CxRacing 7MGTE Intercooler kit install with pictures

[90mkiiisupra400hp]

I just got my CxRacing intercooler kit mounted today and hopefully will have it buttoned up in the next couple of days. First off I will tell people that don't know that this is pretty much the same kit driftmotion sells except it doesn't include the BOV but does have a fitting for the stock bypass valve on the piece that replaces the 3000 pipe. Ok so as of now I have the intercooler mounted and still have to mount the oil cooler, horns, radiator over flow, and run all the piping so this is by no means finished but as soon as I get it done I will post more pics.

By the way I read the thread Speedfreak made on the driftmotion kit and got my ideas from him which seemed to work out pretty well for me, if you haven't read his post you should here it is http://http://www.supramania.com/forums/showthread.php?129435-driftmotion-intercooler-kit-install-7mgte-with-lots-of-pics anyways to the install.

The first thing I did was go to the hardware store and pic up a 1" by 3' 1/16 piece of steel for the top mounting brackets. I picked 1/16 thick so it would bend easy. I also picked up a 2" by 3' 1/8 for the bottom ones, you don't need that much but I think I spent like $8 on all of it. Next thing I did was remove the stock intercooler, hood latch and the bracket that stiffens it up, oil cooler, and overflow res. Because I read the thread Speedfreak wrote and saw where he mounted his along with the brackets he made so I had a pretty good idea how I was going to mount mine. Next I set the intercooler down in the big open space I had created by removing all the factory things just to see how much space I had and proceeded to cut the 1/16th inch steel I got. I cut two 4" pieces from it and bent them 90 degrees so each side was about the same length (2 inches). Here are a couple of pictures of the brackets.

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Then I drilled a hole in each of them to bolt them to the body of the car using an existing bolt that was in the perfect spot (same one speedfreak used). Next I bolted them where they were going to go and set the intercooler on top of them

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I then measured each side to make sure it was centered and marked where I needed to drill out the brackets so I could bolt the intercooler to them. I used 3/8 bolts so I needed to drill out the mounts on the intercooler also.

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Next I bolted the intercooler in. Then I went to the bottom and removed the two bolts that held the oil cooler lines to the radiator support which is what I used to bolt the bottom of the intercooler to the car. Next I cut two 6" by 2" brackets out of the 1/8th inch steel to use for the bottom brackets. I then measured from the center of the bolt holes on the radiator support to the center of the bolt holes on the intercooler. Next I measured and marked where to drill on the bottom brackets then drilled them out.

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I installed the bottom brackets and this made the intercooler solid, I am confident these will hold very well.

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I ended up making another bracket to mount the hood latch to the center mounting hole on the top of the intercooler, this made the hood latch just as solid as it was stock. Here is some pictures of it installed just another simple "L" bracket.

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That was pretty much all I did for today. I hope I can get a chance to finish it in the next couple days so I can post more pics of how and where I mounted everything else. Here are a few pics of before and after along with a comparison of the stock vs. CxRacing intercooler.

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Before

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During, while everything was out of the way.

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After with intercooler mounted.

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I hope what I have so far is helpful to anyone trying to mount their intercooler. Feel free to comment, and I am open to any suggestions you may have. Thanks for reading, Todd

 

[jonahs_supra]

looks like it is mounted very sturdy
good choice on using such thick brackets

 

[IJ.]

Pet peeve of mine, the sharp corners on all the brackets need to be radiused, looks unfinished and you know if you have to work on it you're going to gouge a paw on em

 

[90mkiiisupra400hp]

Yeah IJ I am going to pull them all off next time I get to work on it and smooth out all the edges and paint them so the don't get rusty and they look a little better/

 

[IJ.]

Thanks

 

[noel]

Pet peeve of mine, the sharp corners on all the brackets need to be radiused, looks unfinished and you know if you have to work on it you're going to gouge a paw on em

Lmao ur paw!! That happened to someone at work for some reason I couldn't stop laughing.

 

[TrqMnstr]

Meow, scratch scratch, Meow.

 

[MK3pizzadriver]

Here's some notes for people installing the one with the inlet and outlet on the same side.

First thing I did was install the pipes to dictate where I'd be mounting the intercooler. The old fender pipe came out from up top, just had to yank it towards the radiator. Only had to remove the splash guard under the fog light, fender liner stayed in place during install.

Installed the intercooler onto the pipes, and it rested nicely up against the back of the crash bar. This was too far forward for the brackets that came in the kit to reach though, so I had to make some out of flat stock like the OP. Noticed that this intercooler is shifted to the left due to the outlet being in the way of the right frame rail, but this works out nicely because the lower mounts now line up with the bigger holes in the crossmember. I think they're holes from venting during casting or something. Perfect size for an M8 bolt, so what I did was drill up through the top of the crossmember, securing the brackets using 70mm long bolts with nuts on top of the crossmember. Very sturdy


Small M6 power steering line bolt vs. sturdy M8


Prob. could have notched the support bracket that the horns etc. bolt to and got it to fit, but I wanted as little obstructions in front of the radiator as possible (hence the horns mounted underneath). The hood stay is def. not sturdy enough if you delete the support bracket, so I cut one of the unused lower brackets from the kit and bent it to fit. Used an angle grinder w/cut-off wheel (thin grinding wheel) to cut the brackets and radius their edges.

