Why are the larger intercoolers, stepped or otherwise, for the R56 so expensive? Much more expensive than most other intercoolers. I've been looking at Forge and Helix and they are very nice and the Alta, although cheaper is still expensive. I mean, I see the difference in the angles of the inlet and outlet ports, but otherwise it's just an intercooler, right. What gives?

 

What intercoolers are you looking at? Most upgraded intercoolers I'm aware of in the euro world cost between $700 and $1100.

 

I wish I had the extra cash to buy ALTA's this past week. They had a crazy good deal at 17% off. Hopefully they'll have more deals like that in the spring.

 

Any intercooler is only as good as, the cores ability to cool, provide a quick recovery rate, having done the job of removing unwanted heat, and provide the least amount of pressure loss.

Having said that, once you have chosen your intercooler, you need to make sure the air hitting the front area of the car, is guided through the intercoolers fins, as air will always each and every time, take the path of least resistance!

 

There aren't that many intercoolers that are better than the stock intercooler. The GP intercooler comes to mind; there are a few others. Make sure you see some objective data from an unbiased source before going down the intercooler route, and make sure you're getting one for the right reasons--otherwise it's going to be a waste of cash.

 

Intercooler "upgrades" are a HORRIBLE bang-for-the-buck. Will they improve performance? Yes. But the dollar-to-gain ratio is off-the-charts stupid.

 

I have not done much intercooler shopping yet as that is a ways down on my mod list, but I was under the impression that the stock intercooler for the 2007+ MCS was nothing special. It is pretty puny...

 

This is a 2nd gen MINI thread, not a 1st gen..

 

An intercooler without a tune will make a difference, but the ECU will only adjust to a certain percent. If one gets a tune then the stock intercooler then becomes a limiting factor and an intercooler upgrade would then make more sense.

 

What Davidoyo said!

I have the Helix and love their quality. Plus they are American made.

 

I would think that selling these IC's at $500 would be much more profitable for these companies. I mean, $700+ for a tiny IC is a bit on the rediculous side. Euro or not...

 

1.) Buy an AC/DC square wave TIG welder.

2.) learn to weld aluminium

3.) source an appropriate sized core

4.) spend hours and hours designing, mocking up, and fabricating endtanks, and mounting options.

5.) weld aluminium end tanks to core, ensuring no leaks or warping.

6.) test design on a flow bench to determine if it actually is better.

7.) invest your money into stock of cores, and aluminium stock.

8.) spend your time and money on dyno and real world testing.

9.) advertise


All that for the possibility of selling maybe 200 ever?

That's why they are so expensive... In other words, There really isn't any economy of scale like with Honda intercoolers. Your potential customer base is pretty small.

 

What's so tiny about this???

 

I am trying to figure out my next performance mod. It is either going to be a Intercooler and Tune or CatBack and Tune.

 

A catback exhaust and tune will not unlock as much hp gain in comparison to a good intercooler and tune.

The restriction in the exhaust is the downpipe from the turbo, this is where you will benefit most gain hp, when replacing with a high performance cat or catless downpipe!