sjc246

Last year I purchased a bunch of parts for my E55 from Eurocharged, including a heat exchanger, and I finally got around to installing it. When I compared the removed OE unit to the Eurocharged one, I got a bit of a surprise: the Eurocharged heat exchanger was barely any bigger. It is a bit wider, but the thickness is almost exactly the same at 2.07". I thought that maybe the slightly increased width and increased density would still make this an improvement, but my IATs have not improved at all (77mm clutched). It seems that the decreased airflow due to the denser core and the lack of a shroud have completely negated the increased width. I had heard plenty of good things about the Eurocharged heat exchanger, so I did a bit of research and it seems that they may have two different versions because every picture and specification I can find is for a 3 inch thick heat exchanger and the product I received is not even close to that. (The end-tanks on my unit are at least 3 inches thick, but the core is much thinner.) I'm not sure why they would switch to a thinner core: it doesn't fit any better because the end-tanks are still thick and the performance is barely on par with stock making it useless as an upgrade. In addition, I cannot mount my oil cooler on the bottom of it like with the stock cooler because it doesn't extend back far enough: at least half of the oil cooler is behind it rather than under it. Does anyone know what the story is here? Is the full thickness heat exchanger still available for more money or something? Did the supplier screw up and put the wrong core in my unit? I emailed Eurocharged about it and asked if a thicker version was still available for purchase, but they declined to respond. I'm thinking about getting the VRP secondary heat exchanger and running that in series with either my stock exchanger or the PLM unit (I know it's smaller than some others, but it should fit better with the oil cooler, and it's bigger than what I have right now.) How does that sound?

C32owner

Hi there, sorry to hear about your disappointment. I don't have the eurocharged heat exchanger, I went with the PLM for ease of fitment "direct" bolt on and for the oil cooler. It's difficult to understand how much bigger these heat exchangers are without side by side pics and yes there are dimensions posted everywhere but I still was a little taken back at how little difference there was. I took some side by side pics of the stock Vs plm so you can see if that suits you better?

drothgeb

I went with a generic heat exchanger from frozen boost and it is WAY bigger. 26x7x3.5
It's about 0.5-1 inch less length wise, but it is 1-2 inches taller and looks twice as thick as the stock.

http://www.frozenboost.com/water-to-...er-p-1026.html

But it takes some fabrication to mount it, and depending on how you mount it, it may stick out from the bottom. Mine did, but I used some plastic to cover it and it came out good.

You can see the "fat lip" in the pics here if you are interested:
https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/...questions.html

But I have seen some people that basically welded it to the bottom of the bumper, and cut the bottom tabs off and it didn't stick out.

trabots

The idea is to install the EC heat exchanger in addition to the OEM one, either in parallel or series. I don't know which is proven the best way but either way your overall cooling will be much better than with a single heat exchanger.

sjc246

I was hoping to be able to do that, and I did try, but unless I was missing something, there wasn't nearly enough room without extensive modification to the front bumper (I'm talking completely re-shaping it or cutting a gaping hole; a little trimming certainly wasn't going to cut it). If the end tanks were as thin as the core, it would probably work, but they're still quite thick. Has anyone found a way to do this with the stock bumper? (I understand there may be a bit more room with the E63 bumper, but I'm not planning on that right now).

(If it were done, it would need to be plumbed in series, assuming one was in front of the other, with the coolant circulating through the rear one first).

drothgeb

I don't think he's right anyway, I think maybe you just bought the "small" replacement they have. All the heat exchangers I've seen that are meant to be ran in series are advertised as secondary heat exchangers and are small enough to mount right below the stock unit.

tw2

They recently advertised a small and a large replacement heat exchanger. Not sure why. I would see if they can swap it over.

What sort of IAT decrease do you guys expect with just a single heat exchanger upgrade? (Assuming an 010 or better pump already)

sjc246

I noticed the same thing. That change happened after my order. When I placed my order, there was only a single heat exchanger advertised and when I discussed the order with them, they made no mention of multiple choices for the heat exchanger. I'm also nearly positive that their website had a picture of the full size heat exchanger at that time (now all of the pictures have been removed). My order didn't ship for several months after I placed it: they said they were waiting for the heat exchanger. My best guess (and this is only a guess!) is that the supplier used the wrong core and that they are trying to get rid of the incorrect ones by advertising them as small. Unfortunately, it seems that they did not give me a choice.

I was hoping that they would but they ignored my email so I'm assuming that they have no intention of making this right. I'll try again, but I don't have high hopes. It took days of arguing just to get my clearly defective pulley fixed (it was so warped that even when one side was way over the OEM gap spec, the other side was rubbing). (They wouldn't even replace it, I had to ship it to them and then wait weeks for them to send it to the manufacturer, have it ground flat, and shipped back to them and then back to me, and when I finally got it back it was covered in oil and metal shavings--it works now, though, so I can't complain too much.)

C32owner

Yikes. Mate you have not had it good with this purchase at all! Not the way to do business. Sorry bud