Okay - so before I get flamed for this, I was kind of forced into this and bought it with the intention of replacing it in the future if needed, I just needed a replacement immediately and figured why not, at least I can make a thread about it!!!

So here goes the story: back in December while driving through Denver's notorious 5-points neighborhood in the snow I plowed over a drainage channel that was unmarked (and invisible due to about 4'' of fresh, untouched snow). Immediately got a CEL, no boost, no power. Luckily I was about a mile from home and limped it back.





Intercooler was very dead. Ended up having to make an intercooler bypass out of some ABS plastic tubing (don't have a picture) and kept the car out of boost while I waited on an intercooler to come. Unfortunately I was broke at the time and had to make a decision: food or a name brand IC. Inevitably food won and I ended up with this eBay intercooler which came with IC piping as well.







I was actually quite surprised when it arrived packaged well and it seems they did a pretty good job of ripping off someone else's design. Welds were good and I pressure tested it to 30psi and saw virtually no pressure drop even after 5 minutes - so in it went! It bolted right up to the stock intercooler mounting brackets using the rubber isolators and hung straight right away. The inlet and outlet were exactly where they should be and they do work with the stock IC piping with a little massaging. The clamps that came with the kit appeared to have grade 8 or better hardware and were actually pretty good quality as were the silicone couplers.



The IC piping was another story. it didn't fit at all, hit the hood and had a BOV fitting which I had to make a half-assed cover for and I ended up going back to the stock piping immediately after putting it on. Wouldn't recommend buying this IC with the piping as you will probably end up throwing it out (you can kinda see the issue in the below picture).





Of course it averaged around 12* over the next two nights it took me to get it in after work, but I didn't like the idea of driving around bypassing the IC so I just forged ahead and got it on. It seemed like the car was a little down on power at first but after doing a little research I did the 3rd gear highway pulls and its running like stock again, but looks much better and I'm sure it will offer a performance gain once I go for a tune. Also took the opportunity to put on the go-pro mount as well.





All in all I would recommend it if you either don't have the money or just want to save some. its worked out great for me so far and I'll report back if anything goes wrong! Let the flaming begin!

:Beer:

 

Nothing wrong with eBay parts if they work.

 

It almost looks like the zzp one... If I may ask how much was it?

 

dont feel bad, i will be testing an ebay wastegate while the tial is send to the company to repairs lol
i will be making a thread too and see if it blows up or not lol.
but hey at least you were able to save some bucks

 

prices seem to fluctuate on eBay depending on who has them in stock. I paid 299 shipped, the cheapest one currently is 332 shipped. When I was looking there was an IC only that was around 30? or so cheaper without the IC piping so I figured what the hell.

There is a black one as well that is a little bit more.

Also I didn't detail it above but the upper IC piping was meeting at a 160* angle and the silicone coupler just barely fit up and I didn't want to get stuck on Loveland Pass at 13k elevation in the snow if I blew the coupler off haha.

 

haha nice.

 

wow, 299??? ebay IC? Treadstone sells em for that if I remember correctly. Wait is that the price with the piping too?

 

Treadstones TR8 is 350 + Shipping.

However, BNR Racing sells it for 325 shipped

 

Nice write up man!

It was a good idea pressure testing it. I'm glad it checked out ok.

Quality doesnt look bad at all.

 

Nice write up, and don't feel bad about eBay parts, if they do the job right then what the hell!
We actually need people like you, trying out new things for the LNF, and testing what works on these cars.
Post up a link of the one you bought.

 

The IC looks like a straight-up copy of the Hahn IC, down to the curves, angle, and location of the ports on the endtanks (Hahn ICs don't have them right on the ends). Owned 2 Hahn ICs over the years before going to a ZZP one. lol

Yours:


Hahn IC:

 

Really love to see threads like this man!! If you didnt make this thread, and you made a thread asking if you should get the ebay intercooler you would hear nothing but:

"You get what you pay for"
"Ebay performance parts are for ricers"
"Ebay parts are crap!"


Now you got it, installed it, it works great and you saved a chunk of change! more power to ya!

 

I know many people who run eBay inter coolers. Cx racing inter coolers are actually made quite well, I ran one on my 500hp kenne bell'd 5l mustang. Guy running them on cars with 700hp+. Can you buy just the intercooler?

 

This.

 

Real question is, why were you down in the hood...

 

Out of total curiousity. What does doing a bunch of 3rd gear pulls do for your power ? And is there some kind of method you used ?

 

Sheet..I buy ebay stuff and havent been disappointed yet..
But none of my parts have bee profermoce parts..but nevertheless if it works I might look into this for when I need a new intercooler

 

Looks like a well made intercooler for someone on a budget! I haven't had any issues with an ebay parts

 

You did end up using the charge piping? Or no

 

I just bought intercooler and universal piping for my buggy from eBay, payed 400 for everything, will see how it does. Only needs to hold 10 psi max so I'm not worried, and if a weld fails. Get work to tig weld it . Also got an eBay bov, and boost controller , see how they fair lol. eBay has good company's on there, just gotta read the reviews.

 

Haha, I actually live in Park Hill and I was coming back from a work party downtown. (Some would say park hill is the hood as well)

$299 included the piping, couplers, clamps, hardware and shipping

Here is the cheapest one currently listed:

Bolt on Aluminum Bar Plate Turbo Intercooler Piping 08 10 Chevy Cobalt SS LNF L4 | eBay

When I bought mine they had the IC only on ebay for $269 incl shipping but as of right now all I can find is the whole kit and its price went up about $30 (maybe I was the first one to buy it then they raised the price?)

how were you running it on a KB 5l? I thought those were roots blowers with an air/water setup? Im sure im wrong, just curious.

It just seemed like the car had to re-map (learn down?) the intercooler, boost was coming on later than I felt it should and power delivery wasnt completely linear and almost felt like the timing was off. By the fourth pull on the highway in 3rd gear from 2000 rpm to near redline it was pulling like new again!

No, it seems like they reverse engineered the charge piping from measurements and pictures and never actually test-fit it. the two pieces of the upper charge piping met at a strange angle and the aluminum is pretty cheap so i didnt want to try and bend it in my vise and crack it. Im moving back to TN for work in a few weeks and have a buddy with a machine shop and i'll try to bend it then and report back if this is a viable solution.

 

Just looked at the Treadstone TR8 and it doesnt appear to be a direct fit (maybe with some 90* elbows). I needed something I wouldnt have to do too much fabrication for, I was working out of a 'mechanics' 100 piece tool set and being that it was so cold out I just wanted it to pop in.

 

Wonder if you got a block off plate for the bov and some pipe bending would the piping work?

 

I bought treadstone tr10 and it's a direct fit

 

Denver?!?!?! whoa, nice to know there's another one of us! Well I live in west Wheat Ridge!

Anyway nice write up man!