My PRL Intercooler Install/Review

gylmar814

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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. :headbang:

Honda Civic 10th gen My PRL Intercooler Install/Review 20180205_135144


Honda Civic 10th gen My PRL Intercooler Install/Review 20180205_140052


Honda Civic 10th gen My PRL Intercooler Install/Review 20180205_140059

Dirty Couplings
Honda Civic 10th gen My PRL Intercooler Install/Review 20180205_142407


Honda Civic 10th gen My PRL Intercooler Install/Review 20180205_142412

Stock piping Vs PRL piping
Honda Civic 10th gen My PRL Intercooler Install/Review 20180205_140242


Honda Civic 10th gen My PRL Intercooler Install/Review 20180205_135908

End tank was pressed against the Styrofoam and caused it to tear and pieces fell inside the intercooler
Honda Civic 10th gen My PRL Intercooler Install/Review 20180205_175112

Intercooler hot side piping chaffing against horn
Honda Civic 10th gen My PRL Intercooler Install/Review 20180205_163129


Honda Civic 10th gen My PRL Intercooler Install/Review 20180205_131458


Honda Civic 10th gen My PRL Intercooler Install/Review 20180205_190706


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She was my helper today. :D
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JDM_DOHC_SiR

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Cons:

--- 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.
Wow.. you got lucky.. my whole intercooler looked like if was full of confetti .. still trying to get all of the crap out of it and I have used a Vacuum as well..o_O But I have to agree.. they need to cover the end tanks better or use the blue high density foam vice the white Styrofoam :(... and to top it off it looks like UPS played foot ball with my intercooler box:doh:

Honda Civic 10th gen My PRL Intercooler Install/Review Ace-Ventura-kicking-package-giphy

Honda Civic 10th gen My PRL Intercooler Install/Review sZblLxM
 
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gylmar814

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Wow.. you got lucky.. my whole intercooler looked like if was full of confetti .. still trying to get all of the crap out of it and I have used a Vacuum as well..o_O But I have to agree.. they need to cover the end tanks better or use the blue high density foam vice the white Styrofoam :(... and to top it off it looks like UPS played foot ball with my intercooler box:doh:

Ace-Ventura-kicking-package-giphy.gif

sZblLxM.gif
Hm interrsting! atleast I wasn't the only one. I love that movie. Lol
 
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gylmar814

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Some additional pictures post bumper install. Everything installed just fine. Front bumper can be a pain in the ass lining everything up. Never seen so much plastic push tabs installed on a Honda before. lol.

Honda Civic 10th gen My PRL Intercooler Install/Review 20180206_112807


Honda Civic 10th gen My PRL Intercooler Install/Review 20180206_112815

Some sweet eye candy coming from the open holes in the vent on the right side of the bumper for the horn ;)
Honda Civic 10th gen My PRL Intercooler Install/Review 20180206_112825

Picture showing fitment of the cold side piping from the bottom of the car up.
Honda Civic 10th gen My PRL Intercooler Install/Review 20180206_112911


Honda Civic 10th gen My PRL Intercooler Install/Review 20180206_112839
 

4drsiblue

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how’s the si now? Feel anything more or less anywhere in the rpm band?
 


davemarco

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Some additional pictures post bumper install. Everything installed just fine. Front bumper can be a pain in the ass lining everything up. Never seen so much plastic push tabs installed on a Honda before. lol.

20180206_112807.jpg


20180206_112815.jpg

Some sweet eye candy coming from the open holes in the vent on the right side of the bumper for the horn ;)
20180206_112825.jpg

Picture showing fitment of the cold side piping from the bottom of the car up.
20180206_112911.jpg


20180206_112839.jpg
You have the PRL SRI? How is it!?

Any sound clips or feedback on it?
 
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gylmar814

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how’s the si now? Feel anything more or less anywhere in the rpm band?
Haven't drove it yet, will tonight and give an update
 
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gylmar814

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You have the PRL SRI? How is it!?

Any sound clips or feedback on it?
Yes I do, I love it. Great quality and fitment as always coming from PRL.
Sounds great and it's pretty loud if you pause at a certain throttle postion. Really opens up the sound of the BPV ;)

I used to have the injen cold air intake that coverts to short ram and sounds pretty much the same. But I feel the PRL is louder
 


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I was considering this PRL SRI, BUT, after seeing it installed...not to sure, silicone hose with a filter on the end.....what makes this better than ALL the other SRI's? I'm thinking 27WON may be the way to go..I'll wait to hear reviews on both, thanks for the pics.
 

3925blue

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I was considering this PRL SRI, BUT, after seeing it installed...not to sure, silicone hose with a filter on the end.....what makes this better than ALL the other SRI's? I'm thinking 27WON may be the way to go..I'll wait to hear reviews on both, thanks for the pics.
The difference will be mostly in the MAF housing; theirs is the only one that's been designed, tested & proven to not throw your fuel trims off (Mishimoto may have, but I have not followed the TypeR Dev thread). Plus they have the only option for a big MAF if you are OK with tuning. Also, their silicone looks beefy as hell - 5 or 6 ply aramid fiber reinforced.
 

17siturb0

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I was considering this PRL SRI, BUT, after seeing it installed...not to sure, silicone hose with a filter on the end.....what makes this better than ALL the other SRI's? I'm thinking 27WON may be the way to go..I'll wait to hear reviews on both, thanks for the pics.
That’s the thing, it’s not much different, and Prl stated that. They recommend the CAI for the most power and steady flow of cold air, and they sell the short ram with a conversion piece to make it a CAI. They have 4 different options of intakes to choose from for different needs and for different budgets.
 
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gylmar814

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And? How do you like it?
Somebody earlier in the thread asked me what I thought about it but I'll mention again... I have no complaints, yes the the pipe is silicone but between the pipe and the filter is the aluminum MAF housing.. So they both attach to each end and its pretty solid design once you tighten down the clamps. I had no problems with fitment and I like that PRL put a bracket on the bottom of the intake to hold the intake in place rather than the design Injen went with with the bracket coming out from the back and bolting it down from the engine.

Performance wise I don't have complaints. Honestly a short ram intake is a short ram intake. I primarily got it because my OCD kicked in and I wanted my intake to be PRL so it could match with my intercooler that was on the way at the time. I used to have the Injen Cold air intake that converts to short ram before and honestly couldn't tell the difference in the butt dyno. Besides I never used it as a cold air because I personally don't want to risk it, South Florida weather is bipolar.

However 1 interesting difference between the the Injen and the PRL is idk why but inside the Injen intake there was a small pipe welded on the inside of the intake pipe right next to the MAF. Not sure why that was there but it served no purpose other than slowing down the airflow imo as well as sloppy weld finishes on the inside of the pipe. Atleast with the PRL MAF housing, it's smooth on the inside with plenty of space around the MAF sensor for the incoming air to travel though and the silicone coupling is smooth as well.
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