Like the title say's just wording if upgrading to a name brand intercooler is worth the money vs the ebay (cx racing) intercoolers. I live in very hot climate and power difference is crazy on cool nights, wondering if a better intercooler would help any or is it just the temp difference.

 

Good question. I wonder if anyone ever tested it.

I'm always saying you get what you pay for though. But then again that's not always true as well. I say just go with what people have had success with.

 

I would highly recommend a quality intercooler over that ebay crap . I used to run a cheapo in my turbo Integra and it worked ok but would get heat soaked quick . I upgraded to a Precision unit which was around the same size and that made a big difference . No more heat soak and lower iat's across the board . After a quarter mile pass with the cheapo intercooler i would pull the logs and see that my iat's were climbing for the full run usually topping out around 140 degree's on an 80 degree day .After the precision unit went in the temps would drop for the entire run . Usually within 20 degree's of ambient temps .

 

Then again there is good Ebay products and Bad Ebay products hit or miss. dustin ran 50k miles on a ebay turbo on his ap2.

 

yeah I get in this argument with my friends alot actually. I have always been more of a "brand whore" they call me becasue I really do believe in supporting the companies that do the R&D and also have QC in their product. The general concensous we came to is that for a lower power stock/street car a ebay intercooler is fine... most people wont ever push them to their limit. But when you start making more than 400hp and have a little more IAT going on its def a good idea to get a better IC and cool things down.

 

Ebay intercoolers have been tested to handle yp to 800hp. They are fine.

 

Running a ebay $100 heat exchanger for my Vortech, does the same job my buddy has from SOS.

It's a piece of aluminum with channels and fins. I agree that name brand might use better quality metal, enforce better QA etc. but perhaps in this scenario, it's not worth the added expense. My .02 cents

 

Better quality metal, more stringent quality control, better build design, etc. I think that saying "you get what you pay for" still holds true even with intercoolers. Although with a intercooler I feel it's less about being reliable, and more about operating more efficiently.

One cheap ebay intercooler a friend purchased was particularly bad. You could see the gap between fin and endtank, and how poor the welds were. Your car will run fine, but it just isn't as efficient as a well built unit if you're looking to squeeze out every horsepower consistently.

 

I have Godspeed IC 3" rated for 400hp+ and I'm now making 550hp on e85. I can feel hot air all in my car but then I can't tell my temp because it ain't running right. It was good back when I was 380hp on 91 though.

Have u consisted looking at threadstone??? I'm definitely interested in their TR1035 Ic. It's rated for 666hp

 

A lot of my LSx friends are all using eBay intercooler a and making pretty big power (800+). If there's nothing wrong with your intercooler than you can see in logs then there's really no purpose to switch.