[BimmerHausPerformance]

Hey guys, wanted to leave my feedback on this IC in case anyone wants to go for it.

Find it here.

At 900 bucks I'm sure the wagner is worth it, but I'm on a budget and I really felt like this was worth the risk of trying it out. If it works, great, if not I'm not out too much. So far so good!

I didn't do any thorough data collection but I do have some #'s that are beyond just a pull vs. pull.

First off, I have a 6MT, BMS Intake, AFE module, 02 simulator to prevent codes, Armytrix catless DP, and full exhaust. I'm running a bluetooth OBD2 reader to grab my #'s.

Review:
This came packaged very nicely, wrapped, clean, well-protected. Arrived fast, shipped from within the US.

First thing I noticed was the huge size difference. I didn't see any bad welds, the quality looked great - especially for the price.

Fitment:
This isn't a DIY install thread, you can find those. But here is what I noticed about fitment:

There is a lip below the radiator support that got in the way.

Went in a bit better depth wise once I took that out with the dremmel tool.

The tabs fit nicely into the stock slots:

Width was the MAJOR issue, as you can see I was hitting here, I probably should have gone straight up vs. one side at a time but I was by myself and so after a little help from a floor jack and the dremmel tool taking some extra metal off the beemer, it popped in.

The brackets fit perfectly and are needed as this sits lower to the ground than the stock one, so the IC support that is held in with the torx in the stock setup is now gone and replaced with these.

Final #'s and performance:
Driving around town I was 30-40 degrees HOTTER than ambient air temp. Here is a screen of after coming to full temp then idleing in a parking lot, this was about 60 degrees over ambient temp (worse case senario). So typically driving around I was about in the 130's.

After install and when getting up to temp, but preventing heat soak this is what I was reading:

I've noticed that the temps drop when I put my foot down as it pulls air through the IC vs. coasting. So coasting down a hill it's actually cooler when I put it under boost, which I suppose makes sense.

After install, I tried to heat soak it by idling after reaching temp and I was 40 degrees plus Ambient AT but after a few spirited pulls it cooled way down to with about 15-20 degrees of ambient air temp. I think this thing has enough cooling power to break that heat soak cycle. FYI, all these tests here in 90-95 degree weather with nice south eastern humidity.

Performance feels MUCH better but I can't say if that's due to better airflow, or due to lower temps. I'm really happy with this for the price.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Next step:
VRSF charge Pipe, Meth, then bootmod3 custom tune. Hoping that'll get me to 500 whp before upgrading fuel and doing manifold and new turbo.

So overall this was no sweat....

[lsturbointeg]

Great review! can you explain more about the lip that got in the way? I'm trying to look at the picture but can't put two together lol. maybe circle it in red and where you had to dremel it off. thanks! just trying to get more data before I try to install mine once I order it. thanks! looks like this IC is helping with IAT's


There is a lip below the radiator support that got in the way.

[BurrNinja]

Originally Posted by lsturbointeg

Great review! can you explain more about the lip that got in the way? I'm trying to look at the picture but can't put two together lol. maybe circle it in red and where you had to dremel it off. thanks! just trying to get more data before I try to install mine once I order it. thanks! looks like this IC is helping with IAT's


There is a lip below the radiator support that got in the way.

In my point of view it looks as if he used dremmel to chop off half the support. In the first pic you see the whole support with ic tucked behind it, then second you see half of support gone and more ic shown. Not to bad of review, I may end up purchasing this once I get my broken CV shaft replaced.

[lsturbointeg]

ok I see it now. so pretty much shaved off the plastic. this was to make the fitment easier

[etnsandman]

Great review. I need to pull the trigger soon on this. I like your gauges, similar to mine I designed with Torque Pro. Did you refresh your coupler o-rings?

[BimmerHausPerformance]

Originally Posted by etnsandman

Great review. I need to pull the trigger soon on this. I like your gauges, similar to mine I designed with Torque Pro. Did you refresh your coupler o-rings?

I did not. TBH, I was so excited to get this thing in there and test it I didn't even check them... oops.

[BimmerHausPerformance]

Originally Posted by BurrNinja

In my point of view it looks as if he used dremmel to chop off half the support. In the first pic you see the whole support with ic tucked behind it, then second you see half of support gone and more ic shown. Not to bad of review, I may end up purchasing this once I get my broken CV shaft replaced.

