Does changing the Intercooler on a 2005 wrx do anything? I have been thinking about it for awhile and can't decide if its worth anything. I was thinking about a bigger/thicker top mount. Anyone have any advise.

 

Heres my reccomendation but im a ra-tard.
Some questions. What are your plans for the future?
WHat are your current mods?
If you are planning to stick with the stock turbo and tune. No its not going to give you any boost in power.

If you plan on doing somthing as simple as a tune maybe some injectors and a fuel pump it may be worth it because as you push that tiny little hampster wheel tdo4 it will create more heat.

To answer your question does simply putting on a larger top mount do anything IMHO NO not neccessary unless you have plans to do somthing to warrant a larger top mount.

I would save the money and get a accessport even a v-1 used for cheap and get a tune.

Hope this helps, and not too many people disagree.

 

^ +2

 

I am running stage 2 AP, up and down pipe catless with a bosal cat back and a short ram intake. Will it help me with those mods?

 

Hrm. like I said you are spiining that turbo pretty fast so you may want to get an intercooler. The best thing to do to be sure you need one is ask your tuner how consistant your car was from pull to pull if the numbers stayed the same youre good.

If you got significantly lower numbers between pulls then you were suffering from heat soak in the intercooler and could use a larger one. I have a large top mount but pretty much got it for the looks, now I actually need it, and will need it more as I am moving to a 20g.

Cliff notes check with your tuner.

 

no need to put a bigger intercooler unless you put a bigger turbo..
it won't help your set up you have at all
probably would make it run too lean unless you have it tuned again

 

I have an 02 WRX and I upgraded the intercooler to an STI (04) intercooler. I'm still on the stock turbo, but running at 16.5 PSI. If you can find one used, I would consider it a cost-effective upgrade; I definitely think it allowed me to to push the tuning further with zero detonation. However, I have a shop tune, I would NOT recommend upgrading without a tune or relying on an Accessport/off-the-shelf tune.

 

I think the biggest problem with the TMIC's is the heat soak
issue.I always recommend getting a FMIC but,either way you will still need
to get dyno tuned.I found most of the time the tunes from Cobb Tuning
run quite rich but,even though the Cobb off-the-shelf tunes are safe.
A dyno tune with your Cobb AP is a great investment.