I bought the Alta Intercooler and 22mm swaybar today. Anyone purchased and installed either one of these parts yet? If so how do you like them?

 

Ahhh, good choices.....I have both actually for thousands of miles.....love both...the rear bar will make it rotate soooooo much more in turns, be ready for it, you can get it slidewayz, it's soooo awesome...intercooler is really nice piece, looks sick covering the entire lower grille

 

Does the intercooler really make a noticeable diffrence?

 

Your butt dyno will be very happy. It takes about 30-50 miles for the ECU to adjust but then hang on. With the 2009 JCW you should really benefit from the reduced restriction and cooler air inlet temps. It's a tight fit but works great!!!

 

Thanks Scott...I am going to remove the front bumper to repair some damage from a recent 3K mile trip I made...so I figure that would be a good time to install it.

 

yeah it made a difference in power without ecu tuning, but then especially with tuning.

 

I want to look for a tuner in my area...I have a really good guy who does my LS tuning but has no clue how to deal with a R56. I may make a post for a good guy in the Orlando area.

 

^good idea, there's supposed to be some real good tuning stuff comin out in the coming months...you will have to do some trimming of where the boost tubes hook up to the endtanks so you get a good solid connection...the first time I didn't trim enough so when I hit 20psi it blew the left tube off , so then I trimmed a little more, and bingo...good to go!.......oh, and the rear bar takes all of like 20min once you have the car in the air, and I'm on the middle setting.

 

Any concerns with cooling? Since the new intercooler covers a good chunk of the radiator?

 

I have been eyeing both these items plus a front sway bar. My concern is with warranty issues. I can't imagine the sway bars being an issue, but expect the intercooler might be an issue.

 

I can't see the intercooler being an issue..its not a mechanical part and can't really do any damage...I guess you never know. Alta has these on sale now for just a little over $400..if you call and ask for a code it will knock about $50 off the sale price..I was looking at this when it was almost $800.

 

I have had the car into the Mini dealer with no issues on warranty. They just had the nose of the car off last week and really liked it!

 

yeah a bigger intercooler would just make your car run safer, plus you're gonna have to give up some warranty stuff when you starting modding....and no engine cooling issues, the air still flows thru to radiator.

 

I dont mean to get technical on you... but how does the air "still flow through the radiator"?

Radiator's are all about pressure delta in front and behind. The reason air flows through the radiator is because the pressure in front is much greater than the pressure behind. However when you add an intercooler that covers 60+% of the radiator face, that 60% of the face now has a much smaller pressure delta (if any) and thus airflow is greatly reduced.

I've built two of my own turbocharged vehicles and each time the radiator experienced less flow than it did without the IC in front. Logging ECTs showed an increased. It was never a problem on the street, but if you ever decide to take the car on a track, it might be an issue. Just wondering if anyone has actually experienced it.

 

well I've never experienced any overheating issues and no one has posted bout that, so there's obviously sufficient amount of air, and I'm sure air still flows thru the radiator via the lower grille since air flows thru the intercooler which is directly in front of the radiator.

 

No concerns! I am running a Scangauge and the water temp runs about 218-225`F.

Actually, as an added BONUS!!, the AC fan immediately pulls the Air Inlet (AI) temperature down. It keeps you from heat soaking at the traffic lights. The Scangauge reveals these readings nicely.
http://www.scangauge.com

 

Is 218-225 normal? Seems a bit on the high side (but I guess that's to be expected on a small displacement turbo engine).

I typically like the car to run in the low 200's or 190's if possible (at least here in CA)

 

I live in Mystic, CT. The weather is already down into the teens in the morning. That is the temperature the car warms up to in the morning. That is also what temp the car runs in the summer.

I only have seen those lower temps you mentioned on my 2005 Golf TDI (DIESEL)

 

On the intercooler everything is pretty straight forward. You have to do a little hogging out of the holes on the radiator support for the tubes. With the Alta boost tube I had a hell of a time getting it on to the turbo and the intercooler. It was cold out and it didn't seem quite long enough to reach. After quite a bit of cussing and grunting I got her on. I had to trim quite a bit off the grill tabs to get the bumper back on, but you might not have that problem since you have M7 grilles. The swaybar isn't to bad either the directions that come with it are pretty good.

 

Well the intercooler is not solid...air still flows thru it. I have a Twin Turbo Vette with (2) intercoolers in fromt of the radiator and I have no change in running temps

 

DID you say FRONT sway bar???? humm... explain.... IMHO no need to upgrade that.....at least if u want better handling.....Now the REAR sway bar is a must!!