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Thanks. I've tried this route. The fins seem to be so badly damaged that when trying to straighten they just snap off anyways so I'm really starting to wonder what to do. Besides that, it's very difficult and awkward doing it with the Intercooler in location.
Is this truly affecting my cars performance?? I would say roughly 50% of the fins are flat and bent.
It's reasonably easy to remove the intercooler to make it easier to work at. If it's a hatch , the fins are way thinner than the older subarus. Ive refurbed 3 now (2 my own , one i helped someone else) and the hatch fins break easily.
Take it out , follow the video above (I've heard people say to use a hair pin but can't see why you wouldn't use tweezers as they are perfect). Give it a quick sand and paint , stencil on a STI if wanted , and it'll look a hundred times better.
Thanks. I've tried this route. The fins seem to be so badly damaged that when trying to straighten they just snap off anyways so I'm really starting to wonder what to do. Besides that, it's very difficult and awkward doing it with the Intercooler in location.
Is this truly affecting my cars performance?? I would say roughly 50% of the fins are flat and bent.
performance is definitely affect. air will not pass easily throgh the cooler and fins work cooling process. if you break fins, cooler will loss efficiency, because intercooler loses cooling area.
remove the cooler and same time you should clean intercooler inside(oil vapour, dirt etc) and intercooler hoses. you wrap rear of intercooler so you'll not bent rear fins
i think you could straight fins which are not bad
Last edited by semih; 05 September 2016 at 07:30 AM.
Reason: intercooler clean
It's reasonably easy to remove the intercooler to make it easier to work at. If it's a hatch , the fins are way thinner than the older subarus. Ive refurbed 3 now (2 my own , one i helped someone else) and the hatch fins break easily.
Take it out , follow the video above (I've heard people say to use a hair pin but can't see why you wouldn't use tweezers as they are perfect). Give it a quick sand and paint , stencil on a STI if wanted , and it'll look a hundred times better.
Thanks for the info on that. Appreciate your help on this. I'm going to take it out and clean as you said and give it another go
performance is definitely affect. air will not pass easily throgh the cooler and fins work cooling process. if you break fins, cooler will loss efficiency, because intercooler loses cooling area.
remove the cooler and same time you should clean intercooler inside(oil vapour, dirt etc) and intercooler hoses. you wrap rear of intercooler so you'll not bent rear fins
i think you could straight fins which are not bad
Yeah I think I'm going to take it out and give it another go. What's the best way to clean the insides of the Intercooler?
Powerhose underside of intercooler to blow out dirt through top of fins, then use a plastic cable tie and feed it from underside through to top to straighten fins
Powerhose underside of intercooler to blow out dirt through top of fins, then use a plastic cable tie and feed it from underside through to top to straighten fins
Hatch intercoolers are like tinfoil ffs
Yeah they are are way too soft, bit silly really if you ask me but there must be a reason for it. Is it a straight enough job to remove?? Are there any prior things i need to do before physically taking it out?
I did mine a while back and about 1mm off each fin broke off, not off every fin, i used a metal tooth pick looking thing, and did it that way, very boring.
Then resprayed the intercooler while i covered the fins as i didn't want then coated in loads of pain, then i just gave a light coat of paint over the fin area, seems to have worked ok.
It's reasonably easy to remove the intercooler to make it easier to work at. If it's a hatch , the fins are way thinner than the older subarus. Ive refurbed 3 now (2 my own , one i helped someone else) and the hatch fins break easily.
Take it out , follow the video above (I've heard people say to use a hair pin but can't see why you wouldn't use tweezers as they are perfect). Give it a quick sand and paint , stencil on a STI if wanted , and it'll look a hundred times better.
Last edited by jaygsi; 05 September 2016 at 05:23 PM.
Cheers. I did it to my old bugeye , and a mates Blobeye. So easy to do and makes such a difference to the engine bay . And i thought the hatch was missing the "STI" stencil. The original paint on them seems to flake off really easy and makes it look keek.
remember straightening the fins on my early classics with an internal clean with brake cleaner-always noticed more pick up in the midrange after doing this.
05 September 2016, 05:47 AM
Intercooler damaged fins
