Top mount intercooler.

[nbuscemi]

After a few years of running without any charge air cooling and limited amounts of boost I finally figured out how to mount an intercooler to my bug. Yes, I've seen many Types 1s with turbo / intercooler setups but I have very limited funds and resources.

Here was my criteria:
1. Use of cheap universal E-bay intercooler
2. Use of cheap universal IC piping
3. Decklid needs to be in place and open / close
4. Not interfere with engine cooling
5. Be exposed to natural air flow / draft.

This is what I came up with...

Notice the brackets going across the top of IC and the pull-pins.


With deck lid in place it appears to have stand-offs. Nothing crazy looking.


Here's a shot looking down the rear glass.


This is with the decklid open. Yes, it only opens half way but all I have to do is remove the pins and the decklid comes off completely!

As far as effectiveness... jury is still out. When I was non-intercooled I would see intake temps get around 200 deg on 10 psi. The few pulls I've made with this setup shows intake temps never going beyond 10+ ambient on the same boost.

-Nick-

[V8Nate]

Awesome I love it!

[panel]

Looks great! Can you link the eBay parts if someone wants to copy your kit they can. At least the bigger ticket items etc.

[nbuscemi]

No problem:

Intercooler:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Universal-Inte ... 89d04be40d

Charge Pipe:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/8-Piece-2-5-Bl ... 6177!US!-1

-Nick-

[andy198712]

with the deckled down it literally does just look like you have stand offs, nicely done bud!

[Wally]

As far as effectiveness... jury is still out. When I was non-intercooled I would see intake temps get around 200 deg on 10 psi. The few pulls I've made with this setup shows intake temps never going beyond 10+ ambient on the same boost.

-Nick-

Why is the jury still out in this when you see massive gains on intake temps?

BTW, love the set-up; I think everybody with a turbo on their bug should have such a set-up. This could/should be the new 'norm'

One question about the boost pipe routing: your turbo is much closer to the intercooler near side, but you directed it all the way around in the engine bay, why?

[nbuscemi]

Nothing pains me more than cutting and drilling holes in my car. As of right now, I can return my car to 100% stock with minimal effort. Before I mounted the intercooler the charge pipe came in through the old ATF reservoir fill hole.

With the non-intercooled setup I was using OEM 75-79 Type i EFI manifolds and injectors. That setup allowed the injectors to sit much lower than the new CB Perf. manifolds I'm using now and the injecotr / fuel rail are right in the way of the ATF fill hole. So now the charge pipe makes a quick down-turn which points it towards the breast plate.

Here is a shot of fuel injector / rail next to the ATF fill hole. No room to go up, but plenty to go down. Black tube in upper right shows where I was thinking of coming in at.


Long story short, I made it like this to avoid cutting another hole on the car.

-Nick-

[Wally]

I get and respect that!

Still...because racecar would favour the optimum turbo path (JK)

[nbuscemi]

I get and respect that!

Still...because racecar would favour the optimum turbo path (JK)

I agree with you 100%, however form won over function this time. My target power is 0nly 150hp, so this should work well enough. Still running on stock trans (late, single side cover, 3.88 final drive). Clutch is stock for now. Plan to upgrade to KEP stage 1 when time comes.

-Nick-

[brewsy]

As far as effectiveness... jury is still out. When I was non-intercooled I would see intake temps get around 200 deg on 10 psi. The few pulls I've made with this setup shows intake temps never going beyond 10+ ambient on the same boost.
-Nick-

Nick,
Thats great and Id say the jury is very much in and giving a unanimous YES
10+ over ambient is awesome and if your using those old-fangled farenheat things then even better!!

Marc

[Therealkoop]

Looks awesome, I have all the parts sitting in a cart to do the same!

[nbuscemi]

Today was a beautiful Texas spring day. After chasing down a misfire on cylinder #1 all day yesterday (turned out to be an injector connector that wasn't seating all the way) I decided to take the car out and run some datalogs. After spending all the time and resources mounting the intercooler I wanted to see if the juice was worth the squeeze.



This portion of the log is after 10 minutes of driving (stop and go) when I finally got to strait away. Ambient temp was around 75 *f. I went full throttle in second and all the way through third and intake temps never went above 83* f at 8 psi of boost. Yes, the temps climbed after I let off, but that is because the sensor is in the manifold just past the throttle body and is likely heatsoaking from lack of air flow on throttle lift. I plan to relocate to pre-throttle body soon.

For what its worth, 8 psi in third gear would cause intake temps to climb to 150-170* f when I was running w/o an intercooler.

So I would say this is a WIN!

-Nick-

[Schweg]

Time to add more boost! Or timing!

[buguy]

Or both!

[nbuscemi]

Time to add more boost! Or timing!

Oh, no doubt!!! Shooting for 15 psi or so. Waiting to get the car on a dyno and finish tuning it. If I can get to 120-150 whp I'll call it done.... for now.

-Nick-