Thread: 2.0 TDI Front Mount Intercooler

Hi folks,
I have a an A3 TDI 140 PD and I'm thinking about getting an FMIC kit. I've seen shops advertising up to 30kw gains over the standard IC. I've heard though, that the standard IC is plenty good enough to remove the heat fom the standard turbo, and therefor you won't see any gains from a bigger IC.

Surely the greater heat reduction from a bigger IC will result in cooler air in the inlet manifold and more power ? or would this only be noticable after a remap?

do Diesel turbo/IC systems work any different from Petrol? (sorry if that's a dumb question)

Thanks!
Adam

Originally Posted by heyadamhey

Hi folks,
I have a an A3 TDI 140 PD and I'm thinking about getting an FMIC kit. I've seen shops advertising up to 30kw gains over the standard IC. I've heard though, that the standard IC is plenty good enough to remove the heat fom the standard turbo, and therefor you won't see any gains from a bigger IC.

Surely the greater heat reduction from a bigger IC will result in cooler air in the inlet manifold and more power ? or would this only be noticable after a remap?

do Diesel turbo/IC systems work any different from Petrol? (sorry if that's a dumb question)

Thanks!
Adam

The standard intercooler is fairly good, so good infact that i still haven`t replaced it on my car yet. Replacing it with an S3 intercooler is a fairly major job and you will see very little if any gains on a remapped car and basically nothing on a stock car. If you haven`t even remapped your car yet why are you even thinking about fitting an uprated intercooler for?

devon mikey boy
a quick q ? for you. have you done an egr delete on your car ??

the reason I was gonna do the FMIC first, was that I figured the re-map would be mroe effective with the FMIC in place.
so you reckon these guys claiming huge gains on bigger intercoolers are blowing hot air (excuse the pun )

Originally Posted by hollow

devon mikey boy
a quick q ? for you. have you done an egr delete on your car ??

Yes.

Originally Posted by heyadamhey

the reason I was gonna do the FMIC first, was that I figured the re-map would be mroe effective with the FMIC in place.
so you reckon these guys claiming huge gains on bigger intercoolers are blowing hot air (excuse the pun )

There are gains to having a larger FMIC fitted but you will not really notice them untill you start to really push the engine and start fitting hybrid turbos etc. On my new rebuild i am having an S3 FMIC fitted plus a forge twintercooler. I am only fitting the twintercooler as i managed to buy it cheap secondhand as what Forge charge is a bloody joke and a complete rip off for a new one.

I have another question regarding the S3 intercooler on diesel: how will the engine function during cold time?
I have the OEM one and during winter the engine barely reaches optimum working temperature. I'm thinking that with a bigger, front mounted intercoolet it will heat even slower. Won't this damage te engine?

check the Forge prices , they have dropped .... a lot

thanks devonmikeyboy, so you don't think fitting a FMIC prior to a remap would enable the remap to get a better result?
i.e. push the boost up a bit more or something
(sorry - I don't know the extent to which you can tune with a remap)

If your having just a remap the stock FMIC is plenty large enough to cope unless maybe you drive in a very hot country. As i stated earlier i am still using just the stock FMIC so i shouldn`t waste your money plus it`s a ***** of a job ( full front of the car off job ) to change.

Cheers mate. I live in South Africa, so it's often 30+ deg C

I guess I was mitstakenly thinking a larger IC would have the same kind of effect as a cold air induction kit on a naturally aspirated car i.e. the colder the air going into the engine, the denser it will be therefor the more fuel you can add to it.

(edit)

I suppose, if the standard IC can cool the charge to ambient temperature, a bigger one is still only gonna be able to cool it to the same ambient temp. Therefor a bigger IC is only gonna make a difference if the charge air is hotter i.e. from a bigger turbo.