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I fitted my intercooler ages ago, but i've had the front off the car to rejig some of the pipework, so i thaught it would be a good time to document the fitment, and show you what you need to fit this cooler.
Ebay is awash with intercoolers, the 8L guys all love the "Wellycooler", a nickname given to the 600x300x75mm universal intercooler commonly found on ebay. Unfortunately, that cooler doesnt fit in the front of a B5 particularly well, so i've used a smaller 550x230x65mm cooler instead. This goes in much easier, and is still a good amount larger than the A4 Specific intercooler kits found on ebay.
My car has an S4 front bumper fitted. I dont know what the clearances are like with the standard A4 bumper, but i plan to copy this cooler for my track car and will update the thread with info on the fitment once i've done it.
So first off, physically mounting the cooler. I installed a piece of angle iron to the top of the core, then made two dog leg brackets to pickup on the mounting tabs for the AC condenser. This approach will work with or without AC, you'll just get a bit more clearance without it and make the brackets to suit. At the bottom i bolted a piece of flat bar to the two intercooler studs, then made a L shaped bracket which picks up on the small mounting bolt on the crossmember that used to hold the PAS cooler, and bolted this to the flat bar, to stabilise the bottom edge of the cooler.
Now for the pipework. I have a custom turbocharger, so my "hot" side pipework will probably need a bit of adjustment to fit whatever you've got, again i'll update the thread once i know what differences are needed on my track car. The "cold" side should be the same for anyone.
I'll start with the cold side, at the engine, and work backwards.
I've got a straight 63mm silicone onto the throttle body, leading into a 45degree alloy bend:
This then goes into a 90degree silicone (this ones a 57-63, but if i were doing it again i'd just buy a 63mm one and stick with 63mm all the way to the cooler on this side):
Then needs to make its way to the intercooler itself, you could use an alloy 90, but that would stick out the grille. instead i'm going to cut/shut a pair of 45's like this, and weld them together and to the intercooler. (Again these are 57mm, but if i were doing it again, i'd use 63mm, mainly becuase that 57 to 63 silicone hose was hard to find and expensive!):
The early angled inwads part keeps it away from the grille. You might get away with using a 45degree silicone bend, rather than cutting and welding, but its all very close to the bumper grille. Perhaps without AC the 45degree silicone would work fine due to the extra clearance. I've opted for the welded approach, as the hard pipe is smaller than the silicone hose and thus gives more clearance.
Now over to the other side. I'd originally used a 45degree silicone hose off the cooler here, but it was rubbing on the bumper grille even after i'd ground away almost all the plastic! Thus switching to the alloy pipe for more clearance.
A bit of trimming on the alloy 45 and careful positioning to avoid the AC hoses is required, then again it'll be welded to the core. I've stuck with a 57mm alloy bend here to match the existing pipework i had. For big power you might want to go 63mm. After that, i've got a 90degree, a coupler with takeoff for DV and boost, and another 90degree up onto the turbo. These parts are specific to my K300 hybrid, but once i find out what fits here with a stock turbo i'll add it to the post.
So to summarise my install:
1x 550x230x65 Intercooler
Cold side pipework:
1x 63mm straight silicone hose
3x 63mm 45 degree alloy bends
1x 63mm 90 degree silicone hose
hot side pipework (this being specific to my K300 turbo with K04-020 compressor housing):
1x 57mm 45 degree alloy bend
1x 57 to 54mm reducing 90degree silicone hose
1x 54mm alloy coupler, with takeoff for DV and boost feed to N75 welded in.
1x 54mm 90degree silicone hose.
You can ofcourse use a variation of this as you see fit. For big power (>300hp) i'd advise to use as much 63mm pipe as possible. The intercooler hose connections are only 57mm, however i'd still stay as large as possible despite this. If you really wanted maximum flow, you could very carefully cut out the 57mm end fitting, and weld the 63mm pipe directly into the end tank. I've used 57mm in places in part because thats what was there before, and in part because i bought it before i'd mocked it up and realised i should have used more 63mm.
