Recently, CTS Turbo of Langley, BC has put together a front mount intercooler kit for the B7 2.0T. In brief, their kit contains a high-density 600HP rated bar and plate core (20” x 11” x 3”) with cast aluminum end tanks, 2.5” 304 stainless steel piping, 4 ply silicone connectors and stainless steel T-bolt clamps (see images below). The specifications can also be found at CTS Turbo's website
To get this product into our hands and to help them break into the B7 market, CTS offered this kit at a discount to the first several buyers. I took advantage of this offer, as I knew I would eventually be looking for an FMIC and at their initial price I would be saving substantially over the ER FMIC that I was previously considering. After the install and running a few logs before and after, I thought it would be appropriate to share my findings.
The Kit:
The kit arrived well packaged with no signs of external damage to the box/packaging. Upon opening, the first impressions are that of very high quality craftsmanship. All pieces are pristine and all welds are spot on and clean. The core is well constructed and clean.
The Core:
Nice dense fin count
Peaking inside the core
304 Stainless Steel piping, clamps and hoses
The Install:
Bumper off (there are multiple DIY for this on AZ, search. I recommend the one by Phil (fly300kts))
Crashbar off
Stock SMIC removed. Pipes, hoses and intercooler mounted and mocked up for fitment
Here is the original mounting screw that was to be reused. Note the thickness of the intercooler mount and the AC radiator leaving only 2 threads for engagement into the plastic radiator surround.
Here is the image from CTS Turbo showing how the supplied black o-ring goes over the native green o-ring of the MAP sensor
Birdseye view of the modified crashbar. One word: Sawzall.
Rear view of the modified crashbar
Everything mounted and fitted, crashbar back on.
Close up view of the turbo outlet to core
Close up view of the core to the up-pipe
Engine bay view of the up-pipe to the intake manifold
Installation pearls:
1.) Use a good lubricant for the pipes and hoses to allow you to adjust the fit just right. Sounds common sense, but I found that the hoses engage 2-3+ inches on the pipes to fit right and to adjust for proper fitment of fogs, power steering cooler etc. and to go back and adjust everything can be a real pain…. Especially when you are ready to put your bumper back on and you realize you forgot to account for your fogs….
2.) The MAP sensor o-ring supplied is intended to sit behind the original green o-ring to obtain proper seal. The sensor will not seal if you simply exchange the o-rings. DO NOT CUT OFF OLD GREEN O-RING! Luckily, when I told my dad who was helping the install to just cut it off and put the new one on to save time, he had enough wisdom and insight to stretch it off instead of cutting it. (the picture above was not available for reference during the install until I call them)
3.) The mounting torx screws that mount the intercooler are reused from the AC radiator mounting screws and only engage ~2 threads after traveling through the thick intercooler mounts. I didn’t feel comfortable with an 18.2lb intercooler suspended only by a combined 4 threads. Luckily, I was able to source aluminum screws with similar thread size and pitch from the local hardware store that engaged completely.
4.) The stock power-steering cooler will need to be gently tweaked to get to clear, be patient with it and don’t force it.
Results:
So how does this kit perform? Using my limited resources: Vag-Com, laptop PC, an empty straight road and early dawn but still impressive Arizona heat, I conducted a simple test. I did 3 runs (3rd Gear WOT ~2000-6300 RPM) with the stock SMICs (ambient temp 98F) and 3 runs with the CTS FMIC (ambient temp 92F). In between each run, the engine was allowed a cool down period that consisted of easy driving (not in boost) to the start of the run again. Using the Vag-Com, I logged intake air temp, intake air mass and boost (actual) against RPM among other measuring blocks. All data was graphed using an XY comparison in Microsoft excel (see below). At the time of this testing, my car is running APR stage 1 91-octane tune, 034 HFC, Stasis cat-back exhaust, K&N drop in filter and 034 TIP.
Intake Air Temp: As I expected, the heat soak seen in the stock SMICs was significantly improved / resolved with the FMIC system. Despite the ambient temp being 6F degrees hotter for the stock SMIC runs, there was no heat soaking seen in the FMIC graphs and remained an average of 10C degrees cooler than the stock setup. Even with crudely correcting the difference in ambient temps, the FMIC is still consistently 6C degrees cooler than stock.
Boost Pressure / Turbo Spool: I was pleasantly surprised to find that my stock K03 is now spooling consistently 200-300 RPM faster than the previous setup with stock SMIC. In addition, I noticed I am now peaking boost at least 0.5 PSI higher than the stock setup. I don’t know if the higher peak is due to the kit or if it was just my car “feeling” better that day.
Intake Air Mass: Judging by the graphs below, it seems I have also picked up some increase mass air flow with the FMIC system over the SMIC system, especially in the higher RPMs. With the stock setup, I was maxing around 183g/s, and with the FMIC system, I am now flowing up to 194 g/s. A 10+ g/s increase in the upper RPMs.
Other findings that I didn’t graph, but by visual comparison of the logs, I noted that some of my minor ignition timing delay was reduced from stock SMIC to the CTS FMIC kit. If anyone is interested in seeing the logs in the raw form, let me know and I will try and post them later.
One final note, I noticed a subtle but notable improvement in engine sound with the FMIC compared to the SMIC. Nothing mind blowing, but definitely a nice rumble that seems to be coming from the stainless steel pipes that help distract me from the characteristic normal ticking our engines have at idle.
Conclusions:
Overall, I am happy with the addition of this FMIC kit from CTS Turbo. The craftsmanship and materials are all of high quality. The stainless steel piping vs aluminum piping concern for me went right out the door once I was able to put my hands on them. I will eat those few additional pounds for the added durability and look of the 304 stainless steel. The installation was pretty straightforward, however a simple sheet of instructions would have been helpful and cleared up any confusion such as the MAP sensor o-ring configuration. Finally, the significant performance increases and tone improvement of the FMIC was immediately noticeable to me driving as well as seen on the comparison graphs from the logs above.
While I do not have any hands on experience with any other of the quality kits offered for our platform (AWE, ER, RAI, 034 etc), I would expect them all to have similar results as I suspect majority of the improvements are related to the discarding of the restrictive and inefficient SMIC system.
Pros:
- High quality craftsmanship and materials
- Intercooler core features high density fin count and rated up to 600HP (more than sufficient for all current BT offerings for the B7)
- Easy installation (once the MAP sensor o-ring seal was sorted out)
- No trimming of the bumper cover or fogs
- Performs well
- Looks aggressive
- Currently @ $849 the price is significantly less than other similar quality kits
Cons:
- No instructions (but then again its just some pipes, hose connectors and a core…)
- Heavy, kit weighing in at 32lbs
- The re-used mounting screws seem inadequate to hold the 18.2lb core
- The screws included for mounting the MAP sensor should be longer
- Trimming required to fit the crashbar
- *opinion* The core end tank pipes ideally should be about 1-2 inches lower and straight for more ideal / ease of fitment.
Thank you to CTS Turbo for putting this kit into our hands for a great price. I have no affiliation with CTS Turbo other than I am running their product on my car. All findings noted above were my observations only and may vary from car to car. If anyone has any questions or comments, please let me know.
-jfa
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Clean install too. Any fitment problems/trimming with fogs on driver side?
Originally Posted by A-BlacK_MambA-4
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