I was just surfing around on ebay and found several company's selling larger than stock "high capacity" intercoolers for the R53 minis. There are several on ebay from different companies...most are around $100 or so.

Anyone seen these? Any benefit to running one of these?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Top-Mount-PRO-Intercooler-FOR-BMW-MINI-Cooper-S-R53-02-06-HIGH-PERFORMANCE-BLACK-/231654068985?hash=item35efa892f9&vxp=mtr

 

Got me curious about them with that price if they'd be a bonus over stock being larger profile.

 

The only problem that I see is that the stock divertor that goes on top of the IC to direct the incoming air over the cooling fins, isn't going to get air over the larger section of that new larger IC.

I would think that you would need to fabricate a new divertor to put on that larger IC.

 

For only a C-note it might be amusing to test it out. As it stands the GP intercooler is still the best; I wouldn't expect that to change.

 

The one other thing that might be bad about these larger intercoolers is that for normal driving around town...when you are sitting at a light, the larger IC is going to heat up and "heat soak" a lot faster than the smaller stock IC.

.......just something to think about.

 

well heres what I think:


Larger intercooler requires more air to fill, unlike turbos, we only boost so much air, so this will create a bit of lag. can you feel that? prolly not. I would imagine the same lines as a GP cooler


there will also be a greater pressure drop, since im sure its not the same quality as the OEM and the GP intercooler, more pressure drop in this case, less power


on a track im sure it would help over the stock intercooler with proper sealing. on the street I don't think it would help. it does have the benefit of being larger, therefor physics say its harder to heat soak, but its also harder to remove that

 

Purchased one since no one else has answers to rather an R53 Ebay intercooler is worth a shot.

Long story short:
- its a tight fit therefore a pain to get the boots on.
- bolts up fine (requires removing the hood scoop duct)
- the inlet/outlet didn't match up (too small = boost leak at the boots)

The same black intercooler pictured in the original post but branded "ASI"
... working out the return while exploring other options to resolve the design flaw.

Already tried sleeving the inlet/outlet to provide a better fit but overall its hard to know if all this work is really worth the effort since no performance data has been recorded and the smaller than stock inlet/outlet could mean bad flow due to turbulence since air will be deflected off the edge. A larger than stock inlet/outlet would have ensured a good seal and flow.

All this yet I have no idea if the intercooler itself is leaking yet.
I wasn't going to bother trying to test it due to the awkward inlet/outlet shape making it very difficult. Fitment was the first concern...

Will chime in on rather I was able to fit or return it... if it doesn't slip my mind.

 

Well that stinks that you had to find out the hard way that they are junk......I guess there is a reason(s) why they are so cheap

 

I was really hoping someone would get a good one in hopes it would be a benefit to some people

 

Don't. We haven't tested this one, but ones very similar. They act as a great heat sink with a slow recovery rate, meaning, in most circumstances, you'll get worse performance from them than stock.

 

Ended up getting a FORGE top mount for my R53.
Hope my experience answered some questions.
- that was my goal when buying and testing the ebay intercooler.
(I too was unable to find any info on them)

The ebay intercooler quality is complete garbage in comparison.
(size, craftsmanship, fitment, finish, etc.)
Was refunded...

FORGE was worth every penny!!!
(GP would be nice if they weren't so expensive)

 

Are you saying that larger than stock aftermarket IC will get heat soaked if they are driven normally around town?

 

As long as the car is moving and air is flowing across the IC you are good. But when you stop.....now that larger surface area of that big IC that did such a great job of transferring the heat of the intake charge to the air flowing through it......is now doing a great job of soaking up all of that under the hood engine heat with its larger surface area.
In other words.....if you are racing, a bigger IC is probably a great idea. If you are stuck in slow traffic and at stop lights in city traffic most of the time.....its probably a bad idea.

 

This is perfect. I have one of these eBay coolers. But I live in the country, my daily drive consists of stopping at the end of my driveway and stopping in the parking lot at work. Nowhere in between really. I can feel a difference for the better. Now when I go into a bigger town or city, I can feel a decrease in performance. Once it heat soaks it takes longer to get cold again. And the small spurts of stop and go traffic it doesn't get time to cool off. So in the city I get worse performance than the stock cooler.

You will have to make a diverter as well. No one sells one that will fit properly. The gp diverter doesn't fit these either. I haven't made one yet, this may help city driving a small amount but I doubt it will be noticeable

If you live in the country with no stop and go traffic it's fine, which is 90 percent of where I drive my car.

If you live in the city stick with the factory cooler, it performs better in that location.

 

These last 3 posts are why the G.P.I.C.is so desirable, because of its construction and materials, while being larger in size for moving air flow, it didn't suffer as bad from heat soak during slow or stop-n-go driving and had a really quick recovery rate.

 

That may be true but I got this one for $60, the gp goes for around $1k. The performance increase and trade off for me was acceptable for where I live for the massive price difference.

 

Absolutely, depending on your actual need, they were only a "ok" value when they were still being made.

 

anyone have a picture of the inlet side of these? Wondering if the rows are ramped for better flow or just squared off

 

They are squared off like most aftermarket bar and plate coolers. Remember that size can matter with intercoolers, but it's not by any means the whole story. The stock coolers for the R53 is a sweet little piece. It is very efficient (lower pressure drop than any aftermarket cooler we've tested, our own prototypes included), has decent temperature drop (again, in the aggregate of multiple test conditions, better than the aftermarket coolers that we've tested) and a significantly better recovery rate.

The best cooler you can get for an R53--and this is coming from a company that sells aftermarket intercoolers--is the factory JCW GP intercooler. Second best: stock.

 

I can agree with about 99% of that. I'd much rather have a GP cooler, but wasn't gonna shell out that much cash.

But for the type of driving I do in my car and where I live I do see a benefit from my eBay cooler. Now most people don't live out in the country with long stretches of backroad and no stop lights, I do lol.

Any kind of city driving stop and go though and you lose all the benefits of the bigger cooler and actually have worse performance than the stock r53 unit.

That's why I am keeping my stocker, if I ever have to do any extended stays in a bigger city I'll swap it back on.

And to whoever asked no they are not rounded. But are rather thick so if you have a tiny dremel bit you could "port" the ones you could reach I guess.

 

OK perhaps I had too much caffeine but I got thinking:

1.) The OEM GP IC is over $1,000 if you can find one.
2.) Any aftermarket that even comes close to the OEM GP is like $500.
3.) You buy an ebay special for like $90. You then get a couple OEM S ICs from a recycle yard. You cut the ebay special and remove the fin areas and do the same with the OEM along with cutting one in half length wise, or there about. You then weld the OEM fin sections to the ebay horn flares.

 

You can buy used OEM S ICs for around $60.

 

Unless you have a nice Tig welder laying around, and the skills to use it........it's not that easy to just put apart an IC and built a new one out of it.

And for the majority of the people out there......the stock S IC isn't really holding them back.

 

There are allot of talented folks out there and I am wondering whether a mechanical connection with a gasket could work. I am already past putting the thing together in my head and thinking on how to modify the plastic trim to cover it up. Then there is the hood deflector and how it would interact.

 

If you are going to go to all of that trouble...why not just do a front mounted intercooler? Much more efficient since it's not setting right on top of your 200 degree motor.....