Hope this helps!
Ebay is awash with intercoolers, the 8L guys all love the "Wellycooler", a nickname given to the 600x300x75mm universal intercooler commonly found on ebay. Unfortunately, that cooler doesnt fit in the front of a B5 particularly well, so i've used a smaller 550x230x65mm cooler instead. This goes in much easier, and is still a good amount larger than the A4 Specific intercooler kits found on ebay.
My car has an S4 front bumper fitted. I dont know what the clearances are like with the standard A4 bumper, but i plan to copy this cooler for my track car and will update the thread with info on the fitment once i've done it.
So first off, physically mounting the cooler. I installed a piece of angle iron to the top of the core, then made two dog leg brackets to pickup on the mounting tabs for the AC condenser. This approach will work with or without AC, you'll just get a bit more clearance without it and make the brackets to suit. At the bottom i bolted a piece of flat bar to the two intercooler studs, then made a L shaped bracket which picks up on the small mounting bolt on the crossmember that used to hold the PAS cooler, and bolted this to the flat bar, to stabilise the bottom edge of the cooler.
Now for the pipework. I have a custom turbocharger, so my "hot" side pipework will probably need a bit of adjustment to fit whatever you've got, again i'll update the thread once i know what differences are needed on my track car. The "cold" side should be the same for anyone.
I'll start with the cold side, at the engine, and work backwards.
I've got a straight 63mm silicone onto the throttle body, leading into a 45degree alloy bend:
This then goes into a 90degree silicone (this ones a 57-63, but if i were doing it again i'd just buy a 63mm one and stick with 63mm all the way to the cooler on this side):
Then needs to make its way to the intercooler itself, you could use an alloy 90, but that would stick out the grille. instead i'm going to cut/shut a pair of 45's like this, and weld them together and to the intercooler. (Again these are 57mm, but if i were doing it again, i'd use 63mm, mainly becuase that 57 to 63 silicone hose was hard to find and expensive!):
The early angled inwads part keeps it away from the grille. You might get away with using a 45degree silicone bend, rather than cutting and welding, but its all very close to the bumper grille. Perhaps without AC the 45degree silicone would work fine due to the extra clearance. I've opted for the welded approach, as the hard pipe is smaller than the silicone hose and thus gives more clearance.
Now over to the other side. I'd originally used a 45degree silicone hose off the cooler here, but it was rubbing on the bumper grille even after i'd ground away almost all the plastic! Thus switching to the alloy pipe for more clearance.
A bit of trimming on the alloy 45 and careful positioning to avoid the AC hoses is required, then again it'll be welded to the core. I've stuck with a 57mm alloy bend here to match the existing pipework i had. For big power you might want to go 63mm. After that, i've got a 90degree, a coupler with takeoff for DV and boost, and another 90degree up onto the turbo. These parts are specific to my K300 hybrid, but once i find out what fits here with a stock turbo i'll add it to the post.
So to summarise my install:
1x 550x230x65 Intercooler
Cold side pipework:
1x 63mm straight silicone hose
3x 63mm 45 degree alloy bends
1x 63mm 90 degree silicone hose
hot side pipework (this being specific to my K300 turbo with K04-020 compressor housing):
1x 57mm 45 degree alloy bend
1x 57 to 54mm reducing 90degree silicone hose
1x 54mm alloy coupler, with takeoff for DV and boost feed to N75 welded in.
1x 54mm 90degree silicone hose.
You can ofcourse use a variation of this as you see fit. For big power (>300hp) i'd advise to use as much 63mm pipe as possible. The intercooler hose connections are only 57mm, however i'd still stay as large as possible despite this. If you really wanted maximum flow, you could very carefully cut out the 57mm end fitting, and weld the 63mm pipe directly into the end tank. I've used 57mm in places in part because thats what was there before, and in part because i bought it before i'd mocked it up and realised i should have used more 63mm.
Hope this helps!
