Carl Davey

iTrader: (3)

It's been done many times before but i thought i'd try to collate all the relevant info for us awkward Phase 1.5 owners. If you're a lucky Phase 2 owner Scott has already done this for you here.

What follows is the most straightforward method i could see to mounting the intercooler involving the least amount of faffing around. I considered things like removing and rotating the outlet end tank through 180 degrees to move the dump valve port clear of the IACV. Clearance is better but then compromised by the routing of the DV return hose. I also considered things like milling the TB and IACV to their limits but i don't believe the extra few mm's warrants the time nor skill required to do this.

In the end i stuck to the already tried formula of cutting and welding the STi 8 unit. Don't be daunted however, i'd never had any ally welding done before i took the saw to the intercooler! The pictures show the intercooler being fitted to my STi4 RA.

Parts Required
1x Newage STi Top-Mount Intercooler (eBay, £100-250)
1x Phase 1.5 Top-Mount Intercooler (eBay, £15.00 - or your original one)
1x Newage O/S Intercooler Bracket (Subaru, £20.30 - S21885AA293)
2x Intercooler Inlet Gaskets (Subaru, £8.01 ea - S21896AA010)
1x Samco 51mm 90 degree Elbow (Merlin Motorsport, £20.05 - E90-51)
1x Samco 35mm Superflex Hose (Merline Motorsport, £42.04 - SFL35)
2x M8 Full Nuts
?x Assorted Lengths Of Steel

Obviously there's scope to save some money particularly on the Samcos. I needed next day delivery however and Merlin promised this and delivered on time.

Before you've even bought the intercooler you can modify the OEM clutch reservoir to clear it. Use a syringe to remove the fluid.



You need to remove 15-25mm from the bottom of the reservoir. Use tape to mark a straight edge to cut around.



Refitted. I used this opportunity to completely flush and refill the system with a decent Dot 5.1 fluid.



After much thought i felt the best thing to do as far as getting the original Newage dump valve port to clear the IACV was to cut it out and weld in an original Phase 1.5 one. The end tanks on the basic UK/WRX intercoolers are alloy so all you need to do is remove the paint with some Nitromors once you've cut out the patch. I got mine on eBay for £15 but you could use your original one to save costs. I cut as large an area as i could as i wasn't sure where i was going to leave the boundaries on the Newage unit.



Cut the face of the dump valve port off of the STi 8 intercooler. This lets you sit the patch flush against it helping you work out where to remove the remainder of the material from.



I decided to slot my patch between the two integral mounting points. This allows the top of the patch to fold over the recessed 'slope' of the OEM port. When trimming the patch trim it so the DV port lands as close to the edge of the intercooler as possible.



Once you're relatively happy with the patch mark out where you want to cut the Newage intercooler. You'll need to stitch-drill along the top and bottom edges. Mark the holes with a punch and use a suitable drill bit (i used a 4mm one).



Use a hacksaw for the edges and cut less than you think you need - you can always remove the excess later more carefully with a file.



As above use a file to finish the rough edges. I worked purely on trial and error and after an hour or so ended up with this. The bottom sits flush with the intercooler and the top overlaps flush with the mounting points.



Now it's time to make friends with someone who can weld aluminium. After asking around i found someone fairly local who agreed to stick everything together. For £20 it's not worth letting it put you off fitting one of these IMO. With the metal work finished give the intercooler a thorough flushing out to remove all traces of filings. I used petrol which helped to get rid of some oil deposits too.



Now the fun begins. Make no bones about it even with the patch welded on it's a pig to get the Newage intercooler in and out of the engine bay. First things first you need to replace the OEM intercooler bracket (left) with the Newage one (right).



Fitted.



First trial fitting.



I knocked together some temporary brackets from some old steel i had lying around. Clamped together i welded them (badly) round at my parents.



I had an old Samco lying around to use as the intercooler-manifold hose. I'd recommend buying one if you don't already have one as they're more flexible than the OEM black one. This helps no end when you're fitting and removing the intercooler. Cutting around 5mm off the end also helps fitting/removal. Again, use a length of tape to get a straight edge to follow (crap picture, sorry).



Fit Samco #1 to help locate the cooler for drilling the mounting point holes. Once drilled weld the M8 nuts to the reverse of the brackets to save fiddling later on. The O/S bracket is essentially a length of angle iron to move the mounting point around 2" toward the bulk head. No picture of that because it's even worse than the N/S bracket.



With the cooler bolted down remove the OEM undertray and scoop to check bonnet clearance. I found i needed to route the washer jet hoses through the bonnet and bin the white plastic clips.



I'll be honest and say even though i ordered a brand new 51mm 90 degree Samco i later found i had a near identical Racetech hose. Being the impatient bugger that i am i decided to crack on with that rather than wait till the next morning for the postman. It needed to be spaced from the hose-butt around 5mm before a bit of trial and error to get it to locate on the turbo ok. It needs to be held in place while the turbo jubilee is tightened but once fitted it looks like it was there all along.



That just leaves the dump valve samco to be fitted. I decided to give the Samco Superflex hose a go and ordered 32mm bore based on an APS dump valve i had to hand at the time. With hindsight the OEM dump valve and intercooler port are closer to 34mm so i'd order 35mm bore (no 34mm available) if doing it again. A 350mm length was ideal for my installation.



Due to the restricted bore size i found it easier to fit to the hose to the dump valve first.



All fitted.



Obviously once this is all fitted you need to use a suitable duct and scoop to get the best from the intercooler. A friend of mine very kindly donated a modified OEM scoop which just needs some minor finishing to complete.



I've had some runs out in the car since fitting and the cooler definitely seems to be having more effect than the OEM one. It touches the bulk head when starting but only when starting. When i make a new pair of brackets i plan to lift the rear a further 5-10mm so hopefully that will cure that issue.

On a final note sadly i can see no way the OEM carbon strut brace can be refitted. I plan to try the Whiteline effort as i have seen this work on other Classics with this intercooler fitted.

Welloilbeefhooked

iTrader: (3)

Carl,

I have an aftermarket strut brace fitted to mine, although my IC is probably further away from the bulk head than yours due to the way my cutting/welding is done.

The STI one did not fit. I tried one at scoobybits and there was no way on mine to get it in. The new strut brace is an E-Tech if that means anything to anyone. Nice write up though.

Carl Davey

iTrader: (3)

Nice one Wayne. I considered recessing the plate for more bulkhead clearance but decided instead to maximise the intercooler volume.

Yup, there is no way the STi strut brace will go back on with my installation either. A friend has a Whiteline brace fitted on his Newage-STi-TMIC-equipped 5 Type R so i may try to borrow it sometime. Failing that i'll look into the E-Tech. That said i can't say i'm missing the brace a great deal atm though.

flat4

Carl Davey

iTrader: (3)

This set up is now up for grabs on eBay, see here.

frayz

iTrader: (7)

Beautiful write up Carl.

Well done

mattpat

iTrader: (1)

I'm sure i've seen pics of the whiteline brace fitted with the conversion but there was absolutely no room between the intercooler and bulkhead to refit mine so ended up selling it

cheers
matt