1.5T Anybody have the Depo Racing intercooler kit?

10GenPearlSi

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I got the PLM intercooler which is the same as the Depo Racing one except for the hose clamps. It was 23 lbs on my kitchen scale which is much more than the stock one I pulled off. My stock one was too light to measure on my scale. The definition of Depo is a shipping warehouse. That should tell you all you need to know about Depo Racing. It fit like a glove because it seems to be an exact copy of the PRL one. I guess the fabricator has a good 3D scanner! The hoses are the same sizes as the PRL too!
 

Myx

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I am at the shop now. Intercooler is installed. Just need to put everything together so he said I can chill for a bit while he gets everything together.

Attached a couple pics below. Nothing to write home about. He said install was straightforward. Surprisingly, he said the hose clamps were garbage and he had to supply a few of his own. They were garbage only in that some of them don't fit due to being too small. Otherwise, they appear to be good.

Other than this, no other issues reported. Just waiting for things to be finished up and I'll head out to the track. Current temp is 75f. 35-50f is the temp range I like to get really good times in. Either way, if it all gets together today, will see how it goes.

Outside of some if the hose clamps being too small, nothing to report.

I am having trouble uploading more images for some reason. Will do later.

Honda Civic 10th gen Anybody have the Depo Racing intercooler kit? 20190522_163630


Honda Civic 10th gen Anybody have the Depo Racing intercooler kit? 20190522_163558
 
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Myx

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Today was a fun filled day. I could say a whole lot but will try to keep it short (which may still be a lot).

Had the Depo intercooler installed. Beware, in my case, my mechanic said a few of the hose clamps are simply to small and he had to replace a few of them. Intercooler was installed but I had an unrelated issue with a coolant sensor on my passenger side that wasn't connected. It was disconnected to install the intercooler. Ugghhh....so we fought to get it connected without having to remove the bumper again. Nothing to do with the intercooler.

I drive omw home to get my helmet for the dragstrip. Was testing accelerating on the highway and I heard this 'POP'. I let off and drove like a grandma the rest of the way to my house. The car manage to keep going. What did I find?

My hose from the turbocharger outlet came off. This is right on the passenger side of the vehicle. See picture below. The Depo hose clamp was so small, I couldn't get it back on properly so I went into my garage to get a silicone clamp of my own to put here. Clamped it down and all was good.

Honda Civic 10th gen Anybody have the Depo Racing intercooler kit? Hose Blew Off - 1


Honda Civic 10th gen Anybody have the Depo Racing intercooler kit? Hose Blew Off - 2




I was gonna call it a night. Ate dinner with my family but couldn't take it. I wanted to know what the car would run at the dragstrip. Take offs from a dead stop felt slower than pre-intercooler install so that was annoying me a bit but expected.

So I got to the track late and managed to get 3 runs in. As I suspected, my take offs from a dead stop was slower than pre-intercooler. I was hoping to get 2.1? 60ft times. My 60ft times on the dragstrip were in the 2.3 range with a worst of 2.4. I have to work on a way around this to get it back to the 2.1 range. To be continued.

The good news is that my 1/4 mile traps speeds were the fastest they have ever been. Temp was in the 61f-65f range outside. My highest trap speed ever was 100.64mph. With most of all my other 1/4 mile runs in the 97-100mph range. Tonight, I ran a 102.45mph, 102.84mph and 102.49mph. I'm averaging 2.5mph more than I usually run, even when I ran with temps in the 35f-45f range before. This is AWESOME! The car is making power.

I did not monitor IAT1 and IAT2. Sorry. My laptop sucks with only a 45 minute battery charge.


All in all, I still don't recommend getting this. Stay with the status quo since that what makes most people feel good. If you decide on getting this, beware that hose clamps may be too small. Outside of that......the Depo Intercooler kit is AWESOME!!!!!!

I'll soon have this CVT running in the 13.7-13.8 range. Will keep trying. It's been a fun ride so far. As you can see, I almost beat my best 1/4 mile time in my sig below. But my mph is almost 2.5mph faster this time around.

