Description Reviews The AIRTEC intercooler is bolt on HP by lowering the charge air temperatures. A remapped car has increased power by ECU changes that raise boost pressure and other parameters. This increase in boost pressure raise intake temps and power loss soon follows. By fitting a bigger intercooler, you lower these intake temps, in turn increasing hp and making your engine safer. Features: Comes in Satin Black No drilling required Huge Air deflector fin ‘forces air into front section of intercooler Full Alloy Air ram scoop CNC connecting flanges First off the shelf intercooler to have a 60mm core Cast alloy smooth flow end tanks, no surge issues with this design. Fits all Supercharged powered Mini Cooper S's, R52/R53 Airtec Test results – Tim’s 233.3 bhp (Airtec cooled) Tuned Mini R53 @ Amd rolling road 10th May 2013 – Note, Results below were with bonnet closed on every run. Standard Intercooler – Peak power 204.9 bhp & 161.1 Ib/ft Run 1 -Temperature Into intercooler from charger 150 degree & Out of Intercooler into engine 123 degree Run 2 -Temperature Into intercooler from charger 152 degree & Out of Intercooler into engine 130 degree Run 3 -Temperature Into intercooler from charger 155 degree & Out of Intercooler into engine 135 degree Conclusion – the standard intercooler on a tuned Mini just doesn’t work, most owners know this, here’s the proof for other owners that didn’t know. Competitors Intercooler 50mm core (Note, this version didn’t have Air diverter scoop) – Peak power 216.0 bhp & 171.4 Ib/ft Run 1 -Temperature Into intercooler from charger 124 degree & Out of Intercooler into engine 66 degree Run 2 -Temperature Into intercooler from charger 131 degree & Out of Intercooler into engine 67 degree Run 3 -Temperature Into intercooler from charger 140 degree & Out of Intercooler into engine 89 degree Conclusion – This intercooler worked much better than standard, but we feel the 50mm tube and fin core still couldn’t handle highly tuned Mini’s intake temps. Airtec Intercooler 60mm core – Peak power 233.3.0 bhp & 190.5 Ib/ft Run 1 -Temperature Into intercooler from charger 130 degree & Out of Intercooler into engine 44 degree Run 2 -Temperature Into intercooler from charger 137 degree & Out of Intercooler into engine 47 degree Run 3 -Temperature Into intercooler from charger 149 degree & Out of Intercooler into engine 49 degree Conclusion – The Airtec 60mm bar and plate core works really well and keeps temps below 50 degrees Note: We stock a few at at time and reorder when needed. So this product could be out of stock and have a week or two lead time. 1 Review 5 Airtec is the way! Posted by Zack Sarver on 18th Sep 2021 After testing and more testing the Airtec intercooler is a perfect addition to a reduced pulley. I ran intake temps between stock, grs, and Airtec IC's. The Airtec performed the best with proper fitting and hood adjustment between all. I wish I had access to the pro-alloy but it's nearly impossible to find in the US. Stock IC with a DDMWORKS diverter had a low of 115°f and a high of 145°. The grs had the same low but the high was 132°f. The Airtec gave me a low of 89° and a high of 118°. Now all of these were tested same day within 4hrs at 92° outside temp, and humidity of 30% in Georgia. I took the same route with rolling straights and a "normal" amount of traffic (~20 cars per red light) I did not experience heat soaking with the Airtec but my ignition did retard when sitting in traffic by ~5° with all 3 tested. However the other 2 started to retard by ~10° with the grs, and ~17° with stock IC's after pushing 80+ for minutes on end ( this was in my personal mexico for legal reasons). Detroit tuned really takes care of their customers! They sent all kinds of goodies and were very kind when I called them about availability! I recommend calling about the Airtec since they only order a few at a time from the UK. My testing is only as scientific as I can make it but I tried to get the key points for a street car. Since the r53 is a supercharged car; heatsoak, and ignition retardation both matter the most when used as a street car. A track weapon would do better with a water/air intercooler. I hope this helps move others away from the eBay units as the diverter on this IC makes more of a difference to performance with respect to the increased (and similar) size.
5 Airtec is the way! Posted by Zack Sarver on 18th Sep 2021 After testing and more testing the Airtec intercooler is a perfect addition to a reduced pulley. I ran intake temps between stock, grs, and Airtec IC's. The Airtec performed the best with proper fitting and hood adjustment between all. I wish I had access to the pro-alloy but it's nearly impossible to find in the US. Stock IC with a DDMWORKS diverter had a low of 115°f and a high of 145°. The grs had the same low but the high was 132°f. The Airtec gave me a low of 89° and a high of 118°. Now all of these were tested same day within 4hrs at 92° outside temp, and humidity of 30% in Georgia. I took the same route with rolling straights and a "normal" amount of traffic (~20 cars per red light) I did not experience heat soaking with the Airtec but my ignition did retard when sitting in traffic by ~5° with all 3 tested. However the other 2 started to retard by ~10° with the grs, and ~17° with stock IC's after pushing 80+ for minutes on end ( this was in my personal mexico for legal reasons). Detroit tuned really takes care of their customers! They sent all kinds of goodies and were very kind when I called them about availability! I recommend calling about the Airtec since they only order a few at a time from the UK. My testing is only as scientific as I can make it but I tried to get the key points for a street car. Since the r53 is a supercharged car; heatsoak, and ignition retardation both matter the most when used as a street car. A track weapon would do better with a water/air intercooler. I hope this helps move others away from the eBay units as the diverter on this IC makes more of a difference to performance with respect to the increased (and similar) size.