The Full Bolt on SR20 Engine, Part One, The Basics

In addition, there are bosses for the stock idle speed control valve, and the stock throttle cable as well as additional port locations for MAP sensors, fuel pressure regulators, and power brake boosters.  These features assure maximum compatibility with any lash-up of stock or aftermarket parts you might dream up.

The stock SR20DET intercooler is a joke, it is tiny, perhaps the smallest air-to-air intercooler we have ever seen.  It is also restrictive. We replaced it with this Greddy front-mount intercooler that is about 4x bigger!

The Greddy intercooler has a core that is a little more than 3″ thick.  Just right for maximum cooling with moderate power while still allowing air to reach the radiator.

We prefer tube and fin cores for intercoolers used for road racing and drifting.  One of the main reasons is that these types of cores allow more air to flow through them to reach the the radiator.  They are also much lighter than your common bar and plate intercoolers.  When they have good airflow, they tend to be more efficient as well.  Greddy tube and fin cores are known to have good efficiency and we have had really good luck with them in the past.

To go with the intercooler, we got Greddy’s hard pipe set.  The hard pipes are low restriction mandrel bent, with a larger diameter than the necked-down stock plastic parts.  We have found that hard pipes typically make 5-8 more hp on 2-liter turbo motors believe it or not.  This is by reducing restrictions and reducing the amount of work the compressor has to do.