TLicense Posted June 24, 2006 Share Posted June 24, 2006 Today I replaced my 13 year old ageing stock Toyota side mount intercooler for a brand new Chris Wilson Intercooler. The intercooler cost me £632.50 including p+p (believe me whatever the packaging costs are, they're worth it. Mine arrived in a box so big, we couldn't get it through the door in the office! No chance of it getting damaged in transit!) The quality is nothing short of first class. I compared it to a radiator from the F1 car that we've got kicking around the office, and the quality of the welding is definitely comparable to that, which I think says it all really. Here's a few shots:- Anyway, on to how to fit it.... Tools you'll need are:- 10mm spanner Ratchet 10mm deep socket for above ratchet 12mm deep socket for above ratched 3 inch socket extension bar for above ratchet Flat bladed screwdriver First of all remove the battery negative:- Then remove the number 1 air hose, loosen the two hose clamps, and wriggle the hose in 1 direction until it comes loose then pull the hose off the other hose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TLicense Posted June 24, 2006 Author Share Posted June 24, 2006 Next remove the engine under cover, RH Fender Splash Shield Seal, My under cover was removed anyway, as part of turbo upgrade. I counted 11 bolts on the fender shield, make sure you get them all :- If you've got an active spoiler (I have) then remove the RH under cover. It's the plastic bit underneath the anti roll bar in this pic:- You should now be able to see the back face of the intercooler:- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TLicense Posted June 24, 2006 Author Share Posted June 24, 2006 To remove the intercooler, there's two bolts and 1 nut that you need to remove You can see one of the bolts in the picture above of the back of the intercooler, fixing the intercooler to the chassis rail. There's another bolt that you get to from under the car, near the towing eye, it's the one just above it and behind it in this picture. You'll need a deep reach socket and the extension to get to it:- Then there's 1 nut to remove, it's on the upper outboard rear part of the intercooler:- With all these undone, the intercooler should be loose, but could be held in place by the no.2 air hose (the one above the intercooler) If you loosen the jubilee clip it should come free. To remove the intercooler, it's easiest to remove the offside front wheel, that will give you loads of space. If you turn the steering to the right as well, that will give you even more. You'll soon work out how it should come out:- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
China Man Posted June 24, 2006 Share Posted June 24, 2006 that old one looks much better then mine in the car at the moment thanks for the know how as I will need to do the some soon Benson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TLicense Posted June 24, 2006 Author Share Posted June 24, 2006 You need to transfer all of the brackets over to the new intercooler and the air duct on the front, my inboard bracket was broken anyway. Put some copper slip on the threads of the bolts as you transfer each bracket:- When I fitted the duct, I realised that there was a gap on the side, between the duct and the intercooler. This is because the stock intercooler is slightly deeper, where the end-tanks are joined onto the core. Because the CW intercooler is fully fabricated, it doesn't have to be deeper here, so it isn't. This leaves the gap. This gap really should be closed up to force the air through the IC, rather than around it. To close it up, I bought some foam draught excluder foam from the local DIY store. As I had loads I replaced all of the foam:- This is where the gap was, you can see it's now closed up (Actually, it doesn't look like it in that pic, but believe me, it's all full of compressed foam!):- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TLicense Posted June 24, 2006 Author Share Posted June 24, 2006 The fitting is the reverse of the removal. Be sure to copper slip all of the nuts and bolts before you do them up. That'll make it easier for removal next time. Also a hint for getting the lower no.2 intercooler pipe in and aligned is to leave the hose clamp on the rubber hose from the intercooler to the lower no.2 pipe loose. Fit the no.2 pipe, and then do up the hose clamp using a 10mm spanner. Jobs a good 'un! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TLicense Posted June 24, 2006 Author Share Posted June 24, 2006 that old one looks much better then mine in the car at the moment thanks for the know how as I will need to do the some soon Benson Just realised that was just the back face, here's the front face:- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supraaaaaaaaaa Posted June 24, 2006 Share Posted June 24, 2006 very nice detailed thread, is this going to be big enough for your twins though ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TLicense Posted June 24, 2006 Author Share Posted June 24, 2006 Contentious issue mate, will find out soon though.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandy-m2 Posted June 24, 2006 Share Posted June 24, 2006 What signs should i be looking out for that tell me i'm going to need to replace my SMIC?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TLicense Posted June 24, 2006 Author Share Posted June 24, 2006 Sandy, If you look at the last pic, you see how all the fins are missing in the middle? It should look like the back face where they're all good. The missing fins mean that the cold air flowing in the duct, won't cool the air flowing throught the intercooler as efficiently. Symptoms of this are large drop off's of performance after being in traffic, or a big difference of performance between cold days and hot days. I changed mine primarily as I'm changing the turbo's.... Hope that helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayman Posted June 25, 2006 Share Posted June 25, 2006 Nice thread! Well done! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wez Posted June 25, 2006 Share Posted June 25, 2006 Great thread Tony and yeah they are a great bit of kit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandy-m2 Posted June 25, 2006 Share Posted June 25, 2006 Cheers TL you have all the answers Sandy, If you look at the last pic, you see how all the fins are missing in the middle? It should look like the back face where they're all good. The missing fins mean that the cold air flowing in the duct, won't cool the air flowing throught the intercooler as efficiently. Symptoms of this are large drop off's of performance after being in traffic, or a big difference of performance between cold days and hot days. I changed mine primarily as I'm changing the turbo's.... Hope that helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imi Posted June 25, 2006 Share Posted June 25, 2006 Excellent Post.....Many thx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spidermonkey Posted June 25, 2006 Share Posted June 25, 2006 well done very informative:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul mac Posted June 25, 2006 Share Posted June 25, 2006 cracking thread mate and we really should have more input like this, my concern would be not with the the quality of the smic (which looks 1st class) but the size of the opening feeding it, i hope its not a limiting factor with them sexy twins your fitting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeyh Posted June 27, 2006 Share Posted June 27, 2006 great post was spot on i got my intercooler of in less than half an hour,would of took ages if it wqsn't for your post well done:cool: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TLicense Posted June 27, 2006 Author Share Posted June 27, 2006 I'm glad it helped mate. That's why I posted it up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carl0s Posted April 2, 2007 Share Posted April 2, 2007 The fitting is the reverse of the removal. Yeah right! What a bitch of a job this has turned out to be! Give me seized brake pad pins any day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BASHTHEBISHOP Posted April 2, 2007 Share Posted April 2, 2007 Great post & something i need to do when i can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TLicense Posted April 2, 2007 Author Share Posted April 2, 2007 Yeah right! What a bitch of a job this has turned out to be! Give me seized brake pad pins any day! Really? Where did you struggle? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b_have Posted April 2, 2007 Share Posted April 2, 2007 Looks quality, would love to see some back to back testing compared to a fully ducted fmic. Regarding flow (actually, Tony will know more about aeroflow than any of us!) maybe it would help if you can relocate the indicator away from the intake? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogmaw Posted April 2, 2007 Share Posted April 2, 2007 Superb. Phoenix will fit mine on Weds. I think Mark knows what he is doing, and I won't have to point him to your excellent instructions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ivan Posted April 2, 2007 Share Posted April 2, 2007 I printed this out and gave it to Triton when they did mine. They were very impressed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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