Intercooler options for project (stock non S2 bumper)

[Tesa]

Hello,

did somebody solve question where to put intercooler if he doesnt have s2 or rs2 bumper ?
Im starting project to engine swap from ng to 3b/aan on my coupe quattro (b4). I dont want to change front bumper for two reasons : 1. its less noticable, 2. its pretty hard to get s2 bumper here in Czech republic.

Yesterday I was laying under the car and noticed that there is no place where to put it. I dont want to fit it on front of a water cooler, because it wont work properly (lack of flow).

Do you have some recommendation, or idea ?

Thank you,

Radek

[Rusty]

Get or make a cross member and then work out the largest core size you can use and get one off eBay.

[Nik0las]

you can't put large standard or custom intercooller on standard bumper - well you can but it will very noticeable!!
Why:
1. Standard bumper is very shollow and there is no space for crossmember or custom bearer bar to hold the intercooler. You can customize the bumper to sit more further to create space for the stuff you want to put there! But the whole job to customize the bumper in that way to look nice not look like that is made from scrap is very very hard job and probably expesive than orginal S2 Bumper.
2. Second option is most common for the people in your situation, basically you cut the bottom middle part of the bumper for the intercooler - very noticeable and intercooler is very exposed to damage


My advice for you is to invest money in S2 bumpe or buy one of the high quality replicas in eba...

[GazzaG60]

gonna look into this soon myself.

no aircon, mounting the radiator in the s2 location and battery in boot or elsewhere will all help.

id just use the s2 bumper if you have the luxury of the wider wings already.

[asperilla]

This Thread needs PICS

[GazzaG60]

maybe theres no space to take a picture in there..who knows.

there didn't look much space on the s2 but there was a fair bit.

im sure theres room for a fmic. I got one in my corrado with no cutting for the g60 and that was a pig to fit.

[Quatr016]

I actually just got done fitting one of the old 10vt intercoolers on my B3 90Q, its definitely not as big as the S2 intercooler, but I basically just made a custom upper crossmember with all the necessary brackets and it just barely fits behind the grill. the intercooler dimensions are roughly 2"D/10"T/16"W and as it stands it clears the T belt by just over a 1/4" so it's tight, but it works. To gain some room in the front you can grind down the thin portion on the top of the lower crossmember and weld the seam to keep rigidity, you only gain maybe an inch or so but it still helps.

[Tesa]

Hello,

I have made few pictures today, so you can see there is very little space. It seems that S2 bumper will be the only option. I will make new crossmember, with supports for some aftermarket IC...

Pictures :

[GazzaG60]

well it needs more space to fit the wagner for sure. it was v tight in the s2 bumper tbh. cleard the crank pulley by fractions. in fact mine got a tiny mak on it when it touched. not enough to hurt it but still its close.

choices choices

[quattrostyle]

2. its pretty hard to get s2 bumper here in Czech republic.

I got one for sale and should be able to post it to Czech, PM if interested.