspoon intelligent water spray as soon as I can.
Good Luck
Bill Robinson
The newer WRX intercoolers have a twin intake, so this model apparenuting
the air as effectively as possible. I saw where a guy flipped my type
intercooler upside down, tapped in a piece of pipe to its end tank and
capped the oem triangular hole with a flat plate. I could see his clutch
fluid reservour cap, but his intercooler seemed a bit close to the turbo,
which is a significant source of heat.
I tapped my intercooler with a rubber tight 90 elbow for the CBV. I don't
like having my CBV tapping off the turbo-to-intercooler line. Those lines
are problematic, so I want all potential boost leaks front and center where
I can monitor them. I also think that tapping the intercooler tank is a
less turbulent way to go. In the upside-down version it would be cool if
you could tap right out of the blanking plate that covers the oem
triangular hole.
Be careful about dimensions pon intercoolers. My son Joel bought a box of
cool Subaru intercoolers from UK that did not fit between the throttle body
and firewall on any known USA model Legacy ot Impreza. The EJ20 has a
stubbier throttle body.
----- Original Message -----
From: "jason grahn" <
jgrahn555@hotmail.com>
To: <
vultureboy@mindspring.com>
Sent: Friday, June 01, 2001 11:28 AM
Subject: Re: [BC-BFLegacyWorks] Welcome Rabin
> hey will, question... How much does that WRX intercooler run? I have a
buddy
> that's got a super-hook-up on importing things now, and he's gunna try and
> bring some in for me.
>
> thanks
>
> -Jason
>
>
> >From: "William D. Robinson" <
vultureboy@mindspring.com>
> >Reply-To:
BC-BFLegacyWorks@yahoogroups.com
> >To: <
BC-BFLegacyWorks@yahoogroups.com>
> >Subject: [BC-BFLegacyWorks] Welcome Rabin
> >Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2001 20:474 -0700
> >
> >My name is Bill Robinson and I own a street version 92 Legacy 5-speed
sedan
> >with the following mods:
> >
> >Custom 3" downpipe
> >3" exhaust
> >3" straight-through glasspak muffler (loud)
> >Pre 1997 air-air WRX intercooler
> >Hand-sculpted "WRX" type hood scoop ducted
> >Bigger Mitsubishi turbo from Japan Legacy
> >APEXi AVC R boost controller
> >Greddy boost limitercut controller
> >K&N air filter in stock box
> >TurboXS big racing blow-off valve recirculated to be a CBV
> >KYB AGX adjustable struts
> >
> >
> >Purchased and soon to be added:
> >
> >Big fuel pump
> >Vortec 4/1 rising rate fuel pressure regulator
> >
> >Almost ready to do:
> >
> >Rebuild tranny with new improved synchros
> >Genuine WRX clutch
> >
> >Flirting woith doing:
> >
> >"Intelligent" intercooler spray
> >"Intelligent" water injection
> >Dastek Unichip tuned on 4WD dyno
> >
> >I also have a couple of EJ20G quad cam engines sitting in my garage, in
> >case I ever blow my EJ22T.
> >
> >Let me know if I can be of assistance
> >
> >Bill Robinson, Spokane Washington USA
>
> _________________________________________________________________
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