Measuring where to bend


Need to buy a bench vise one of these days lol (using the side of a jack)


Complete. Por-15 or Krylon Rust-Tough enamel is nice for metal brackets.


This intercooler doesn't have the tabs on the side, but I noticed that the top mounts line up nicely with the stock intercooler side mounts. Just had to use the spacers from kit and the brackets lined up perfectly.

Drilled a hole in the power steering cooler bracket on the right


And used the other unused lower bracket and lower spacer.


Right side is too far to use a lower bracket, so you'll have to make a bracket. The "L" bracket that came in the kit worked nicely to mount it though.


Barely enough room under the power steering cooler lines


Tried to drill and tap a spot in the crossmember for an oil cooler mount, but the crossmember is too thin in this spot. I have it screwed in there with some red threadlocker for now, but not sure if it'll hold. Next time I'll prob. drill farther back where the radiator mount is and make a longer bracket.
Used the stock oil cooler bracket with the other tab cut off (too lazy to make a bracket for that side lol)

Didn't have to remove or change the lines woot.

 

[MK3pizzadriver]

Ten attachment per post limit..

Intercooler is tucked low and forward enough to allow coolant overflow bottle to remain in stock location. It just sits a little high and doesn't slide all the way down on the bracket. I bent one of the other unused brackets from the kit and bolted it on top of the stock mount to keep the bottle from coming off.

 

[supraguy@aol]

Nice writeup.
I had to mod my compressor outlet pipe by about 2", due to my aftermarket turbo and manifold placement.
Also, I created some mounts on the top, going straight into the crashbar.

But my lower mounts look a lot like yours.

Also, I had to relocate my overflow bottle to the opposite side, and my right horn under the left one.

 

[MK3pizzadriver]

Should I be worried that the port for the blow-off valve is smaller than stock? I wrapped some electrical tape around it to get the stock hose to fit snug, but I wonder if performance will suffer. I have the CxRacing T61 CT-26 and a Bosch blow-off valve, shooting for like 320hp, maybe 12 psi.



Also sucks that the pipe is over an inch longer than stock, so the mounts for the vent pipes don't line up. Well, if I shove the pipe into the throttle body a little, they will lol but then the pipe sits funny >_>


Such basic things to screw up.. I tried contacting them, but they just told me it's fine don't worry and ignored my request to exchange it for the one with the HKS style BOV port.
Anyone know a vendor that sells this pipe with the correct size stock BOV port?

 

[CyFi6]

Thats just how it is unfortunately, the kit isnt perfect. They really could have improved it by making the lengths and bends a little better.

 

[supraguy@aol]

I cut an inch of the crossover pipe, and put a new bead on it. Mine came withe the hks type mount. I bought it from Driftmotion. I highly doubt that they sell just that one pipe, but you could always just order an hks aluminum mount of Ebay, or wherever.

 

[MK3pizzadriver]

Just wonder if I should be concerned about backpressure or if it'll be fine with the smaller BOV port.

 

[supraguy@aol]

Well, i thinks that port is at least close to the size ofthe stock port, so i think it could handle more than stock pressure, since many people go higher hp than stock, and retain the original bpv. Another option, would be to add a second port, and use double bpv's. But i think it would be easier to just cut it out and add a mount for an aftermarket bov, like hks. It usually only costs like $10 to have a fab shop weld in a bov mount. Im fortunate to have a fantastic shop near me that specializes in building racing karts, and they did all the TIg'ing on my ic pipes, as well as all my exhaust fab.

 

[jony89]

For the drift motion kit has anyone used an adapter for a different bov? If so is there enough room, I'm planing on getting a tial bov....I cant stand those hks bovs:nono:

 

[Bogwon]

For the drift motion kit has anyone used an adapter for a different bov? If so is there enough room, I'm planing on getting a tial bov....I cant stand those hks bovs:nono:

I'm looking at the turbosmart BOV myself and am wondering the same thing...

 

[jony89]

I'm looking at the turbosmart BOV myself and am wondering the same thing...

I guess well find out on our own lol

 

[Trent]

For the drift motion kit has anyone used an adapter for a different bov? If so is there enough room, I'm planing on getting a tial bov....I cant stand those hks bovs:nono:

I bought a HKS to Tial BOV adapter, found it online somewhere. Unfortunately I couldn't get my car to idle to save its life with the Tial no matter what spring I used, so I switched it back out to the HKS.

This is mine mounted, granted it is the DM kit, but still allows for room for the adapter using the HKS flange mounted on the pipe.

 

[jony89]

i don’t see why the bov would cause an idle issue when it should be shut? Did you check for vacuum leaks?