R intercooler in a non-R

[charleswrivers]

Anyone ever swap a...

http://hondapartsnetwork.com/part/9703626/Honda-Part-19710-5AA-A01-Intercooler

For a...

http://hondapartsnetwork.com/part/9767457/Honda-Part-19710-5BF-A01-Intercooler

...Same car... but obviously *vastly* different dimensions.

How about a...

http://hondapartsnetwork.com/part/9703626/Honda-Part-19710-5AA-A01-Intercooler

It'd be from an Accord. Cheaper. A lot of size still.

I'm used to cobbling together Intercoolers. In my Z31 days, we didn't have an intercooler stock and we were getting old Starion or Supra OEM Intercoolers, a lot of ducting and making it work.

At ~$100 a pop for a intercooler with more internal volume (I know extra lag would be a unwanted size effect) but a larger surface area on the face for heat exchanger... these look to be a steal.

There was a WTB thread that got me thinking. I know there are some outstanding aftermarket options, but the OEM already has 2 Intercoolers made for Civics... and the R is sized for an engine that stock is about the equivalent power of the best tuned 1.5ts we've got.

Sponsored

 

[17siturb0]

There’s a thread already on someone wanting to do the swap, won’t work. Prl or Mishimoto.

 

[charleswrivers]

I did a look but didn't come up w/it. Thanks. I know you'd have to use different ducting or fab your own as it's dimensionally different.

 

[callmehandsum]

Are you considering doing this? How hard would/could it be?

 

[charleswrivers]

If it was like the Z31s... you got whatever intercooler you could find, made it fit and got ducting to complete the circuit.

Since a type R and non-R are the same car... dimensionally it oughta fit, barring differences with the radiators or A/C components that w/the 1.5, might get in the way.

Not to over simplify how great a good intercooler can be... but it's just a hollow aluminum heat exchanger. As long as you can mount it, and hook ducting up to it and it has a source of airflow, it works... in the most crudest of senses.

There is obviously total crap ones out there. Going too big requires more air to pressurize the tract... raising lag. It can also hurt velocity, lower pressure, though if you have much lower IATs, the improved O2 content would counter this somewhat.

Again, there's a whole lot going into matching an intercooler with a car. We can see the stocker won't do well, but this is a lot on the turbo... as running much higher than stock boost make it just push hot air. A big intercooler for a little turbo is a bandaid.

With the (old) Z31 background I have... *any* intercooler was better than none as you went from their stock 6.7# and were getting much over 10#s. It just seemed like there was a big, cheap OEM intercooler available. If it mounted in the front of the radiator on the 1.5ts and you could fab some ducting then... well... boom. Big, cheap, new intercooler. I don't know that it would necessarily be a good match. I was just curious. Obviously, an aftermarket one that can use the stock ducting (though ducting can be very restrictive in itself... going from 2.0" ducts to 2.5" ducts in Z32s was *huge*) and stock mounting points will always be *very* easy.

http://www.twinturbo.net/nissan/300...-info-about-turbos-and-pipes-DYNO-CHARTS.html

One thing... the OEM one for the 1.5ts (all the same) shows the packaging dimensions as 36.5cm x 26.4cm x 17.5cm. No way. Its way longer than ~1ft.

The fact that the inlet/outlet is flanged would make it a bit more of a PITA and make you need to get the inlet and outlet pipe assemblies. Together, they're pretty much the cost of the R's intercooler itself.

 

[charleswrivers]

Actually... looking at the Accords, only 1 of 2 of the end tanks is flanged... and both the 1.5t and the 2.0t have an intercooler that weighs in at ~8 lbs and is roughly dimensionally the same.

1.5t... (It's $79)

http://hondapartsnetwork.com/part/9780300/Honda-Part-19710-6A0-A01-Intercooler

2.0t... ($315)

http://hondapartsnetwork.com/part/9787827/Honda-Part-19710-6B2-A01-Intercooler

The Rs intercooler... same *exact* shipped weight of the 1.5t Accord. End tanks look different though as you have to have 2 flanged pipes to hook it up.

Our little guy? 4.4 lbs. (...same as the CRV, though the part numbers are different... I think the end tanks are slightly different)

Other huge price difference... to get the single flange pipe you need for the Accord 1.5t's hot side... ~$12.

