3pointedSTAR

I've just installed my custom intercooler, a though inspired by others on this board. No clearance problems with a Brabus kit.

First of all let me say that here in Bangkok the stock intercooler does next to nothing in cooling down the charged air... I can't tell much of a difference by touching both sides of the stock intercooler. Temperature here is high 30's (C) to mid 40's.

Working on stock intercooler core size given by Buell its volume is 198 (22x4.5x2) cubic inch. The new one is 546 cubic inches (26x7x3) which is 276% the size of the stock one. (I know this is not the way to measure intercooler efficiency, I'm just trying to let you imagine the size of my new intercooler.

I just went for a 3Km drive, stopped and touched the outlet side and YES... I can feel a hugh temperature difference.

The core is from an Isuzu Rocky (thats a 10-wheeler truck), cut down to size, attached to this is custom end-tanks which have been smoothed and polished on the inside. The end tanks are connected to curved pipes like the stock intercooler.

The whole project costed me about US$325... slave labour prices in Thailand together with my ASP pulley, thats under US$700 for good performance mods.

I've booked in for a dyno in two weeks time, will post chart then.

By the way, my car is a C200K (2002) sedan auto.

3pointedSTAR

for those of you who wants to know what an Isuzu Rocky is...

3pointedSTAR

another pic of my beloved intercooler... thank god the ISUZU logo on the core is facing inwards

JeT

Looks good. I would be very interested in seeing the dyno results. Did you run a stock dyno for comparison?

3pointedSTAR

nope, don't need to, here in Thailand cars are advertised (by law) with rear wheel HP), on my rego it says 129HP so its there or abouts...also I'm waiting for my ASP pulley to arrive, If I can pull off something better than Bajaiman's dyno numbers I'll be happy, besides the outlet side is very cool to the touch...something that never happened with the stock IC, therefore it must be better at cooling.

JeT

3Point, dod you end up finding out whether a change in displacement was viable?

bleu

can you explain how you managed to pull off the bumper?

Buellwinkle

I don't think he took off his bumper, just the plastic cover in the front. To remove the bumper cover, remove the black plastic panels in the front part of the wheel well (about 6 plastic push pin fasteners) and you'll have access to the screws that hold the bumper cover on from the back. On the front there are 2 screws by the fog lights that must be removed. Under the hood there are screws at the end by the grill that are the trickiest to get and not lose and the ones in the center and the bumper cover and grill come off in one piece. Make sure you disconnect the wiring for the fog lights and temp sensor. Also pull straigh forward, any twisting/tweaking may damage the rollers that the bumper slides on. It will look good that way in a Mad Max sort of way!

JamE55

Wow!! How long did this project take you and how is the outcome? Do you see any differences?

bajaiman

Yoo 3pointedstar…nice intercooler you got there! be sure that you’ll post the dyno results. Maybe I should make some calls to find out if I can find the same intercooler and do what you did

3pointedSTAR

I asked around and worked out that it'll end up costing more than the Brabus 2.6L displacement kit for the C200K, therefore both these options are beyond my budget.

3pointedSTAR

the project took me 4 hours... yup thats all, I was going to buy a Greddy intercooler just when a 10 wheeler pulled in to get a new intercooler put in because his got damaged in a crash. I was chatting with him and he gave me his old one. the intercooler for a rocky (see picture above) is 26 inches long, 30 inches wide and the damage was on the bottom part... anyways I only have space for 7" anyways so I attacked it with cutter and got it to size. I then got my welder friend to fire up the aargon aluminium welder and put together end tanks. The bends were manifold pipes bought at a truck shop.

I can definately feel the results, not really an increase in HP but a constant pull at WOT all the way to redline. Before the pull was intense only at the beginning of the powerband and tapered of towards redline. Also the outlet side of the new IC is verycold which is an increadible achievement considering the heat here in bangkok.

All in all, I'm very happy with the results, and as soon as my ASP pulley arrives I'll be even happier.

3pointedSTAR

At aussie labour prices I'd doubt you'll get a better deal than buying an off the shelf one.

I used a secondhand IC core as my first experiment, but since it turned out so well, and cools effectively I guess I managed to pull it off in just one version

If you are going on an overseas trip this Xmas do stop by Bangkok and I can whip up one for you in about 4 hours.

tberry

Hi 3pointedSTAR....nice intercooler. Just curious, I'm sure you love the benz but to really get performance (and the kinda money you paid) don't they have Lancer Evos, Skylines, Supras or do they cost more? I know that its nice to be unique as well but i was just curious. I'm originally from Burma (next to Thailand) and have passed by Bangkok many times. Its been over 10 yrs though.

3pointedSTAR

tberry

Mutsu evos are a dime a dozen here, same with supra, WRX and RX7's, very few r34 skylines, a few r33 and a load of r32's and I've only seen one NSX. Anyways the point is that all the Japanese cars are seriously done up, but hardly any MB are, so I guess its the uniqueness I'm after, afterall isn't that the second criteria (after performance) that poeple do up cars?

secondly, even if you had a 10 second car (1/4m) it won't get you anywhere faster in Bangkok...it'll just get you to a traffic jam faster

anyways, whave you ridden in an EVO or a WRX?!?! it's rough as guts and when you swing the door open it feels like tin foil (thin & light)

Jap race cars are a different class of automobiles, I myself have had a r33 skyline in the past that'll kill most w203's on the road... it's still a nissan.

Same arguement goes for drivers of Lexus, its still a Toyota LS400's are sold here cheap as the toyota crown, the IS300 as the Toyota altezza and their new mini 4 wheeler is the new toyota 4 runner.

I tend to get carried away so I'll stop here before Lexus owners on this board flame me to death...:p

bajaiman

Yoo 3point...Please check your PM

FrankW

Sweet...it looks professional to me great job.

post some pics after you put the bumper back on too.

3pointedSTAR

just clicked send, bounced, your mailbox is full

3pointedSTAR

I will take more pics after the bumper is ready, just changed to brabus kit and it's stuck in a paint job queue.

Professional and cheap are not mutually exclusive.... say it with me boys "third world slave labour prices":p

FrankW

it's sad that it doesn't work that way in the US.

3pointedSTAR

Off topic here...

but what's really sad is that I'm driving the lowest spec kompressor w203 and you're cruisin' in a gorgeous C32

FrankW

lol...thx for the compliment

3pointedSTAR

3point Sports Service
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Found an old Brabus muffler for w203 c240 at the flea market two days ago, got my super cool welder to dissect it and made 3 exact copies and sold em to my friends. I didn't have my camera with me during the job so these are the only photos I've got.

Sounds really mean... a bit louder but not HKS tin can loud. Exact to the millimeter copy using good grade stainless steel. Inside even the same number of holes are drilled. The photo shows a slightly discoloured surface, thats cuz I've been driving REALLY hard the past few days testing out the intercooler :P

About US$165 in all. Not bad.

I'm turning my car into a science experiment

FrankW

eeh...what happened to the tip? amazed by what you can find at flea market.

vyse

You must be pretty rich to drive a C200K in Thailand; I could imagine how much it costs, probalby as much as FrankW's C32 Heck, even my C230 costs $60k CDN in HK!

BTW, can you post a pic of your car with the bumper back on? I'd love to see how the intercooler looks under it !