UPDATED!!! Thanks Evasive! Poorman's $17 Intercooler Diverter mod...
 

UPDATED!!!!!! Check Post #15!!!


So, I recently swapped my IC from the OEM S one with tthe GP IC. At first I noticed that the IC was hitting 120-145F cruising on the highway with ambient temp being 70-75F. Now keep in mind, I did not get an air diverter; I mean the OEM GP one is 220 and the DDM diverter was 180, I just didn't have money for it. So what i did was purchase Rubber Foam from Home Depot, two rollsfor 7.50 each. So I measured out the lengths that I needed and stuck them on the underside of the hood around the air path of the hood scoop. Took me 15 minutes to do and it works to perfection! My driving temps are now from 85-91!!! Didn't think it would help that much but it did and it was super cheap too!! So if you're broke, this is the way to go!!

I will post photos up later tonight for those who are interested!!

I'm curious... Do you have a reduced SC pulley? If so, what percentange? WIth a 15% you usually see a 12 degree diff and with a 17% it jumps to about 20 degrees, so I am curious as to why yours were so extreme. Something doesn't sound right to me.

As for the foam, pics please as I would love to see what you did.

I have a total of 17% reduction because i have a 15% SC pulley. And a 2% crank pulley. But its crazy though it looks like the diverter does help. Maybe the hot air coming from tthe engine or header reaches the IC or intake manifold causing higher IATs?

Pictures
 

This is what I used:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36752113@N07/5795505880/http://www.flickr.com/photos/36752113@N07/5795505880/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/36752113@N07/, on Flickr

MY GP:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36752113@N07/5794949023/http://www.flickr.com/photos/36752113@N07/5794949023/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/36752113@N07/, on Flickr

The project:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36752113@N07/5795507924/http://www.flickr.com/photos/36752113@N07/5795507924/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/36752113@N07/, on Flickr

The project, close up:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36752113@N07/5794950829/http://www.flickr.com/photos/36752113@N07/5794950829/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/36752113@N07/, on Flickr

The Seal:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36752113@N07/5795263555/http://www.flickr.com/photos/36752113@N07/5795263555/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/36752113@N07/, on Flickr
Back of IC

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36752113@N07/5795263313/http://www.flickr.com/photos/36752113@N07/5795263313/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/36752113@N07/, on Flickr
Right of IC

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36752113@N07/5795263103/http://www.flickr.com/photos/36752113@N07/5795263103/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/36752113@N07/, on Flickr
Left of IC

That one is a bit dark, but you can kind of see the rubber shine.

UPDATE:
Driving during the daytime, with ambient temperature @ 75F, Scangauge II read IAT to be 83-90F dependent on how much boost.
Driving during the nighttime, with ambient temperature @ 61F, Scangauge II read IAT to be 71-79F dependent on boost.

The rubber foam seems to keep the cool air right over the IC, but dissipates the hot air from the engine and the IC too. After a hard drive, I popped the hood open and the rubber foam was just warm to the touch, not hot at all. This works!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pictures not working

i'm sure you will see even better temps if you use a diverter, those are the same temps I get with my stock intercooler. The real benefit of the GP is under load(more heat) it deals with it better, what temps are you seeing when your making 14lb of boost?

With around 14-15psi my IATs are at about 99-101F! Is that good?

The foam in the driver side could move left a little bit more. I would line the foam up around the outside area of the fins.

You know whats weird though, I feel like by leaving that space between the right side IC fins and the foam on the right, allows the cold air to hit the Intake horn for the IC. I feel like it helps cool it off as I'm driving. Where as with the diverters they cover that space keeping it relatively hot the entire time. After a solid drive, you can still pop the hood and touch the intake horn and it will be pretty warm and not steaming hot!

Maybe, but I think you may benefit more from cooling the fins where the air will pass through to cool down. By blocking it off, you're ensuring that you're maximizing the amount of air passing through your intercooler. There's a good reason why all of the engineers, including BMW covered up the horns and focused on the cooling of the core. Just something to consider.

