Gambit intercooler kit FL5

[Gambit]

Hi all,
I’m Tony, alias GAMBIT and I would like to introduce you to my Do it Yourself (DIY) intercooler kit. I’ll call it “Gambit’s FL5 intercooler kit”. A kit meant for the home DIY’er and done at a budget suitable for street as a mild upgrade over the OE 'MAHLE' intercooler fitted from the factory.
It's an open source intercooler kit for you to build yourself as a DIY'er.

The benefit of this DIY kit for the community is that all parts are available on ebay or universally available online. You can mix and match whatever parts you have spare such as silicon hoses, clamps, pipes etc to make it work.

At the heart of it, is an off the shelf PWR racer intercooler, measuring 600mmx200mmx68mm with 2.5" inlet and outlets and is tube and fin. This is crucial for maximum airflow to the radiator to aid cooling in hotter climates like what we get in Australia.

I have it mounted to the PRL hardpipe kit. Connecting to the silicon joiners and have set aside the PRL cast elbows.

Description	Cost AUD	Cost in USD @ 0.67 rate to AUD	Link
PWR racer intercooler	1040	696.8	https://pwrshop.au/products/racer-series-intercooler-core-size-600-x-200-x-68mm-2-5-outlets and ebay https://shorturl.at/KROvZ
T bolt clamps x6 to suit hoses	57	38.19
Silicon hose 63mm to 70mm 90 degree	24	16.08
Mandrel bend 70mm 90 degree	35	23.45
Mandrel bend 57mm 90 degree	35	23.45
Silicon hose 63mm to 57mm 90 degree	28	18.76
Intercooler mounts	22	22
Carbon side shrouds	30	20.1
Total	$1271	$858

PWR racer core has a unique tube and fin design as pictured

There are no holes cut into the factory crash bar, i have just utilised the exisiting holes to add two mounts to fix the intercooler in place. These two mounts were L plates from the local hardware store with slots that i drilled to help align and move the intercooler up and down and left to right.

I was not happy with my home job, so i sent it off to be CNC cut and folded for a professional finish:

Using a Mishimoto 78-70mm T-clamp, which i have since changed to tension clamps, in order to secure the silicon hoses.

From the RHS the silicon PRL hose connects to a mandrel bend which then connects to the silicon hose at the intercooler as per below:

With the front bar back on there is plenty of clearance for the intercooler:

I was not happy with the gap between the sides and the intercooler so i made up an air guide shroud from carbon fibre sheet to help direct airflow to the intercooler:

All mounted up and the fitment is great:

The jury is still out on the full impact on IAT and IAT2 as i am also running my Gambit intake kit. On the road vs on the dyno vs on the track may produce different results, so i need to continue data logging and validate what it is doing across all conditions.

Having said that, when you compare cost of this approach to other bolt in intercoolers there is value in this approach.
Here is a comparison table i put together to compare, sorting by price:

Type	Lenght	Width	Depth	Frontal area cm2	Volumn litres	Price AUD	Price USD	area x volumn	Price ratio (AxV)
Gambit PWR racer tube and fin core	600	200	68	12000	8160	$1,300	871	97920	75.32
Wagner tube and fin	580	400	70	23200	16240	$1,400	938	376768	269.12
AIRTEC bar and plate	700	190	130	13300	17290	$1,450	972	229957	158.59
PRL bar and plate	720	184	109	13248	14440	$1,600	1072	191305	119.57
J's racing tube and fin	700	172	100	12040	12040	$2,600	1742	144962	55.75
PWR tube and fin elite bolt in	700	181	87	12670	11023	$2,600	1742	139660	53.72
HKS FK8 tube and fin	695	178	100	12371	12371	$2,700	1809	153042	56.68
HKS FL5 tube and fin	695	178	100	12371	12371			153042	0.00
OE	640	160	65	10240	6656	$0		68157	0.00

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[Jester04]

Hi all,
I’m Tony, alias GAMBIT and I would like to introduce you to my Do it Yourself (DIY) intercooler kit. I’ll call it “Gambit’s FL5 intercooler kit”. A kit meant for the home DIY’er and done at a budget suitable for street as a mild upgrade over the OE 'MAHLE' intercooler fitted from the factory.
It's an open source intercooler kit for you to build yourself as a DIY'er.

The benefit of this DIY kit for the community is that all parts are available on ebay or universally available online. You can mix and match whatever parts you have spare such as silicon hoses, clamps, pipes etc to make it work.

