COMPLETED Project: Intercooler upgrade

[320de46m47]

Bought this off Ebay here . (Top right). It cost £67 + postage £27. Clearly it will fit in width and height. Depth may be an issue as it's 76cm as opposed to 60cm (Allard)..I will need 2 short right angled pipes


diagram of pipework





[/quote]

....3 months later finally past the thinking stage ....I'll see how the car likes living with this slightly more restricted airflow for a while before repositioning the old fan currently upfront to its new home behind the rad. Trimmed the new cowling which originally had the same perimeter profile as the cowling behind the rad with a jigsaw to fit snuggly one inside the other ... then bolted them together like this



took the old fan and pwm controller unit off its old front mounted frame and mounted it in the new adapted cowling (used some more bolts with spring washers to secure very firmly) behind the rad. im gonna run it like this for a week or two to make sure it doesnt overheat vibrate etc. was a bit worried it would vibrate too much as the old fan frame is actually cushioned with rubber grommets where its bolted to the car. but it runs smooth vibration free as before & aircon no change there either so looking good touch wood





old intercooler

new fabricated bracket painted black

old intercooler out

rubber tubes

alloy extentions

silicone bends

there she is

left side pipework

sliced brake duct left side

brake duct back in place

same from the front

right side with spliced brake duct ...forms part of the plastic structure and rigidity of the wheel arch so cannot be removed completely

a side view

top mounting

undertray back on

bumper back on

from above

finished

and back home again

[drz]

Wow -- very nice work. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[320de46m47]

Thanks!!!
So now I need misters .... these provide a more complete coverage imo and use less water. the surface only needs to be wet not dripping i think. These make a nice wet circle about 40cm in diameter when sprayed from a distance of approximately 15 cm ...im gonna get another one (so one either side) then a headlight washer motor some tubing and a reduction pipe and i think im sorted
this cost 4 euros (6 dollars) garden seedling mister


ill use just the nozzle ... really a beautiful fine mist enough to wet the entire intercooler with a two second press. if you spray it on your face youre wet but not dripping. very refreshing!

[drz]

I'm curious to know more about your car. What other mods do you have on it? It's a 2.0 4-cyl diesel, right?

[320de46m47]

Yes, it's a 2.0 4 cylinder diesel auto

most notable mods I've done/I'm doing are...

M Tech tri colour stiched steering wheel with paddleshift linked to steptronic
CCF angel eyes
Modified MAF (drilled)
oem M3 autofold mirrors with armrest switch (in progress)
Siemens BIT II phone installation (in progress)

also many other little ones ....

[Razvan330d]

Sorry to revive the old thread, i just found it out via google while searching for mods for my 330d. Any updates on your upgrades ? What kind of gains did you notice after changing the intercooler ?

Thank you,
Razvan.

[320de46m47]

no worries. the advantages are fourfold..
1. marginally better fuel consumption
2. lower stress on engine due to reduced thermal load
3. better performance due to a denser charge of air and O2 . I haven't measured this though.
4. more scope to increase boost (and performance ) because of ^
i.e an increase in boost will increase the speed of the turbocharger, but the air temperature rises rapidly offsetting any advantage . iow compressor runs outside its speed vs boost efficiency envelope.
i haven't checked anything on a rr but it is much improved and i have yet to get it remapped so advantage 4 as yet unexplored

see here

Allard Turbo Sport

[Razvan330d]

Thank you for the reply.

I am planning on changing the intercooler, remapping and then testing on the dyno, i'm hoping for 220+ HP flywheel from the stock 184. Sounds reasonable ?

[320de46m47]

Originally Posted by Razvan330d

Thank you for the reply.

I am planning on changing the intercooler, remapping and then testing on the dyno, i'm hoping for 220+ HP flywheel from the stock 184. Sounds reasonable ?

sounds about right

[Razvan330d]

Back with a question: any chance of keeping the AC fan in front of the intercooler ? My 6 cylinder engine is not leaving any room under the hood. Or, have you tried running without the fan and see how it does ? (there is a second fan behind the radiators anyway, from the engine cooling system).

Thank you,
Razvan.

[320de46m47]

you could replace oem pusher with a couple of spals or similar as pushers. no room for original and dangerous to cut cross member. spal fan would be less sophisticated in terms of activation as it would not be pwm controlled or linked to the dde/dme ...like this

[Razvan330d]

I've thought about that, but i don't know if the CFM provided by two small fans is worth the effort; i will make it work somehow in the end, i was just hoping for some engineering shortcuts .

By the way, did you notice any extra turbo lag with the new intercooler ? I'm thinking the added volume needs a bit more time to aquire pressure, hopefully it's not too frustrating.

[320de46m47]

lag reduced as it has better flow characteristics (less corners to turn)!

[skang2535]

thats a really clean job! looking good