So we're <$100 for intercooler that is sized essentially the same as an Rs and for needed flange + intercooler to just go to regular charge piping (and I'm sure that's where you need to fab some little piece in, hopefully without too tight a turn to keep velocity up) There's also 'stay assemblies' (ie. brackets) that are about $5 each. for mounting...

*If* you could make it fit... it looks like you could get an intercooler dimensionally similar to a Type Rs (much larger than the 1.5s and the flange to just go to standard piping and brackets for a *smidge* over $100, not counting shipping.

Very interesting the Accords 1.5s get an intercooler with a similar dimension and capacity as the 2.0.

 

[charleswrivers]

Well... I've got to satisfy my curiosity... I'll be on travel one last time for my Squadron job and will be back next weekend. Maybe everything will be here by then.

I'll let y'all know how it goes. The only thing I'll have to find is some extra ducting to replace the Civic's flanged connections. The 'trim piece' that was discussed in some install videos I've seen on YouTube surrounding the intercooler isn't a 'trim piece' it's a duct to route airflow to it. There's a large amount of room behind the bumper from what it look like that that duct takes up. My Z32 had the same sort of thing on the stock intercoolers (they're SMICs on the Z32). When you replace them, you either forgo the duct, cut it to match the new one... or there are some brands (ie. Stillen) that makes replacement ducts specifically for theirs.

If it goes horribly wrong, or there's no way it'll work... I'll let y'all know too. I'm not too interested in chopping the bumper up to make it work. I'd love it if the Accord folks had a intercooler install video... or even something that shows the bumper removed but... it's not to be. The only thing I'm a little meh on is how the flanged connection on the passenger side it going to sit... and whether or not it takes an odd bend.

 

[charleswrivers]

Well, my ~$150 shipped worth of wrong intercooler and pieces/parts/connections have shipped. Here's hoping!

 

[charleswrivers]

Arrival is supposed to be 2/28. I'll take a picture or two, make some measurements so we can see what it's internal volume is and frontal face area is for comparison. I was hoping to have it this weekend and have plans next so it may take me a smidge to report back, but I'll let y'all know stuff as I can.

 

[17siturb0]

Following.

 

[RODSCIVIC]

Nice Charles!

 

[charleswrivers]

Ok... got it in last night. Measurements today...

Front face surface is 28"x5"= 140 in^2
Volume 28"x5"x2.5" = 350in^3

I am just measuring where the fins start on the ends.

I'd greatly appreciate it if someone has removed a stock intercooler to take comparative measurements. The only thing I had to go by as a difference was weight... as this intercooler was roughly x2 heavier than the stock unit. Overall length, including end tanks is right at 3 ft.

Yep... looks like an intercooler.

I have the bracket mount for the one side to go to a standard tube...

...so that both sides can just go to regular old tubing that I'd have to experiment in what length/shapes to get to attach. Also got whatever gaskets/mounting hardware that we're part of the 1.5t Accord setup to attempt a mount. $161 shipped. If it turns out this unit isn't really bigger than stock, I'll chock it up as a loss and return and get my $$$ back minus shipping and restocking, but that looks to be, based on comparisons the biggest cheap intercooler made for the Civic/Accord platforms. At 2x the weight, I'm hopeful.

 

[charleswrivers]

Big thanks to @gylmar814 for providing measurements for a stock intercooler. The juice is not apparently worth the squeeze...

Stock (pictures provided by @gylmar814)

vs Accord...

So only .5"of extra height. Only adds ~11% frontal surface and volume. Considering I'll have to do some funky stuff with mounting, as it looks like the hard pipes provide most of the support and I can't use that. I'll be sending it back. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

 

[17siturb0]

Big thanks to @gylmar814 for providing measurements for a stock intercooler. The juice is not apparently worth the squeeze...

Stock (pictures provided by @gylmar814)

vs Accord...

So only .5"of extra height. Only adds ~11% frontal surface and volume. Considering I'll have to do some funky stuff with mounting, as it looks like the hard pipes provide most of the support and I can't use that. I'll be sending it back. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Thank you for taking the time to do this for us all, good information. At least you tried! Now we know for sure haha.

Sponsored