Quote:
You do have to be careful with the Ebay cores -- some have had luck with them while others have not.
Jafro, of of the CADSM guys, has had terrible luck with one. He has split the endtanks on a cheap IC three or more times, all the while never even getting the chance to run big boost. He stated that the endtanks were made of very thin gauge AL, and the welds were worthless. Fortunately for him, his cousin has a good TIG welder and some skills, so they were able to repair the endtanks, and got it working after several tries, I believe. From his tone and amount of bitching on the CADSM list, I personally would not like to go through the same process.
FWIW, I'd at least get the seller to guarantee the IC has been pressure tested.
Bill T.
http://www.etmotorsports.com
Yes I did have a hell of a hard time with mine, and I do recall being a bitch about it.
I learned the hard way that if you blow out welds, it's not the weld's fault. It's the materials' fault even if only the welds break. The original welds were beautiful, but the end tanks were aluminum balloons.
What I didn't know about acceptance or end tanks at the time, I made up for with knowledge of intercooler cores. The kit I bought had an extruded-tube core. Extruded-tube's were the lowest pressure-dropping and most efficient cores available at the time, out-flowing all bar/plate & tube/fin cores of the same size. It came with a great short-route aluminum pipe kit, HKS SSQV, couplers, clamps for $720, which was a multi-win however, the manufacturer cut corners on the end tank materials (weakest link). After 4 or 5 blowouts and no support from the vendor, I reconstructed them from 8-gauge aluminum, and I'm not sure there's a turbo out there that will blow them out before the core gives. They're flippin' awesome.
I have no problem with budget intercoolers, at least not anymore. Can't complain. I got what I [wanted] [asked for].
I know this thread is old as hell, and it's too late to answer the OP. I've been away from here for years. Life is crazy. What's up Bill!?