After very little thought, I went ahead and bought my intercooler. I did the install today (I do all my own labor) and I noticed after I got the OK (installed, left car jacked up and everything unbolted, engine ran like butter no indication of anything wrong) I bolted everything back up and rested it back on its wheels.

I noticed when I reinstalled the bumper and got everything screwed in it was a reaallly tight fit, I ended up not using 3 of the bottom push pin fasteners. So I started my car up to just make sure again that everything was good, no CEL's or rough engine. After 5 seconds (literally) I noticed a thin trail of very light smoke coming out of the front of my car. Is this normal for brand new intercoolers?

I know exhausts smell and smoke a bit when they're brand new, but I've never owned a car that had an intercooler so I'm not familiar with it.

And I do mean I had my car running for 5 seconds, not a second more when I noticed the smoke, so I don't believe I'm burning any plastic body parts (at least I hope not). Does anyone have an idea? Thanks

 

havent really heard of that, but it could of been a lot of things - a little tape/residue left on the intercooler itself, greasy hands on the down pipe, packing foam that found its way into the inlet.
the intercooler i cant imagine gets very hot if ambient temp doesnt go above 100* its not enough to really burn anything

 

I decided to throw in a fire extinguisher and take it for a ride. After a few miles I didn't notice any smoke coming out of the front or any kind of smell. So I'm assuming it was a sticker or some oil or something who knows.


Besides that, I am extremely happy with the purchase. Next time I would definitely pay a shop to install it though, it was a royal pita

 

Interesting, I found the IC install to be one of the easier DIY tasks on this car. All you really have to do is take the front bumper off (including front grill), unscrew the two torx screws holding the IC, loosen the hose clamps and then install the new IC. The hardest part for me was getting the hose clamps off the OEM IC, they were on pretty tight, but after that it was smooth sailing. What made the process a pita for you?

 

I had to remove my crash bar because I wasn't able to sneak in the forge. After I removed that and got the IC installed I completely forgot about the resonator delete I was also doing. After I finished that up I got everything reinstalled and noticed the crash bar wasn't lining up.


The intercoolers third mounting tab was in contact with my crash bar so I had to take a hacksaw to it and cut a part of it away (wasn't going to need that tab anyway). After that, being as frustrated and done with this DIY, I forgot to reconnect a couple lights before installing the bumper again.


So I had to undo the bumper again and reconnect the lights and add the bumper back in. So it was like 75% my fault for making it such a pain lol. Actually maybe more like 90% my fault.

 

Sorry you had such a frustrating time with what seems like a fairly straightforward process! I have the Helix gen 1 IC with no mounting tab and it fit barely under the crash bar. I hope you thrashed the car a little bit afterwards for giving you such a hard time.

 

Well it was the lower portion of the crash bar that gave me the biggest trouble, the upper portion alone wouldn't have been an issue. You better believe I beat the hell out of it! It was such a change too, it pulls so much harder now