Thanks for pointing that out. That is the lip that I had to trim. However, it wasn't any kind of support. It easily had an inch of sag if I pulled on it. Seemed more like a spacer that the old Stock IC lower housing/support would push up against. And just for clarification purposes, in that pic that is the Radiator that the strip sits under. I carefully pulled that strip away from the radiator so I didn't accidentally nic the rad with my dremel tool!

[BimmerHausPerformance]

OH, one more important thing. If I had to do this over again and I was by myself, 100% I would have put a 2x4 under the new IC, centered my floor jack on it and used the jack to evenly apply pressure to the IC so that it went in straight. This is such a tight fit I don't think to put one side in first works. It makes it too wide and hence I had to trim that mount a tad. There is another review DIY thread going on right now and that guy was by himself and had the same issue... I bet if you went straight up you'd be good to go - only issue there is you have to deal with getting the inlet/outlet flanges clearing everything simultaneously vs. one at a time.

[Unspec]

Out of curiosity... why file the steering rack vs the intercooler coupler? The intercooler is 300 bucks and the car is worth a little more than 50x that. The o-ring that seals the coupler sits really deep on the coupler, so its not like you'd run into leaks.

[BimmerHausPerformance]

Originally Posted by Unspec

Out of curiosity... why file the steering rack vs the intercooler coupler? The intercooler is 300 bucks and the car is worth a little more than 50x that. The o-ring that seals the coupler sits really deep on the coupler, so its not like you'd run into leaks.

I took a little off of both, (mainly cleaning up the IC flange that had been nicked up from previous attempts to get it in there) however when you see what you are taking off of the steering rack, it's not integral at all and it's inconsequential. If I had a better pic I could show you but I didn't get one. The area I shaved looks like "extra material" from the cast the part was made in. 100% no concerns on the structure there.

[Unspec]

Originally Posted by BrowBMW

I took a little off of both, (mainly cleaning up the IC flange that had been nicked up from previous attempts to get it in there) however when you see what you are taking off of the steering rack, it's not integral at all and it's inconsequential. If I had a better pic I could show you but I didn't get one. The area I shaved looks like "extra material" from the cast the part was made in. 100% no concerns on the structure there.

Yup, I understand that it'll have zero impact on anything ever. Just kind of bothered me a little since I like to adhere to the concept of "least destructive method first".

But hey, if it works, it works!

[paul223]

Trimming is not needed at all. I have Wagner and my friend has this. They are EXACTLY same in size.

[BimmerHausPerformance]

Good info, maybe if I had 2 people like the youtube DIY videos recommend I could have gotten away with it. One person, no lift... kinda stunk. But at the end of the day, I think it's good to go. Consider everything weight reduction.

EDIT: One of the people in the thread linked below on the same IC had a shop trim that plastic cause it was rubbing and they thought this could be the source of some boost leak. FYI. So I guess if a shop did it I can't be that wrong about it. I also did notice some wear on some of the IC from hitting that trim piece in my first attempts to put it in there... I think it's worth it cause trimming it doesn't hurt anything at all. https://f10.5post.com/forums/showthr...1596580&page=3

[BimmerHausPerformance]

Originally Posted by paul223

Trimming is not needed at all. I have Wagner and my friend has this. They are EXACTLY same in size.

PAUL... wow it just dawned on me... so if you have one and your friend has the other... what's the word? Do they perform the same?

[burro_blasta]

Originally Posted by BrowBMW

Good info, maybe if I had 2 people like the youtube DIY videos recommend I could have gotten away with it. One person, no lift... kinda stunk. But at the end of the day, I think it's good to go. Consider everything weight reduction.

EDIT: One of the people in the thread linked below on the same IC had a shop trim that plastic cause it was rubbing and they thought this could be the source of some boost leak. FYI. So I guess if a shop did it I can't be that wrong about it. I also did notice some wear on some of the IC from hitting that trim piece in my first attempts to put it in there... I think it's worth it cause trimming it doesn't hurt anything at all. https://f10.5post.com/forums/showthr...1596580&page=3

I think you're referring to me...I didn't trim it during my install bc I never read about anyone else having to, but in hindsight I would have trimmed it too. Great review, btw!

[paul223]

Yeah identical performance, maybe like 2-3 % variations in numbers.

[BimmerHausPerformance]

That's crazy, thanks so much for the solid info. For the price difference, I'm sold. I would say 2-3% could easily be due to other factors and they essentially are identical.

[gendong]

impressive for a budget IC indeed.....