My friend and I were bored on Saturday and decided to put his aftermarket intercooler on my 05 wrx. This must be 2 or 3 times bigger than the stock intercooler. I don't notice a difference. Are there any negative effects (or positive) that I should be concerned about? Thanks

 

other than the fact that you just made a worthwhile investment towards a healthier engine?

 

From what I understand you will only benefit from a aftermarket
intercooler.I know your engine temps will go down and allow you
to make more power.Most people have told me that a intercooler
upgrade isn't necssary unless you have a turbo upgrade but, you
will still benefit from it even with the stock turbo.

 

Im sure subaru put a good sufficiant intercooler on as is, so unless your ready to make serious power i dont see why its necessary. But its cool to mess around if you have the chance.

 

If you are thinking about a bigger intercooler on the stock turbo, you should have a catless exhaust and custom tune.

A bigger IC on the stock turbo (WITH tune and exhuast!) will be an awesome street setup! It will spool faster and boost harder when tuned right.

I have this setup and its great. 16-18lbs of boost comes on quick and holds through out most of the rev range



This was with 55K miles, up, TBE w/high flow cat, silicone IC hoses, TurboXS TMIC and custom ecutek by Mike @ gruppe-s on 91 octane. I believe this is about 10-15 hp/tq short of a stock sti

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How long were you on it for in this pic? EGT's look kind of low. You might be able to lean out some of those ponies for bigger gains.

 

Not very long...I was trying to take a pic that shows the most boost at the lowest rpm. This was 4th gear.

You're right about leaving some hp on the table...my car wasnt running so great when I brought it in to get tuned. Mike didnt want to do any thing "too crazy" so he left me with a more conservative tune. It still kicks butt though! EGT's get the hottest ~ 1600, after flooring it on the freeway during top speed runs.

I want to have it retuned but I will just wait and save my money for a vf22, pinks and fuel pump. Then have some real gains

 

Great numbers man!
Looks just shy of what a STI is making.