Backround:
I purchased a new GP2 back in January and had the mod bug from day one. I knew I wanted more power and a tune was the best way to achieve it. There's not many options for the N18 motor so my choices were limited. I did all the research I could and eventually decided on a Renntech tune. After speaking with Mark and Lenny at Renntech they recommended I add a bigger intercooler and colder spark plugs with the tune. So my search for an intercooler began. I plan on doing a write-up on my build with all my mods shortly and will be posting it in the GP section. But for now....the intercooler!

Research:
When I was searching for an intercooler, I wanted the best I could get. All the common manufacturers came up, Alta, Forge, Helix, Evolve. At the time I was also following ra2fanatic's build and he had just purchased a Wagner Competition intercooler. After asking him some questions, reading his review
and talking to Henry at Wagner directly, I knew I had found what I was looking for. Wagner offers two intercoolers and Henry was extremely helpful on helping me decide between them. Ultimately, I decided on the Competition Intercooler. Here are the specifics on it from Wagner.

• High-performance "Tube Fin" Intercooler core with turbulators in a stepped design
• Size 550x110x90 / 550x210x50, 8745cm³ volume (Std 540x65x85mm, 2984cm³ volume)
• Cast aluminum CAD / FEA optimized air tanks
• Intercooler uses the original mounting points
• ~220% larger frontal area compared to OEM intercooler
• ~280% greater volume than OEM charge air intercooler
• Simple installation
• only 11lbs/5kg

Shipping:
Henry advised me that the intercooler would ship directly from Germany and would only take 3 days to the east coast. I received a tracking number once the intercooler was processed through customs. Also, Henry called me to see if I had received my intercooler! Just like he said, I received it in 3 days.

Packaging:
My first impressions when seeing the box was that it looked very well packed just like ra2fanatic had described. The intercooler was nicely packed inside its own brown box and then packed inside the Wagner shipping box. I was extremely impressed with the care that went into packing the intercooler. In my experience, it definitely says something about a company if they are willing to take the time and effort to make sure that every detail is perfect....even down to the packing and shipping.

The Intercooler:
The quality of the intercooler is second to none. The attention to detail is absolutely incredible. It is very easy to see that a lot of time and effort went into the research and development of the intercooler.

Installation:
The install of the intercooler was as expected. As ra2fanatic mentioned, the top mounting tab is not needed and can be trimmed off. The intercooler fit perfectly and is very secure. I also ended up using the OEM mounting clamps instead of the ones provided with the intercooler.

Driving Impressions:
I installed the intercooler along with the Renntech tune and spark plugs at the same time. All I can is...WOW! The temperature has been on the colder side lately in the north east. I am looking forward to the summer months and warmer temperatures to see how the Wagner Intercooler deals with the temperatures, but I am sure I will not be disappointed.

Contact Information:
Henry Bueno
Henry@Wagner-Tuning.com
559-412-4868

If you have any questions please let me know!

 

More pictures!

 

 

 

 

No more red brake ducts either!

 

Sweet! My damn oil cooler stands out more than the intercooler! lol.

 

Stupid question, but what did y'all use to cut the top tab off?

 

saw blade connected to air compressor at friend's shop. But before that, when I cut the tab off the Forge unit I used to have, I used my brothers rechargeable tool that had a saw attachment. Not that tough to get through

 

I just used a regular hand saw. Took me a few minutes.

Looking good, krawzdogg!

Finally got mine finished today.

Hope to see you around Buffalo!

 

Im just curious why you took the front crash bar off when you installed the IC?

 

I believe the GP2 has different design like most LCI which have the lower bar as well, so you have to take off the crashbar to install the intercooler.

 

67morris, Do you have the JCW front bumper or the Cooper S front bumper?

 

Cooper s

 

What were the main areas that need to be trimed to fit the intercooler?

 

Right around the bottom lower sides of the ic. Once you are done securing the ic, put the bumper back on and you can see through the grill where it is touching the bumper. Trim it until you can align the bottom left and right screws under the bumper. The pop-its won't fit, but you won't really need them once the bumper is fully secured.

 

Still loving the Wagner? Getting ready to pull the trigger, these guys are on the top of my list.

Thanks!

