Intercooler for sure. Welcome aboard! You'll never be alone when your in this community, there are alway people ready to bend over backwards to help in any situation, car related or other.


-Bobby

 

Yeah, that looks like it was cut for an intercooler. Especially if it was done on both sides. I see no other reason to cut that area out. It also looks like the bumper has been trimmed (hard for me to tell for sure. I can almost guarantee this thing had a front mount on it at one point. I would do a compression test, don't worry about a leak down unless you have a problem with the compression. It's very easy to do and the tester is not very expensive.

Some things to look for that could indicate the car was boosted:
-Non factory routed vacuum lines, compare to pics of stock bays.
-Spliced injectors wires, most will require new clips to be spliced in.
-Colder then stock plugs, you should check these when you do the compression test.
-No exhaust manifold heat shield
-Tapped and plugged hole in oil pan.

 

I bet you are!

 

VERY FUNNY!!!

 

I called the dealer from whom I purchased the car and they more or less "admitted" that it had at one point been boosted. They're holding their cards fairly close - can't blame them there...

Anyhoo, I'll follow up with compression check, changing out the rear diff fluid, getting the correct temp plugs, etc.

Have a great weekend everyone -be safe

 

I live around the intersection of 29/32 in Columbia, work in Hanover.