Honda Civic 10th gen Anybody have the Depo Racing intercooler kit? After Intercooler times
 
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Civic17siYAY

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I got the PLM intercooler which is the same as the Depo Racing one except for the hose clamps. It was 23 lbs on my kitchen scale which is much more than the stock one I pulled off. My stock one was too light to measure on my scale. The definition of Depo is a shipping warehouse. That should tell you all you need to know about Depo Racing. It fit like a glove because it seems to be an exact copy of the PRL one. I guess the fabricator has a good 3D scanner! The hoses are the same sizes as the PRL too!
I'm curious as to what proof you have on this. I know that the PLM is a direct knock off of PRL, but the owner of depo said he makes his intercoolers. Not trying to start shit or call you on anything, just looking for proof so I can make a decision before I buy. I try to support companies that dont steal others designs but also wont overpay for stuff either.
 


10GenPearlSi

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I'm curious as to what proof you have on this. I know that the PLM is a direct knock off of PRL, but the owner of depo said he makes his intercoolers. Not trying to start shit or call you on anything, just looking for proof so I can make a decision before I buy. I try to support companies that dont steal others designs but also wont overpay for stuff either.
Since I have a PLM, I just looked at the Depo intercooler and saw that it was identical to what I got from PLM. Even the same intercooler end caps.
 

jakdotdot

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I'm curious as to what proof you have on this. I know that the PLM is a direct knock off of PRL, but the owner of depo said he makes his intercoolers.
And you believed him?

At least in most cases, Depo's designs have been copi....uhh "inspired" by other companies parts. I say in most cases as I am not about to go through this company's entire parts catalog to figure out where they got their "inspiration" from for every part.
 
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Civic17siYAY

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And you believed him?

At least in most cases, Depo's designs have been copi....uhh "inspired" by other companies parts. I say in most cases as I am not about to go through this company's entire parts catalog to figure out where they got their "inspiration" from for every part.
He stated that the pipes and couplers were both larger than prl so I gave him benefit of the doubt. Honestly I'm not familiar with depo at all as a company. I was just curious and sort of happy to see an intercooler kit at a reasonable price. Oh well.
 

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Since I have a PLM, I just looked at the Depo intercooler and saw that it was identical to what I got from PLM. Even the same intercooler end caps.
Size of intercooler is a little different. PLM has a CORE SIZE: 24" x 6.3" x 3.5" and DEPO has a 24 x 6.5 x 3.5 inch core
 

10GenPearlSi

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Size of intercooler is a little different. PLM has a CORE SIZE: 24" x 6.3" x 3.5" and DEPO has a 24 x 6.5 x 3.5 inch core
I would be surprised if that was really true. I think they rounded off the posted measurements. I don't think there is .2" extra available between the bottom of the tray and the bumper.
 


swanarg

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I decided to give 'em a try for the same reason as most of us in this thread, price. Still waiting on mine, Depo has been on vacation this past week so it hasn't shipped. I'm in SoCal so hopefully it will be here mid next week. I'll be installing it myself. Won't be doing an in depth install or instruction as it will be pretty similar to any other intercooler install as you all can imagine. I will update you guys with any findings as far as quality and fitment. I ordered one of the "blemish" intercoolers for $415 on their website so I'll be sure to photo that for anyone wondering if the blemishes are noticeable post installation. Anyway, stay tuned.
 

swanarg

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Initial impressions:
Super solid kit, fantastic price point. I went with the blemish option from the website which came in at $415. Blemish is hardly worth mentioning. This thing was in great shape. Shipment was fast once it shipped after he got back from vacation. The items arrive well packed. Everything needed for the install was included in the kit.

Installation:
Installation was fairly straight forward. Same as any of the popular brands. I did not have any fitment issues. I did have to finagle the charge pipe a bit to get it where I wanted it. These pipes are much much bigger than factory.
I did end up using worm clamps for the throttle body, turbo outlet, as well as the hot side silicon pipe to the upper portion of the aluminum pipe. I simply reused some of the clamps from my OEM intercooler. I decided to do this in those areas due to the tight spaces. The T-clamps do in fact fit but they are veryyyyyy tight. I had to place the t clamp on the aluminum pipes and intercooler end tanks first. Then after sliding on the silicon piping , I worked the clamps on by hand with the help of a flathead. Once everything was on I tightened it down fairly tight. Depo recommends to tighten down until the clamps begin to “dig in” to the silicon. Use your judgement. I wouldn’t say mine dug in but they’ll leave impressions for sure.

