Here is a nice little read. http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=665379 Mentioned in the article is HP autowerks. My dad has dealt with Harold personally with is 350+ whp/450tq 335I. Good guy/ shop to work with. I'd give him a call and get his opinion on Wagner.

I'm interested in an FMIC, so seeing this thread is perking my interest on a less expensive option. I'll post any findings as i come across them.

 

Harold is a good guy and definitely a track junkie (mean that in a good way), so if he feels Wagner is worth it, then OP should consider it. I'm happy with my Forge and that's what I'm sticking with.

 

That is why I opened the tread Thanks Laforze, I ll await your next posts.
Im sure I ll be happy with the Forge if it was at $600

 

If Forge was $600, don't you think everyone else would get it too? I think you keep wishing for something to materialize for you. You can always shoot Harold@HP Autowerks an email to get your "It's great" comment on the Wagner...harold@hpautowerks.com

His E90 335i is badass.

 

$648

http://www.namotorsports.net/Forge-M...umber=FMINTR56

 

No problem. Read the posts on that link i gave you. It gets pretty heated at times...

 

I do my research as well, but dont waste money where its not beneficial... I use non mini specific vendor brands when i can, or even no name brands.. I have a custom magnaflow (paid 350 vs 700+ for vendor brands), aem intake filter on an alta housing (because of non oiled filter not because of price but it was $50 cheaper than a vendor filter), eibach rsb (paid $90 vs 200+ at the time), gt spec strut bar ($125 vs $300 at the time), DIY noisemaker delete ($5 vs $25 from a vendor)

Brand name items I paid full price for is Mach v springs, bilstein struts, aquarist hfs-3, escort 8500 x50, blinder m-27, etc small bits.

Used.. I got my helix fmic for $400, boost gauge, pod, and pressure fitting for $50, the other gauge pod for $10, jcw rear bumper painted oem for $150, front jcw grill for $20, front jcw bumper for an upgrade of $80 after a lady rolled back into me.

No. Second guessing here and done my homework... Glad I've saved my money where I have. Just gotta wait for the right deals! But who doesn't like saving money? :-p

I try new things that aren't advertised either... I was among the first to put in an aftermarket head unt into the car, in the secret compartment, and later rewired it to the center console, while maintaining all functionality of oem speedos, made an auto on sport button mod way before the vendors stole it... And now I have a solution to the 22psi boost cut issue from the rmw and alta tunes people run... But I'm not announcing it as vendors will steal that too. Now I have to face 20 PM's asking how i solved it. Lol

 

Price aside for a minute, the Forge FMIC is 40 pounds, Wagner is 27 pounds, Helix 22 pounds and Alta is 12.
if they all claim to do the job, people do buy those IC and are happy, wouldn't the ALTA (lets not say we need to trim anything) Fmic be a better choice since its lighter ?

 

GTECKO, i have alta which i bought because it was the cheapest at the time for me and is fine. i say go with what ever is cheapest and let us know. other parts may cost more but whos to know how much more of that is just mark up?

 

this is spot on

 

I'd buy it if I wasn't already running a $98 eBay fmic with no problems whatsoever on my second car. *secret*

 

Ive looked a a lot of photo,helix,forge and wagner are all base same design. I want a black version,I may actually go with it ... Wagner is a big name in Europe, they have done a lot for Audi, BMW and even Porsche.
for a 2009, would it be Prefacelift or facelift version ?

 

Should be pre...

and just jump on it, like I said there will always be haters. I would have had gotten it by now, especially at that price.

 

It's actually better for an intercooler to have more mass
But in the correct areas.

 

They may have a similar shape but neither of them are nearly the same as the Helix. Custom bullnose hedder extrusions are not cheap and neither are custom cores with specific fin densities. To build a single custom stepped core, we had to construct a complex fixture. That cost money. This fixture allowed us to include the bullnose hedders. The bullnose hedders are key to minimum pressure drop and ambient air flow through the core.

 

Can you elaborate more on this bullnose stuff?

 

I'm on my phone with 1 bar of reception. I'll try to
Post more info later. For now a bullnose is a rounded end plate the Helix developed for the chargerows in an intercooler core. Essentially it acts like a bellmouth or velocity stack that induces airflow. The result is less pressure drop as oppose to typical flat hedder bars or worse yet protruding bars associated with tube/fin intercoolers. It will allow the turbo to spin at a lower RPM to produce the same target boost. Slower turbo RPM = lower air temps, quicker response, and more HP. I'm sure Forged and Wagner will eventually copy this feature as well.

 

I did notice that Wagner is basically 2 cores welded together.

Are your cores considered bar and plate?

 

Our cores are indeed bar and plate. We custom spec the heights of the charge rows and the fin densities.

 

I totally need to stop by your shop at the end of the month when I visit a friend in Conshy.

 

It does look like it is 2 cores, here are some graph from the thread Czar posted above.

 

You opened up a thread hoping all the educated members here would agree with you

Again - expensive car - cheap knockoff FMIC

 

I like this part from that thread.

Wagner: "Like I said before we don't waste too much time, effort or money creating data (that can easily be called false as created by ourselves rather than a third party) when real world dyno figures and performance times are what count in our opinion.

We use proven cores from trusted suppliers, tried and tested design methods using the latest CAD and FEM software to prove the concept.

We are new to the Mini market and to be open with you all the Wagner Tuning name is still small in the UK, but we are confident our product is good and this will be realised in time."

Helix being the trusted providers of proven concepts and tested designs. Why waste time and money when you can copy. Hell they copied a copy. Anyone see that bad Michael Keaton movie multiplicity? Like the xerox of intercooler manf.

 

They provided snap shots of a cfd model that pertains to flow there is alot of stalled air in those endtanks. Sheet metal is generally smooth vs a rough cast end tank. That means that a rough surface with more surface area can accept/dissipate more heat than a smooth surface but it will also provide more friction and resistance to flow. That is more or less the opposite of what Wagner is claiming.

 

i sell the FRONT AMOUNT INTERCOOLER FOR BMW MINI COOPER S R56 R57 on ebay.

Maybe i can help u,ebay store is http://www.ebay.com/itm/FRONT-AMOUNT...item20c8be1db0