 

I have a brand new Wagner Competition Intercooler sitting in the garage waiting to be installed. There's a lot of pictures already so I'll skip that as it doesn't add anything new. I haven't seen any actual data that shows how any intercooler performs compared to stock, so I thought I'd do some datalogging with Torque to do a before/after comparison.

Here's a graph of RPM, Boost, and IAT above ambient (64F) with the stock intercooler for a WOT 3rd gear pull from 2000 rpm to the rev. limiter. This was going uphill on an on-ramp and then freeway. (Apologies to the Tesla I blew past.) Once I get the Wagner installed I'll repeat this for a before/after comparison.

Any suggestions for anything else to log?

 

Finally got the installation complete.

The Wagner intercooler is beautifully crafted and finished, truly a quality piece. No complaints there. Unfortunately the installation was not straightforward, it does not directly fit a 2012 MCS. The front crashbar has a lower bar that fits inside the bottom of the bumper cover, I had to remove the crashbar to fit the intercooler. OK, no big deal, take out a few nuts and bolts. Hook up the hoses and tighten the clamps. To get the crashbar back on, I had to cut off the top tab as it is under the top bar and sticks up to high. OK, put the cutoff wheel in the Dremel and take care of that. Then there is an interference between the intercooler and the lower bar at the bottom corner on the driver's side. (See pic, the blue tape on the lower bar shows where the interference is.) If you replace the crashbar and tighten everything down, it pushes the intercooler, radiator, and all the bumper cover mounting points back making it impossible to get the bumper cover lined up properly. After 4 hours of struggling with it I took pictures and contacted Wagner, their response was that the lower bar is only present on US vehicles for the later years, and the bar has to be modified to get it to fit. Oh well, so much for compatibility with the R56 "facelift" version. I have a dim memory of reading about this same issue in another post somewhere.

So I got out the angle grinder and ground a notch out of the back of the bar to clear the corner of the intercooler, sprayed it with some black enamel I had in the garage, and got it all put back together. Even with the crashbar no longer pushing on the intercooler and deforming things, it was still a ***** to get the bumper cover properly aligned on both sides. I had to trim a couple of tabs on the backside of the bumper cover, but not much. I'm no stranger to taking cars apart, I have had the front bumper cover off of my other cars to replace headlights, and none were as tough as this one. Finally got it back together, put the wheels back on, and went for a test drive.

After spending the bucks for the intercooler, putting hours into carefully installing it, and then getting it re-assembled, I was hoping I would feel a difference. I hadn't driven the car for a few days, and it sure seemed to rev faster and have slightly better power. I drove the same test loop as before and recorded the data. The performance of the intercooler for keeping IAT down is amazing - a maximum 9 degree rise over ambient, compared to over 50 degrees for the stock! It appears to build boost just as fast, though since ambient temp was 46 degrees vs. 64 for the original test it didn't build as high. But looking at the time for the RPM to go from 2000 to 6500, the times were identical. So much for the butt dyno. I'll go do another test run at closer to the ambient temp for the original run.

I had expected to see RPM climb a bit faster, my theory at the moment is the ECU is limiting boost and fuel to meet the load targets. I guess that means I'll just have to get a tune...

 

so was the wagner intercooler worth it, or would you rather go with a different intercooler?

 

No regrets on the Wagner. While the install was not direct plug and play, I'd still make the same choice.

My decision process: I wanted an intercooler that used the front mounting points and didn't just hang from the hoses. That disqualified Alta and Helix, even though those both appear to be excellent build quality. That left Forge and Wagner as the options. I chose Wagner over Forge based on the cast end tanks and the fact that they publish their flow data.

As a practical matter, with that lower front crash bar, I don't know if any of the available aftermarket intercooler options would fit without modifications. Maybe the Forge would, it depends on the shape and dimensions of the lower corner of the end tank.

 

I guess is a no brainier to choose the larger competition model for only $40 more? Any disadvantage for street on a R55 S?

 

^ That's what I did, of course some people think I don't have a brain so that made it easy.

Check if you have the lower crash bar like on my car, if you are concerned about that and having to modify it then check out the new Helix FMIC which would have been on my short list if it had been available at the time.

 

I installed the comp model on my 2011 R57 and it was a direct fit without any mods on the crash bar. Extremely happy with it!

 

Just waiting for a sale now...