Hi all,
I am looking at buying an uprated intercooler for my R56 Cooper S. I have two options at present, these being the Alta FMIC and the Forge FMIC.
I am just wondering if there is a significant performance benefit which the Alta has over the Forge?
Price wise it is about a $300 difference between the 2 (I am based in UK and have converted it to dollers), the Forge being the cheaper one. I am drawn to the Forge because of its price, but I dont want to be buying the wrong one or spending any money at all if the Forge one is not much better than standard.
So basically im just wondering if anyone knows the differences between the Forge and Alta FMIC?
Thanks in advance

 

When I looked at both units they seem to spec out roughly the same, Alta may have better input there though. I bought the Forge for one reason, the Forge has solid mounts, using the stock points. The ability to hard mount it outweighed any minor performance differences for me. However that is the **** engineer in me, others view the world differently.

 

And how do you find it, did you notice much difference?
I am getting my car remapped and am told that a higher boost can be achieved with a uprated intercooler and more free flowing exhaust (which I already have)
Thanks for the input

 

When I first installed it the upper rpm range seemed smoother, boost appeared to be more consistent, even when beating the snot out it.

I did install it as a prestep to tuning the ECU. It is not that higher boost can be achieved though, it is a more complex relationship. When you run higher boost, more advanced timing and more fuel the engine gets hotter, as you compress the mixture more, and faster as in higher tune conditions the intake charge becomes hotter. There is also the possibility of overwhelming the capacity of the stock intercooler. A larger more efficient cooler abates the issues from running hotter conditions. Note I said abates, you can also cross a line as here. This is the reason why there is water injection kits, and intercooler spray kits.

The short answer is, yes after install I noticed slight gains, however it is a requirement in my mind to any tuning.

Either of these intercoolers should be amble should you decide to upgrade the turbo.

 

Can anyone give me an estimate on installation cost ?

 

M7 Tuning's FMIC is also out and available. .

Unfortunately the specs are not all represented equally it's tough to make a truly educated decision. This might be intentional, or it might just be that the various manufacturers do not agree on what makes the optimal IC upgrade, or some just don't have or take as much time as others to gather and post that data (and I don't insinuate that they didn't do their homework during development, it's just not all shared with us). I just looked at pictures, specs, downloaded install manuals, and made my decision the the good old fashion way... an educated guess!

 

I was quoted $260 fitting for the Alta because you need to trim some bumper away (but this may only be for UK cars - Im not sure, you'd have to check) and 140$ for fitting the Forge. So the Forge seems an all round cheaper alternative...

 

254 whp and my stock IC still works great, granted, I have an R53 (Which is theoretically less efficient)

I posted some anecdotal information a few days ago that suggests that the stock IC on the R56 actually works pretty well. Unless you're going to be modifying other parts on the car (dialing up the boost quite a bit), at this point, a larger IC seems unnecessary.

 

If you know how to pull off your bumper cover you should be able to install the IC yourself with basic tools. It's not overly complicated .

 

You are correct, took about an hour or so.

Besides, toys are made to be played with!

 

i put my alta ic on and im a idiot

 

The Alta intercooler doesn't fit the uk spec cars, I know I tried fitting one!