Summary:
This is a very nice kit at a fantastic price. The t-clamps are a bit difficult to work with but they do fit. Overall quality is high and everything feels very solid. If you are like me and don’t mind getting your hands dirty and taking a little bit of time to make everything work nicely, then this kit might be for you.

Honda Civic 10th gen Anybody have the Depo Racing intercooler kit? 0197510A-9A18-4AE2-AD7E-11AA5D0B1126


Honda Civic 10th gen Anybody have the Depo Racing intercooler kit? C10408BF-C2BA-441A-AA7D-8DEA0279C82D


Honda Civic 10th gen Anybody have the Depo Racing intercooler kit? 817DE879-A43C-48BC-92A6-D099B90358C5


Honda Civic 10th gen Anybody have the Depo Racing intercooler kit? C55B936C-7EDF-41CA-B528-593A142D0E37


Honda Civic 10th gen Anybody have the Depo Racing intercooler kit? 6C7887EE-AA2F-496B-9598-23C2B3AA9756


Honda Civic 10th gen Anybody have the Depo Racing intercooler kit? A4F18AEF-6E59-4D64-BFE8-D84CAE9EED88


Honda Civic 10th gen Anybody have the Depo Racing intercooler kit? 9704224B-2F67-4D41-8930-6A6CA6C4B32C


Honda Civic 10th gen Anybody have the Depo Racing intercooler kit? 234B289A-B14D-478E-802F-3B2FFCDFDFE2


Honda Civic 10th gen Anybody have the Depo Racing intercooler kit? AB15843B-48F1-494F-AB33-50431FF444E6


Honda Civic 10th gen Anybody have the Depo Racing intercooler kit? 7078C7B3-492C-47B9-B521-79EA224BC019


Honda Civic 10th gen Anybody have the Depo Racing intercooler kit? 50C0BB28-B24B-4DAE-9EC9-273C79097786
 

Myx

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Initial impressions:
Super solid kit, fantastic price point. I went with the blemish option from the website which came in at $415. Blemish is hardly worth mentioning. This thing was in great shape. Shipment was fast once it shipped after he got back from vacation. The items arrive well packed. Everything needed for the install was included in the kit.

Installation:
Installation was fairly straight forward. Same as any of the popular brands. I did not have any fitment issues. I did have to finagle the charge pipe a bit to get it where I wanted it. These pipes are much much bigger than factory.
I did end up using worm clamps for the throttle body, turbo outlet, as well as the hot side silicon pipe to the upper portion of the aluminum pipe. I simply reused some of the clamps from my OEM intercooler. I decided to do this in those areas due to the tight spaces. The T-clamps do in fact fit but they are veryyyyyy tight. I had to place the t clamp on the aluminum pipes and intercooler end tanks first. Then after sliding on the silicon piping , I worked the clamps on by hand with the help of a flathead. Once everything was on I tightened it down fairly tight. Depo recommends to tighten down until the clamps begin to “dig in” to the silicon. Use your judgement. I wouldn’t say mine dug in but they’ll leave impressions for sure.

Summary:
This is a very nice kit at a fantastic price. The t-clamps are a bit difficult to work with but they do fit. Overall quality is high and everything feels very solid. If you are like me and don’t mind getting your hands dirty and taking a little bit of time to make everything work nicely, then this kit might be for you.


Great review! Thanks for the post and pictures.
 

Zeffenn

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Initial impressions:
Super solid kit, fantastic price point. I went with the blemish option from the website which came in at $415. Blemish is hardly worth mentioning. This thing was in great shape. Shipment was fast once it shipped after he got back from vacation. The items arrive well packed. Everything needed for the install was included in the kit.
What are you typically seeing for IAT2 with your new intercooler setup?
 

swanarg

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What are you typically seeing for IAT2 with your new intercooler setup?
Just realized you said IAT2, I’ll have to get back to you. It’s on one of my other preset views in my ktuner. Haven’t been looking at that one much.
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