That is definitely a valid point. I guess at this point it is time to mention the CONs of the project... once you stick the foam on, it stays on! So make sure it is right the first time! I mean you can peel it off but in this case, three other pieces are on top of each of the foam pieces, so yea lol.

Just a tip to the driver on the budget, this is a great way to divert air to it IC!

I hear yah and great job being resourceful. I used foam to seal the top of my M7 DFIC as well. Kinda like what you're doing here...just different intercooler.

We have a thread for this...you might even find similar installs (I didn't look)
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ification.html

I hit 68-74 C during autocross runs, thats 154F to 165F (ambient in the mid 70s)

so if your pushing it hard and only seeing 100F, that's awesome, cant wait for my bracket!

UPDATED!!! Thanks Evasive!!!
 

So I went ahead and with the suggestion from Evasive and I re-foamed the driver's side of the intercooler, take a look at the before and after:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36752113@N07/5801919175/http://www.flickr.com/photos/36752113@N07/5801919175/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/36752113@N07/, on Flickr


I also added a misting device; notice how I flipped the IC bracket so that I could use it to position the mister:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36752113@N07/5801868293/http://www.flickr.com/photos/36752113@N07/5801868293/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/36752113@N07/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36752113@N07/5801868747/http://www.flickr.com/photos/36752113@N07/5801868747/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/36752113@N07/, on Flickr

Here is the seal before the re-foam:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36752113@N07/5795263313/http://www.flickr.com/photos/36752113@N07/5795263313/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/36752113@N07/, on Flickr

This is after the re-foam:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36752113@N07/5801866743/http://www.flickr.com/photos/36752113@N07/5801866743/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/36752113@N07/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36752113@N07/5801867317/http://www.flickr.com/photos/36752113@N07/5801867317/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/36752113@N07/, on Flickr

Awesome job! What did you use for the mister?

I actually just got a set of 5 fog misters from home depot, 5.50 a bag. Not bad at all and it helps a lot!!

Telling everyone here, this method is awesome! It is way way way cheaper than a diverter and it works just as well as a normal diverter!!

Total cost:
1 bag of rubber foam: 7.90
(2 bags if you're like me and makes mistakes lol)
1 bag of fog mister heads: 5.50

= 13.40!!!!!!!!!!

Well done!

Is the mister hooked up yet? How does it actually work? Which tank is the water coming from and what triggers it?

Killer job so far!

Yea it's completely hooked up! Just like the others it's hooked up to the rear wiper water tube and the water is just from the wiper tank. So turning the rear wiper knob down activates the water. This mister is great too! It's a very fine mist, similar to the ones at theme park lines or on you patio or something. Works like a charm and decreases the temp faster !

Fantastic. Thanks Peirre. I'll need to try those misters on the patio too! Our summers get pretty dry and hot here :)

Hmm, so I was all stoked to try this, then checked under me bonnet. Turns out there is already foam around the underside of the scoop that seals to the top side of my stock diverter. Do you guys have this? IS IT SUPPOSED TO BE THERE?! DID SOMEONE BEAT ME TO IT?! If so that really bums me out. :sad: Thoughts?

Do you have a way of checking your IATs now with the stock setup? Because yes I did have the foam seal, but I feel it wasn't good enough. The foam the OEM version has is not as dense and is very thin. The weatherstrip is much thicker and denser, which helps out a lot more. I find that removing the diverter and just using the foam method I have here actually cools very very well. The other night I gunned it on the freeway (around 2am) and hit 16lbs of boost with an ambient temp. of 61F, my IAT was at 80F; only an 18F increase. People normally get +20F while cruising. Of course I did use my misting device too :thumbsup:

Which section in home depot did you find the misters at? I searched a couple of home depots and lowes and could not find the nozzles. I was pointed to a whole patio kit next to their register but no one seems to know which area the nozzles are :razz:

I just found them in the sprinkler/plumbing section...Can never trust people at home depot lol.

Try showing them this:
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...atalogId=10053

or this:
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...atalogId=10053