Intercooler refurbishment and replacement pictures

[skyegtb]

Cheers for the compliments!

I purchased the lift from Garage Equipment Group in the Wirral and installed it myself. All in it was under 2 grand and worth every penny. I added 2 extra 1/2" steel support plates under the uprights that I bolted to the floor first and I also welded the vertical posts to these plates for extra security even though it was probably completely un-necessary.

[dannycnc]

Break time at work just having a quick gander. What a lovely set of photos and great result, years ago I cleened the intercooler on my Golf G60 and it improved things no end. Smashing, all the best.

[skyegtb]

Cheers!

[RustyBucket]

I'm just doing my ICs and was hoping you could tell me how you sealed the ends (particularly the bit with the valve) for pressure testing?

Cheers

[Nobby]

I made myself a couple of bungs a few years ago to test these sort of things. Reattach the hoses and then put the bungs in the end. They are simple tubes with ends welded in (old exhaust pipes) and then used a tyre valve and attached a foot pump with gauge.

I suppose you could use anything you can find that will fit in the holes - they are around 60mm IIRC. Coke can/tin of beans might work but you still need a screw in valve.

NB: you should really test them before AND after, so you can pay particular attention to the area with holes and ensure the JB weld gets into the areas.

[RustyBucket]

Definitely will pressure test before and after, the hoses are still in the car as I bought the ICs separately and will swap over once happy they leak free The yellow caps used in this post look almost made to measure and although I've been looking for it, I can't find another post which contained a link to another step by step refurb (I think it was a pdf file) and in that the guy mentioned using some kind of plumbing spares for the caps. I guess like you say, anything will do but the trick is getting the valve screwed in securely.

Cheers

[dubbed_up_daz]

great write up

[jangol]

Just got these back from MRC, looks like a good job.. Will get them fitted in a week or so.. Let me know what you think.. Looking good??

[jangol]

I finally got round to fitting these yesterday.. Wow.. Can't believe how much of a difference they have made... Not even had it mapped yet, can't wait for that stage 1.. Took off my old IC's you could see the oil residue on both, which were pretty bad...

[benh999]

Is it specifically JB Weld or are there other brands I can use? I see they do a steel reinforced weld too, assuming from your pics you used the standard JB weld?

[Ajc]

You need it too flow so it gets into where you want it too be and seal the cracks . I overflowed my tank ends with resin because I wasn't convinced I had got the leak totally .

[skyegtb]

Is it specifically JB Weld or are there other brands I can use? I see they do a steel reinforced weld too, assuming from your pics you used the standard JB weld?

I'm sure there are plenty other epoxy resins that you could use, but for me JB Weld does the job perfectly and remains ever so slightly flexible after curing, so it make it just right for this type of work. Other resins can set rock hard and brittle.

[benh999]

Quick update, pressure tested both intercoolers tonight.

Both leaking, OS intercooler had a huge leak from the bottom right and was literally leaking with as little as 8psi running through it. The NS intercooler Again was leaking however this seemed more of a pinhole leak and it took over 20 psi to make it leak. Next step is to clean up/degrease both intercoolers and follow the guide to hopefully making them airtight.

[Ajc]

This is the part you don't want too rush . They need to be spotless or the epoxy won't stick . Paint brush or tooth brush is ideal with a good solvent cleaner too shift all the crap out on there . Plus you can get high from the fumes which is a plus

[benh999]

Solvent cleaner, any brand I should be looking at?