Keep the IC for that price. And get yourself an M7 Ram scoop (or similar, I think there was one on Ebay, but I'm not sure if anyone ever bought and installed one of these.) The Scoop will work with the stock IC if using a good diverter, so that's the best bet to improve intake system performance. I doubt the horizontal flow IC will improve performance, but it's unlikely you'll detect any significant decrease in performance either.
Good luck.

 

Here are some pics of the factory IC with the thermal coating. After taking a test drive to make sure there were no vacuum/boost leaks, I came back and parked. I could actually hold my hand on the IC for about a second before it felt too hot. That tells me the coating is working.

 

^ looks good. how long did the whole thing take (sending it to them and getting it back) and that's not a bad price, 1. helps in performance 2. looks great!

 

on the order of a week, plus or minus.

Matt

 

Yes, about a week. I'm glad I finally got around to doing this.

 

and it's black!

So there you go!

Matt

And they do a really good job of cleaning the IC as part of the process!

 

I installed the Alta IC, but haven't been able to test it out due to a power steering pump failure under repair. The IC does not line up perfectly with the air tubes, as did the factory part. The driver's side rubber coupling is slightly stretched out at one side, so it's wider toward the firewall side than at radiator side. However, it does fully cover both of the clamping surfaces. Any opinions of whether this will disturb airflow or o/w affect performance?

Also, the unit is so large it sits over the spark plug boots. I'll have to remove the IC to service the plugs A major pain in the ***.

 

including the GP. Really, at first it's hard to remove/replace the IC, but now for me it doesn't take much time at all.

Matt

 

I've seen a cam changed in 30 minutes, and for me (like DrO) taking the IC out takes less than 10 minutes and is no big deal.
And honestly, how often are you changing spark plugs? Really. The maintenance cycle for the IC is shorter than that of plugs, so it's not big deal.

btw, if you don't modify the mounts for the Alta horizontal IC, you may get dents in the bonnet--some early adopters found this out the hard way.

 

Maintenance cycle for the CAC? What maintenance do you have to do to it?

 

Maintenance of the Intercooler includes cleaning it, and maybe straightening bent cooling fins. Even with an oil catch can you will find oil in the IC--ranging from a lot to a very little. It reduces the thermal efficiency of the IC so it's good to clean it out.

 

yeah about an hour after posting I was thinking that maybe cleaning it would help. The oil catch can is a nifty idea, but really I don't think I am driving it hard enough to need that. Yes I do like the occasional Hoon but nothing severe.
I would hope that the fins say pretty straight, the ones that I see bent the most are the ones that have caught a rather large bug.

 

How would you go about re-straightening a fin, simply taking a needle nose and bending it back? I have a couple that are...

 

You could use needle nose pliers, or an awl to simply push the fins back into position. It's never going to be perfect, but you can improve the airflow over the damaged, deformed fins.

 

We may as well eat the whole enchilada: How does one clean out their IC? Muriatic acid bath or soapy water and a garden hose?

 

Achilless, you can actually buy a special comb that straightens out the fins on the radiator, IC, etc. I don't have one, so I used a small flathead screwdriver.

blue_agave, the company I shipped my IC to cleaned it for me. If you want do do it yourself, buy a can of Gunk engine degreaser and hit the entire engine. Let it soak for a few before rinsing.

 

Sorry I must be missing something...How is adding a thermal coating going to help? It should hurt not help. You want the air rushing over the fins/centers to cool the centers and take away the heat from the tubes (intake air is in the tubes). Anything that gets heat out of the tubes more efficiently the better and the cooler the air going to the motor will be. If you coat/insulate the tubes you prevent the heat from getting out. Anything you do to coat the tubes or centers (unless it is heat conductive material on the center) will make the heat transfer worse. The coating will also increase the air pressure drop minutely which actually means on a theoretical level you have less air going through (a much scaled down version of blocking the entrance or the exit).

 

Here's Cradin's explanation: http://www.cradin.com/thermal_dispersant.htm. Another site (scroll down to thermal dispersant): http://www.techlinecoatings.com/introduction.html.

 

Thanks JumpingJack...I didn't realize it was some type of dispersant. If it actually works as they claim it makes more sense than my original interpretation of "coating". I would like to test it on a dissipater to see if it really does what they say….

 

dropped IATs a couple of degrees. No a lot, but it's a real effect.

Matt