has anyone else thought about doing a recore on the intercooler? I have been looking at cores that are the same dimensions as factory with a higher cfm and they are around 150 and just talked to a local radiator shop and he said if they can reuse the factory caps it will only be two to three hours labor (170-275). If factory tanks can't be used then he will build custom tanks for any core I supply for under $300. That's at most $450 which is $400 less than ets

 

Y

 

why what

 

I dunno, was on my phone and didn't mean to reply.

 

^ lol......but you did ask yourself the question though

As did I

 

Hahahah, indeed.

Well, man with my experience, which isn't much, I wouldn't take shortcuts unless you simply can't afford an ETS intercooler. These guys are a performance company, not a radiator shop. They have the name, so they are going to charge a premium as well as cover their R&D costs.

Do you really want to spend $450 intercooler that may or may not ever perform as well as ETS's? Doesn't seem worth the gamble to me.

Old chinese proverb: Buy nice or pay twice.

 

You don't really want one the same size. You'll want one bigger to try and reduce heatsoak.

 

you can try to swap a bar & plate core with turbolators in there, to improve efficency. In our applications the relatively low level of boost/air volume, location and the size of the intercooler fits well with this type of intercooler.

 

the only real difference between the ets and stock is core type. I would be going with a bar and plate similar to ets's for more efficient cooling.

bigger is not better. If the intercooler was bigger it would result in pressure loss and heat soak really isn't that much of a problem.

as for the "radiator shop", they do regular repair work on diesel pickups and if they can build/repair an intercooler that can hold 30+ #s I think they can handle building one to hold 12

 

and money isn't an issue I just have a problem with the only companies that are providing aftermarket support raping us because there is no competition. 1200hp intercooler for my duramax is 1k. Profab dp is 150. R&d my ass. Ets already had the cores developed the just had to make the end tanks. And if steel tubing can withstand the vibrations and 1600° egt's of a diesel then it should work just fine for a little Honda.

 

Heat soak is actually the biggest problem for our RDXs. Have you ever driven this car in the city when its >93 F outside?
Once you stop at the traffic light (or just in traffic) for more than 20 secs the ECU is going into the "limp" mode due to high intake temp. "As a result the ECU will retard timing (and reduce the power) until conditions improve." (C) Hondata.

 

in 90°+ the only thing that would make a difference is relocating the IC all together

 

Exactly! The best mode for our cars after DP and hondata should be a Liquid-to-air IC system. I explained this here multiple times. I also brought some pictures and examples of how this is done on our cars, but nobody seems to care.
BTW, Richie from RV6 actually promised to create such product this spring, but again, no news or updates so far.

 

That would be interesting to see. What's the link where you posted the pics and info? I've been toying with the idea water injection using a finite amount of water. Maybe a 1 gph nozzle. Devils own makes a progressive controller that I would use so I could start spraying really early. I'm going to try it out on my duramax first and see how I like it

 

Check this out:
http://www.drive2.ru/l/2253231/

Text is in Russian. The idea is that during the summer months intake temp is getting up to 90 C. After installing this kit you will normally have the IAT around 40-50 C max.
The kit itself is very simple:
- liquid2air IC
- front radiator
- pump
- pipes, fittings, brackets

 

Very interesting website.. I have never seen this type of modification done on the RDX.. Maybe we can learn something from these Russians! That Front Mount Looks very clean not too much modification needed

 

Man, this is not the Front Mount. This is liquid-to-air setup. Low air temp and no turbo lag.
But you are right, nothing has to be moved, cut or relocated. Absolutely nothing! And it will take 2-3 hours to get everything back to the stock form in case you decide to change your car.