Review: ETS 4" intercooler
Jul 8, 2010, 08:45 AM
#1
Review: ETS 4" intercooler
Review: ETS 4" intercooler
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Ok, so right off the bat I will tell you I am not very good with cars, and with mechanical stuff I am ok at best, so feel free to take this as truth or not.
I was in the market for something to add a bit more power and Golden had suggested to me an IC, when I asked which one, though he himself does not own an ETS IC, he still recommended and said that would be the best bang for the buck... so off I went looking at different sizes and such. Obviously trying to decide on the 3, 3.5, or 4" thickness. Michael at ETS said I would have no clearance issues with the 4" and I figured I may as well go big... was it overkill? Maybe, but they claim 5 more whp over their 3.5" so I thought, why not?
Product was ordered, but apparently had to be made which was really no big deal as being almost 32, you have a bit more patience. Either way I was excited. There was some confusion between the vendor I used and ETS and apparently I thought it was going to ship out earlier than it did, so it took about an extra week longer. When it arrived here and I finally got a chance to open it, it was well packaged and everything that was supposed to be in there was. However, the side where the LICP goes was actually bent...it looked like it had been dropped or something, but after waiting all this time to get it here, and it not being a big deal to fix... I just decided to fix it myself. So I got out the robogrips and just bent the part back into place, filed it down, vacuumed and wiped it out with a damp rag and got to the installation.
One of my first impressions was... this is quite a heavy piece. Not so heavy that I had to struggle to pick it up, but MUCH heavier than stock, of course overall it's much bigger, and that should be expected. I was more interested in what it would amount to in performance than the extra 10 lbs... which i'm sure it was from OEM.
I had already taken the old IC out the night before, just so I was that much ahead of the game so after I got the new IC out, I just got it into position, slid it between the crash beat and the radiator. It's pretty much right up againsts the radiator with MAYBE a hair or 2 wiggle room there, but oh well, more flow, so the radiator should do better too, I guess anyway.
I got things finished last night and while part of the front of the car seems a bit off and I may remove the front again and make sure the front is all snapped in properly, You wouldnt notice it unless you were looking.
I called it a night and went to bed.
I got up kind of early and decided to take the car for a spin. How did it do? Well, it's faster... is it the kind of thing where you say "ummm, yeah it seems faster" ? No, it is most definitely faster. There have been questions raised about ETS' claims on their IC numbers. 22 whp on a car that is stock just seems to be not very believable to some... likely they are in denial, because they either don't have one, or don't want to believe their own IC can't match the power output.
This is not a cool day here people... it's maxed over 100 degrees over the last few days in a row here, the humidity is high, so don't think that I was in the ideal conditions of a nice cool Mary Poppins happy day. From the start of the car and just moving in reverse the car felt less restricted. Like a man has been wearing speedos and then all of a sudden discovers boxers. Power comes on much earlier and the delivery of it is smooth. Without having the stuff to log the data, I only once took it up to 7000 rpms and it got there even faster than ever before. On the way there, around 3500 or so the tires broke loose and the ASC light came on and so did the SES... not a surprise since I had put the WB02 in it and it was already throwing that code. Tephra has advised me on how to get rid of it and when I have a little more energy, I will get the laptop out there and fix it.
Overall I would have to say I am happy with the way everything went with the IC. It was worth the wait and worth the money.
I'm a bit irritated with that front nose section and I will MOST definitely get it straight today or in the next few days, but that's a whole other issue.
700.00 well spent
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ok, so right off the bat I will tell you I am not very good with cars, and with mechanical stuff I am ok at best, so feel free to take this as truth or not.
I was in the market for something to add a bit more power and Golden had suggested to me an IC, when I asked which one, though he himself does not own an ETS IC, he still recommended and said that would be the best bang for the buck... so off I went looking at different sizes and such. Obviously trying to decide on the 3, 3.5, or 4" thickness. Michael at ETS said I would have no clearance issues with the 4" and I figured I may as well go big... was it overkill? Maybe, but they claim 5 more whp over their 3.5" so I thought, why not?
Product was ordered, but apparently had to be made which was really no big deal as being almost 32, you have a bit more patience. Either way I was excited. There was some confusion between the vendor I used and ETS and apparently I thought it was going to ship out earlier than it did, so it took about an extra week longer. When it arrived here and I finally got a chance to open it, it was well packaged and everything that was supposed to be in there was. However, the side where the LICP goes was actually bent...it looked like it had been dropped or something, but after waiting all this time to get it here, and it not being a big deal to fix... I just decided to fix it myself. So I got out the robogrips and just bent the part back into place, filed it down, vacuumed and wiped it out with a damp rag and got to the installation.
One of my first impressions was... this is quite a heavy piece. Not so heavy that I had to struggle to pick it up, but MUCH heavier than stock, of course overall it's much bigger, and that should be expected. I was more interested in what it would amount to in performance than the extra 10 lbs... which i'm sure it was from OEM.
