I see a lot of people fitting large intercoolers which clearly helps lower intake temps but this seems to be at the expense of engine cooling as it clearly significantly blocks the engine rad. Surely engine cooling is more important than intake temps?
There is an alternative , seems to work very well, done 9 trackdays so far and no issues with overheating. http://www.rsmegane.com/threads/charge-cooler-project.9496/
I heard that with Wagner IC you do not get overheating. I bought one but did not installed yet. Interested in this post!
I'm desperate to know how people get on with the Wagner one. All I can find is this German video where as much as I can tell he is pretty happy with it:
Wagner is pretty big in the VAG scene, I have an Airtec on mine but the Wagner is on the list to replace it. Had looked at the Pro Alloy but its a very poor design, Regardless what RST and the rest say, Its massive and almost completely covers the OEM rad. The additional water cooler is just a cop out to a poorly thought out FMIC IMO. Regardless how it flows. The best cooling you can get is the OEM that has had loads of time and research put into it.
So i take it the new design MK2 version of Airtec`s intercooler is a bad design? Due to being full height, same as the Pro Alloy.
I'd guess it's not as high by the looks of it so doesn't cover the rad as much but with the double depth along the main gas flow path (given the Meg inlet and outlet are parallel) it still cools pretty well? Not that I'm particularly into or up on my gas/fluid dynamics.
I had a wagner ic on my n54 335i and it was great in fitment and performance. I'd certainly consider another.
I have fitted a Wagner to my 265 . I live in Durban, South Africa . So far so good , haven't done a proper track day since fitment only an autocross and its been fine. Temps (air) on the Rs monitor are around 20/22deg when air temps around 15/18.
