Best intercooler to upgrade...

[JamesFox]

Hi guys,

Been looking to upgrade the intercooler on my R53. I've been looking at a few and wondered if you had any experience/advice on the best one to get.

I've originally been looking at getting the GRS Motorsport intercooler from 1320.

Secondly just come across an intercooler by Forge Motorsport in Gloucester which is £309...Mini: R53 cooper s and Product-category: _31 |

Finally, also been looking at this one by airtec...Auto Specialists - Mini cooper-S R53 top mount intercooler upgrade

Any advice would greatly received!

Thanks

James

[mada]

I've used the £60 eBay one with no issues so far, you do have to do a bit of modifying for it to fit though

[JamesFox]

I've gone for the airtec one now, hopefully will be delivered early next week!

[EcosseGP]

I have the GRS one and personally would recommend it. Having fitted the airtec one its twice the weight of the original and it's a bit of pain to fit. You might need to alter the bonnet catch too to make sure it sits right.
In order of tried and tested and looking at the results
GP
GRS
Forge
Airtec
Original R53
Direnza

If nothing else you'll like seeing the airtec logo through the scoop ! Might need to cut the oil feed pipe too as the airtec is bigger and can catch on it ...


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[JamesFox]

I have the GRS one and personally would recommend it. Having fitted the airtec one its twice the weight of the original and it's a bit of pain to fit. You might need to alter the bonnet catch too to make sure it sits right.
In order of tried and tested and looking at the results
GP
GRS
Forge
Airtec
Original R53
Direnza

If nothing else you'll like seeing the airtec logo through the scoop ! Might need to cut the oil feed pipe too as the airtec is bigger and can catch on it ...


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Ok thank you for the info there. I've read so many different reviews about the different intercoolers. I'm guessing there's only minor difference between them all?

[EcosseGP]

James it's all about how quickly they recover over anything else. Certainly if you lay them out then it'll look like the Airtec one has the greatest surface area but the GRS one has amazing recovery times. I'm not a big fan of the airtec one for a couple of reasons (1) It's 2/3 times the weight of the original one and (2) it's a bit of a pain to fit. You do get slightly better results over standard with it but is that enough to justify it given the extra weight ...


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[EcosseGP]

Someone's review from MINI Torque on them ....

I had a GP intercooler, a standard GRS, a Front-mount GRS, a GRS Motorsport+ Edition and now the Airtech.

GP intercooler is great if you spend a lot of time in traffic due to its unbeatable recovery rates. Temps go high often with hard driving though. It temp clips more than any other intercooler I've used, but recovers very quickly.

GRS FMIC complete opposite to the GP intercooler, you'll lose throttle response and some boost but you'll never temp clip when hitting the redline. I'd like to see Domo rock one with a 17% to offset the boost loss and see how it dynos.

GRS Motorsport is best for a weekend driver, hitting country roads where you will be driving fast road but not permanently at WOT. I found this best for midrange Power and its still my favourite out of the selection I've had. I'm still convinced these would be king if GRS were willing to weld on improved air diversion as opposed to relying on it's flimsy kit.

Airtec - I've honestly not noticed the difference between this in general driving terms to the GRS motorsprt edition other than it recovers more quickly than the GRS due to its excellent air diversion. Its still no GP intercooler in terms of recovery though. The standout thing for me is the value for money compared to the rest, plus they look awesome.

I'll be sticking with the Airtec because it does a bit of everything and suits the way I drive.

P.S I've ran all the above with a 21% pulley.


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[EcosseGP]

Have a look at some results underneath the inter cooler information ...
https://orranje.co.uk/airtec-mini-cooper-s-r53-top-mount-intercooler


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[stoney]

Im with Davy GRS all the way i ran a hobo tec but was not impressed with fitment ect so ended up with a GRS

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[Mon the fish]

I ran GRS then Airtec. From monitoring IATs in an unscientific way, the GRS ran a degree or so cooler at cruise, but climbed quicker at WOT. I was temp clipping at the Ring (I run an 11% FWIW)

The Airtec doesn't seem to climb as quick IMO, but maybe takes a shade longer to recover. I've had no issues with fit on mine.

TBH unless you're tracking the thing, or running a tiny pulley (19% or smaller), I'd just grab the first decently priced one of either in the classifieds. Avoid the cheap Chinese intercoolers on ebay though, they're cheap for a reason

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