ess / 44O update
I had to go away for a month for some mil training, so I dropped the car and the 44O kit off at my shop. No Joy, when I got back, the kit was still in the boxes and not on my car.
Apparently the kit won't fit with the intercooler below the bumper bar because it blocks the new horizontal oil cooler.So I was sad for some time and thought about selling the 44O kit. Then I said, I'll give it a shot, because my engine cooling is already degraded because the factory oil cooler mounts behind the S/C intercooler and blocks air flow to it. So I nstalled the 44O kit in my garage.. Found that Magnuson had a heat exchanger that mounts higher than the ESS one, but they wouldn't sell it to me without buying their entire supercharger system (thanks guys!) So countless hours of intercooler/heat exchanger dimensions on the web and considering getting a custom one built later... I used a factory heat exchanger from a S/C Camaro to mount behind my bumper bar and connected it to my ESS system. Took a lot of work, but very happy with the result....
Last edited by kavik; Sep 29, 2018 at 09:34 AM.




Asbjorn at ESS informed me that they had not tried this top mount position for the HE, but thought there should be plenty of room there (perhaps may need custom brackets).
The ports on the ESS are angled down a little per the original hose routing and it is really tight as far as finding places to get the hoses through to the heat exchanger from the pump and to the intercooler. This setup let me keep (kind of) the original hose placement on the left and then the right side just needed a 90 degree piece after I turned the original outlet hose upward.
The HE I used was about $150, and has 4 mounting holes. The down side is that the sides of the core are plastic (like the factory radiator), not aluminum ( like EDS / aftermarket ones) so you cant weld mounting brackets to it, you have to work with the provided mounting holes. I ended up with 2 bolts through the bumper for the lower 2 mounts and used shock bushings to stand off the upper part of the HE from the factory radiator..
Max size that will fit behind the bumper bars with a tight fit is 1..5 wide, which is what the stock ESS one is, most aftermarket HE are 2'" and won't fit in the space.
Last edited by kavik; Sep 29, 2018 at 09:37 AM.
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Obviously 440 kit is going to be way better than stock setup by a long shot especially for a mct car, however i dont think it can handle the excess blower heat. But try it out and let us know!
Last edited by roadtalontsi; Sep 30, 2018 at 11:24 PM.
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