Split intercooler - upgrade opportunity?!

[James Junior]

For a few months now the Spider has been making a slight hissing/ creaking sound under boost which was baffling me.

John at MVC has just fitted a replacement clutch and flywheel for me and noticed an oil leak whilst working on the car.

Turns out the intercooler is split, which is causing the hissing sound under load.

Given that the replacement Alfa part will likely be expensive, I may as well replace it with an upgraded FMIC if possible.

Not done this before so can anyone point me in the direction of a good upgraded unit? I know that James put one on his Brera a while back.

As I understand it, the split is essentially acting as a boost leak, so replacing the unit might restore a few missing horses, but IIRC the gain from upgrading your intercooler is more regarding smoothness and consistency of boost, rather than much of a power increase.

Would welcome your input guys.

[Clogz]

The easiest thing to do is to replace it with an original. It's a fairly big job fitting a FMIC. As far as I know (and what me and F1JBS have done) you'll need to modify an IC unit. Take a look at the last pic I posted on my Skunk Thread. I will do a 'build writeup' on my thread when it's done. F1JBS has posted some pics as well on his thread-page 28ish from memory...

[jbsmith1]

Hi James, unfortunatley there are no firms doing an upgraded intercooler that I know of for 159/Brera 2.4

Someone like Radtec would happily make a bigger core replacement unit for you, but they would want the car to measure and mockup on and I think you would need to be sitting down for the bill!

The Rs500 intercooler I fitted is a very involved install, that said - Clogz is following my pics very well and we talk indepth about any bits he needs clarity on.
If you feel you have a good basic knowledge of whats under your bonnet and have a decent tool kit and access to someone who can weld up ally for you, then I'd be happy to talk you through any details or I could make up a kit for you.

Alternatively, there is a patent part intercooler on ebay.

[James Junior]

Thanks fellas.

The FMIC should be covered under warranty so was hoping to just upgrade if the an uprated aftermarket one if it was cheaper than the OEM part.

However, from what you are saying it either needs to be a DIY or guinea pig job!

I have done some relatively easy jobs on a few of my cars but don't have the tools, the ability or the patience for bigger jobs.

Looks like it might just be better to replace the original part under warranty in this case. At least then I should be back up to optimum boost levels.

Oh well - was worth a try anyway. Thanks for your input guys. Good luck with your bespoke job Clogz.