So there appears to be no less than 7 or 8 vendors or board sponsors with Intercoolers,without being able to physically put my hands on them how do you decide who has the best product? How do you evaluate the material fit finish or design?

 

You could get coolers from the builder or tuner you want to use to get in their good graces. You could get 997.2 coolers if you plan to take it easy on the boost. Most aftermarket bigger coolers perform similarly, some are a better value than others.

 

well this has been discussed many times over and over... there are those who swear by 997.2s ( but have no other real experience with other coolers), then there are the fake Chineese ones that you will never know because they are so carefully marketed and most guys assume they are quality. Then there are top tier that cost 30% more over the flooded AM cooler market. if a cooler costs less then $1500 its cheap and junk, If a cooler costs less then $2K its probably partially made here but they short change you on the core and buy cheap Chinese ebay ones... If you are about to spend more money then $2K ( mind you there are also different sizes), ask to see proof of the fabrication work and request the source of the cores... if your going to spend decent money make sure you get what you pay for... the problem, as a vendor, but also as a 996TT owner for 16 years, I try to be as neutral as possible... the bottom line is " if its too good to be true it probably is... "
All Im going to say is that back in 2005 when I was building my 9 sec 996 I was already developing 4.5" cores, long before a many newcomers even were on the P car game... yet I see a lot of deceptive marketing campaigns with with nothing more then $60 cores and Chinese made end tanks and boost hoses...
It honestly is disturbing that guys do not question the product and its origin.... my point is , if the price is cheap its cheap, with huge margins... if its made in the USA with quality hands, on a Haas cnc, with american aluminum, quality control from start to finish, especially the end tank flanges and bar n plate cores- zero leaks and pressure tested... then you know what you get... and if its backed up at the track and or other data... well then you figure what is best for your car...
A handful years ago it was not even an option to throw cheap parts on these cars.. certain companies Im not going to mention as they are still vendors, would get slammed and or called out for reselling Chinese crap...
long gone are those days... but if it makes you guys feel better that you have AM coolers just to have them be it so...
Im sure this thread will get interesting really soon... I sit and eat popcorn reading... in the end, go back on 6speed 10 years and see who's who in the going fast business
markski

 

Thx for the sharing yep that's the reason why i never order mechanical parts in toa poa

i would refer order direct from ER or wagner

 

Well its depends on your power goals .. size .. !!

am running 911tuning.com 4.5" intercooler since 4 years from 700hp kit till I reached ES1200 !!! Still fine and run perfect !!!

Do88 are good , bydesgine also good I bought good intercoolers from him for 1000hp 996tt !!

Good of luck with your car

 

I care more about performance and fit than I do country of origin of the core. I monitor inlet and outlet temps on mine so I know how well they work. I do still wonder if side scoops would improve performance, I'll try them one of these days.

 

A lot of guys(including myself) run the SRM 4.5" intercoolers. I love them, fantastic intercoolers without the "Porsche Tax" make sure you opt for the 2.5" end-tank upgrade

 

I'm running the SRM 4.5" with 2.5" outlets too. Great quality and real world results on overworked OEM K24s at 1.3 bar.

 

Gauge in my car reads inlet, outlet, and differential temps. I can watch to see how much cooling the intercoolers does and I've seen as much as 95 degrees pulled from the intake air going through a few gears. Temps stay pretty close to ambient most of the time but rise a little at lights and after a wot gear or two it goes up a bit. I've been pleasantly surprised to see little evidence of the intercoolers dumping heat into the intake stream after a pull. Given a choice my attitude is bigger better for intercoolers but weight comes into play pretty quickly. One of these days I want to have enough room to really beat on mine to see how they fare but I'm pretty damn happy with them right now.

Sadly I can't do apples to apples comparison on IAT. My gauge doesn't record and while my proefi does it's IAT calibration is off a good bit. When I have a sane calibration for that I can post up data. I'm pretty sure that after sitting for two days the IAT is wrong when it reads nearly +20 over both the dash and two other temp sensors that all agree with one another. (ahem)

 

This does get old. Every time one of these threads starts, you get the same type of posts often even by many of the same people.

The definitive IC thread (especially for people into road racing / gt use and not going over 650 or so whp): https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...olers-wow.html

Follow all the links and spend a weekend reading up on ICs.

One thing to consider aside from IC performance is weight. Large, heavy ICs are not good if you are doing anything but straight line performance. They are at the back of the car (where a 911 has too much weight as is) and about as far from the polar moment of inertia as you can get...

Markski, are you ever going to post the weight of your ICs?

 

Aaaaand que the usual dismissive posts by those who love the lightweight Porsche coolers. Yes, it does get quite old. I look forward to hearing how John's new intercoolers will fare when done.

 

Love the welds on those SRM coolers, great value with those. For now I'm sticking with my 997.2's until I decide to go above 1.6 bar.

 

4.5" bell cores.

 

Was this directed at me? I was not being dismissive. I was simply pointing out that you need to define your goals. I fail to see why this is wrong. Especially since everyone is concerned with temps and flow, and only rarely is weight mentioned.

I am in love with all sorts of things, but not ICs. They are just a technical detail on my car. If it would get me around a track more quickly, I'd be willing to hang 60lbs of IC on each corner.

 

I have the SRM coolers and highly doubt they are 60 lbs each. I'd be surprised if they were even 30 lbs. But maybe I'm wrong.

Regrettably I didn't weigh them before the install, but next time I have them off, I certainly will, just for curiosity sake.

Has anyone weighed the 997 RS intercoolers? I'd be curious to see how much more those weigh than the stock cores and also compare to 3.5" and 4.5" solid aluminum aftermarket options. As I said, I'd be really surprised if the weight difference is significant enough to make a real difference. I'm thinking maybe 10lbs at most on each side, but that's just a guess.