gylmar814
Gylmar814
- First Name
- Gylmar
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2017
- Threads
- 31
- Messages
- 316
- Reaction score
- 309
- Location
- Miami, FL
- Vehicle(s)
- 2017 ABM Civic Si Sedan, 2018 Mazda Cx-5, (RIP) '17 SGP Civic Hatch Ex
- Thread starter
- #1
What's up guys. After a long wait, I finally received my PRL Intercooler.
I'm not here to write a tutorial... I'm writing more of a review and to show my install in a nutshell, my opinions, and some complications I went through so hopefully it helps whoever installs theirs in the future as well as what to expect.
As expected, the quality the of the Intercooler and piping was outstanding. The Intercooler itself is much beefier and little taller than the factory intercooler and feels bulletproof compared to the fragile stock intercooler. PRL did a great job on the finish and welding on the end tanks and the powder coating on the intercooler piping. I'm glad to see the piping is also noticeably bigger than stock
(See pictures below).
Unfortunately no instructions were provided, which is a little disappointing... But this was a straight forward install, if you have basic experience working on cars this shouldn't be a problem to install on your own. The longest part was taking off the bumper...
At first the fitment of the intercooler on the car was horrible. I was stuck trying to figure out why the studs on the end tanks weren't lining up correctly with the holes on the frame. I called PRL, come to find out you are suppose to re-use the rubber mounts the sit on the bottom of the stock intercooler end tanks on the prl intercooler. Again, if instructions were provided I probably wouldn't have went through all that.
Pros:
---As of now....Overall quality of the Intercooler, intercooler piping, materials and fitment was great.By the time I finished installing the PRL Intercooler it got dark outside so I didn't want to go through the trouble of trying to put back a front bumper in the dark. I will throw on the bumper and take it out for a drive first thing tomorrow. Anyways my rear mount is still curing from the windo weld, and it will be good to go tomorrow as well. I will report back and let you guys know how the intercooler performed under spirited driving.
Cons:
--- @PRL Motorsports The silicone couplings I received were dirty inside (See pics below). It seems like dried up rust spots in the inside of the couplings.. Not sure how that happened if they obviously aren't metal.
---I mentioned that the fitment was good.. but I had 1 minor issue. The hot siding piping was slightly chaffing against the horn ( See pics below) I tried to back off the coupling that connects to the intercooler to see if that gives the piping a little bit of a gap and tried rotating the piping itself but it only helped a little bit. Now it just makes contact rather than rubbing on the horn.
--- Overall packaging was good except I recommend @PRL Motorsports to put rubber caps on the end tanks when they ship these things out. . I'm assuming during the shipping process the Styrofoam inside the box started to tear in little pieces and some pieces of Styrofoam fell inside the Intercooler. (See pics below) Luckily I have a vacuum so sucked all the pieces out.
I'll chime back in probably tomorrow so I can write my review how the intercooler performed under driving and datalogs.
Dirty Couplings
Stock piping Vs PRL piping
End tank was pressed against the Styrofoam and caused it to tear and pieces fell inside the intercooler
Intercooler hot side piping chaffing against horn
View attachment 83341
She was my helper today.
View attachment 83337
View attachment 83338
I'm not here to write a tutorial... I'm writing more of a review and to show my install in a nutshell, my opinions, and some complications I went through so hopefully it helps whoever installs theirs in the future as well as what to expect.
As expected, the quality the of the Intercooler and piping was outstanding. The Intercooler itself is much beefier and little taller than the factory intercooler and feels bulletproof compared to the fragile stock intercooler. PRL did a great job on the finish and welding on the end tanks and the powder coating on the intercooler piping. I'm glad to see the piping is also noticeably bigger than stock
(See pictures below).
Unfortunately no instructions were provided, which is a little disappointing... But this was a straight forward install, if you have basic experience working on cars this shouldn't be a problem to install on your own. The longest part was taking off the bumper...
At first the fitment of the intercooler on the car was horrible. I was stuck trying to figure out why the studs on the end tanks weren't lining up correctly with the holes on the frame. I called PRL, come to find out you are suppose to re-use the rubber mounts the sit on the bottom of the stock intercooler end tanks on the prl intercooler. Again, if instructions were provided I probably wouldn't have went through all that.
Pros:
---As of now....Overall quality of the Intercooler, intercooler piping, materials and fitment was great.By the time I finished installing the PRL Intercooler it got dark outside so I didn't want to go through the trouble of trying to put back a front bumper in the dark. I will throw on the bumper and take it out for a drive first thing tomorrow. Anyways my rear mount is still curing from the windo weld, and it will be good to go tomorrow as well. I will report back and let you guys know how the intercooler performed under spirited driving.
Cons:
--- @PRL Motorsports The silicone couplings I received were dirty inside (See pics below). It seems like dried up rust spots in the inside of the couplings.. Not sure how that happened if they obviously aren't metal.
---I mentioned that the fitment was good.. but I had 1 minor issue. The hot siding piping was slightly chaffing against the horn ( See pics below) I tried to back off the coupling that connects to the intercooler to see if that gives the piping a little bit of a gap and tried rotating the piping itself but it only helped a little bit. Now it just makes contact rather than rubbing on the horn.
--- Overall packaging was good except I recommend @PRL Motorsports to put rubber caps on the end tanks when they ship these things out. . I'm assuming during the shipping process the Styrofoam inside the box started to tear in little pieces and some pieces of Styrofoam fell inside the Intercooler. (See pics below) Luckily I have a vacuum so sucked all the pieces out.
I'll chime back in probably tomorrow so I can write my review how the intercooler performed under driving and datalogs.
Dirty Couplings
Stock piping Vs PRL piping
End tank was pressed against the Styrofoam and caused it to tear and pieces fell inside the intercooler
Intercooler hot side piping chaffing against horn
View attachment 83341
She was my helper today.
View attachment 83337
View attachment 83338
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