For anyone looking at an aftermarket intercooler for their R53, there is a cheap GP Intercooler alternative. The Nissens GP intercooler 961604 is a pattern part made as a replacement for the GP Intercooler and we all know how good those were with quick recovery times. I saw some early pictures and the quality didn’t look great however Nissens have now upped their game so I’ve done a desktop Side-by-Side Comparison for you to make up your own mind up:

 

Picked up today from a store and I was really dissapointed in quality. Just look at this photo. There are pieces of metal left over after cutting process. Doesn't look normal to me. What's your opinion on this? Seems like you have the same issue

 

Wow , i would definetely not be happy about that also . If it was me.i would not instal that as you do not want to risk those flakes and bits of metal to get sucked into combustion chambers.

Did you purchase it from a reputable dealer or ebay?

Too bad as this seemed to be a promising and decent option for members who wanted to upgrade their intercooler to something close to the gp intercooler .

 

My friend who is an engineer and has done a lot of work for car manufactures took a look at mine and your pictures, "it isn't clean but I suggest that they are all attached". Obviously its down to personal preference but I am happy to his word for it.

 

The one I got from WMW looks a lot better than this inside. Next time it's off, I'll snap a pic, if I remember. Hoping it works as good as the original GP intercooler.

 

 

Log of a WOT up to 5600 or so rpm in 2nd gear.

The white line is the IAT. Red is RPM, green is throttle opening. The time to settle back down to where the temperature was at the beginning of the WOT is only about 30% longer than it took to spike up during the WOT. Seems that the GP clone intercooler works decently....