At the heart of it, is an off the shelf PWR racer intercooler, measuring 600mmx200mmx68mm with 2.5" inlet and outlets and is tube and fin. This is crucial for maximum airflow to the radiator to aid cooling in hotter climates like what we get in Australia.

I have it mounted to the PRL hardpipe kit. Connecting to the silicon joiners and have set aside the PRL cast elbows.

Description	Cost AUD	Cost in USD @ 0.67 rate to AUD	Link
PWR racer intercooler	1040	696.8	https://pwrshop.au/products/racer-series-intercooler-core-size-600-x-200-x-68mm-2-5-outlets and ebay https://shorturl.at/KROvZ
T bolt clamps x6 to suit hoses	57	38.19
Silicon hose 63mm to 70mm 90 degree	24	16.08
Mandrel bend 70mm 90 degree	35	23.45
Mandrel bend 57mm 90 degree	35	23.45
Silicon hose 63mm to 57mm 90 degree	28	18.76
Intercooler mounts	22	22
Carbon side shrouds	30	20.1
Total	$1271	$858

PWR racer core has a unique tube and fin design as pictured

There are no holes cut into the factory crash bar, i have just utilised the exisiting holes to add two mounts to fix the intercooler in place. These two mounts were L plates from the local hardware store with slots that i drilled to help align and move the intercooler up and down and left to right.

I was not happy with my home job, so i sent it off to be CNC cut and folded for a professional finish:

Using a Mishimoto 78-70mm T-clamp, which i have since changed to tension clamps, in order to secure the silicon hoses.

From the RHS the silicon PRL hose connects to a mandrel bend which then connects to the silicon hose at the intercooler as per below:

With the front bar back on there is plenty of clearance for the intercooler:

I was not happy with the gap between the sides and the intercooler so i made up an air guide shroud from carbon fibre sheet to help direct airflow to the intercooler:

All mounted up and the fitment is great:

The jury is still out on the full impact on IAT and IAT2 as i am also running my Gambit intake kit. On the road vs on the dyno vs on the track may produce different results, so i need to continue data logging and validate what it is doing across all conditions.

Having said that, when you compare cost of this approach to other bolt in intercoolers there is value in this approach.
Here is a comparison table i put together to compare, sorting by price:

Type	Lenght	Width	Depth	Frontal area cm2	Volumn litres	Price AUD	Price USD	area x volumn	Price ratio (AxV)
Gambit PWR racer tube and fin core	600	200	68	12000	8160	$1,300	871	97920	75.32
Wagner bar and plate	580	400	70	23200	16240	$1,400	938	376768	269.12
AIRTEC bar and plate	700	190	130	13300	17290	$1,450	972	229957	158.59
PRL bar and plate	720	184	109	13248	14440	$1,600	1072	191305	119.57
J's racing tube and fin	700	172	100	12040	12040	$2,600	1742	144962	55.75
PWR tube and fin elite bolt in	700	181	87	12670	11023	$2,600	1742	139660	53.72
HKS FK8 tube and fin	695	178	100	12371	12371	$2,700	1809	153042	56.68
HKS FL5 tube and fin	695	178	100	12371	12371			153042	0.00
OE	640	160	65	10240	6656	$0		68157	0.00

Very cool! Most of the IAT differences will be appreciated at speed. On a dyno or standing still it will creep up like everything else in this car temp related.

 

[jtlctr]

Cool stuff, man! Good on you for undertaking these diy projects and thank you for sharing them with us! I’m curious to read what you see with IATs, etc.

 

[Jester04]

Cool stuff, man! Good on you for undertaking these diy projects and thank you for sharing them with us! I’m curious to read what you see with IATs, etc.

Yeah this is very cool, I have been thinking if going the custom route.

 

[Gambit]

Thanks all. I’m only just learning Hondata as only recently had it installed. This is first initial logs, have since updated to the beta version and need another clean logging session when time allows as seeing funky things with some sensors showing and others not. So take with as an initial view.

 

[Tougefl5]

I'm confused. Did you just buy the core from pwr and make your own end tanks. Then purchase the hoses, pipes and clamps and design fixtures and call it DIY?

 

[MSUGeoman]

Just to clarify, the Wagner IC is tube and fin, have one myself and vouch it’s true.

 

[Gambit]

I'm confused. Did you just buy the core from pwr and make your own end tanks. Then purchase the hoses, pipes and clamps and design fixtures and call it DIY?

The PWR intercooler includes the end tanks, so bolts in complete as one whole unit. Then just added in hoses, pipes, clamps and brackets.

 

[NoviceFL5owner]

Good job. I didn't even know about some of these intercoolers. Might have to look into the tube and fin ones.

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