I had already taken the old IC out the night before, just so I was that much ahead of the game so after I got the new IC out, I just got it into position, slid it between the crash beat and the radiator. It's pretty much right up againsts the radiator with MAYBE a hair or 2 wiggle room there, but oh well, more flow, so the radiator should do better too, I guess anyway.
I got things finished last night and while part of the front of the car seems a bit off and I may remove the front again and make sure the front is all snapped in properly, You wouldnt notice it unless you were looking.
I called it a night and went to bed.
I got up kind of early and decided to take the car for a spin. How did it do? Well, it's faster... is it the kind of thing where you say "ummm, yeah it seems faster" ? No, it is most definitely faster. There have been questions raised about ETS' claims on their IC numbers. 22 whp on a car that is stock just seems to be not very believable to some... likely they are in denial, because they either don't have one, or don't want to believe their own IC can't match the power output.
This is not a cool day here people... it's maxed over 100 degrees over the last few days in a row here, the humidity is high, so don't think that I was in the ideal conditions of a nice cool Mary Poppins happy day. From the start of the car and just moving in reverse the car felt less restricted. Like a man has been wearing speedos and then all of a sudden discovers boxers. Power comes on much earlier and the delivery of it is smooth. Without having the stuff to log the data, I only once took it up to 7000 rpms and it got there even faster than ever before. On the way there, around 3500 or so the tires broke loose and the ASC light came on and so did the SES... not a surprise since I had put the WB02 in it and it was already throwing that code. Tephra has advised me on how to get rid of it and when I have a little more energy, I will get the laptop out there and fix it.
Overall I would have to say I am happy with the way everything went with the IC. It was worth the wait and worth the money.
I'm a bit irritated with that front nose section and I will MOST definitely get it straight today or in the next few days, but that's a whole other issue.
700.00 well spent
Jul 8, 2010, 08:53 AM
#2
Nice great review and thanks for taking the time to write it up. I have an eBay front mount (3.5") and want to upgrade to an ETS badly...just don't have the funds at the moment.
If you could get some pictures up also of your car with the new FMIC, that would be great too.
If you could get some pictures up also of your car with the new FMIC, that would be great too.
Jul 8, 2010, 12:57 PM
#4
Nice great review and thanks for taking the time to write it up. I have an eBay front mount (3.5") and want to upgrade to an ETS badly...just don't have the funds at the moment.
If you could get some pictures up also of your car with the new FMIC, that would be great too.
If you could get some pictures up also of your car with the new FMIC, that would be great too.
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Jul 8, 2010, 01:37 PM
#8
Evolved Member
In the beginning half of the post, I was like "oh oh, he's gonna bash ETS", and then you make a 180 and praise them for the awesome part. 
Dunno why you ordered it from a vendor though, you could have just ordered it from ETS directly
. BTW, did you change the UICP too, that's a major power-delivery improver!
Dunno why you ordered it from a vendor though, you could have just ordered it from ETS directly
. BTW, did you change the UICP too, that's a major power-delivery improver!
Jul 8, 2010, 01:43 PM
#9
In the beginning half of the post, I was like "oh oh, he's gonna bash ETS", and then you make a 180 and praise them for the awesome part.
Dunno why you ordered it from a vendor though, you could have just ordered it from ETS directly. BTW, did you change the UICP too, that's a major power-delivery improver!
Dunno why you ordered it from a vendor though, you could have just ordered it from ETS directly
. BTW, did you change the UICP too, that's a major power-delivery improver!What's the average gains from it?
Jul 8, 2010, 01:53 PM
#10
Evolved Member
Its not so much the gain as it is the linearity of the power delivery. Your boost isn't fluctuating as much anymore as you've eliminated the crappy rubber stock UICP that expands under boost. Some translate this experience in power delivery as a gain. I remember the first time I drove mine after putting on the UICP. The car climbed all the way to 7K RPM on stock tune without continuous stuttering and power drops like it was doing before the swap. This is probably the reason even Mitsu sells a metal UICP at the dealership.
Jul 8, 2010, 01:55 PM
#11
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The UICP should hold boost better. When you swap it out, boost just feels crisper. It's kind of hard to explain. But they are really cheap to swap out that rubber balloon thing that we have stock.
Watch one with a stock UICP on a dyno sometime. They are funny. You can see it balloon up.
Watch one with a stock UICP on a dyno sometime. They are funny. You can see it balloon up.
Jul 8, 2010, 01:55 PM
#12
In the beginning half of the post, I was like "oh oh, he's gonna bash ETS", and then you make a 180 and praise them for the awesome part.
Dunno why you ordered it from a vendor though, you could have just ordered it from ETS directly. BTW, did you change the UICP too, that's a major power-delivery improver!
Dunno why you ordered it from a vendor though, you could have just ordered it from ETS directly
. BTW, did you change the UICP too, that's a major power-delivery improver!Yes I have a UICP, 3 port, BOV, green performance drop-in and now IC.
