The following review is courtesy of 645Nm from E90post.com
The RPI intercooler looks stunning on its own and in the
car but I had to get rid of the RPI logo, not because I have anything against
the company logo, I wanted the intercooler to appear stock once installed. With
aluminum spray with a high temp tolerance, I erased the logo. Frankly, once the
RPI intercooler is installed and the bumper back on, the Intercooler is still
VERY noticeable behind the mesh compared to stock.
It took my brother and I, exactly 1 hour and 30 minutes to
install the RPI intercooler. The install process was really easy for me as a
novice. The only difficult part was lifting the car using the jacks and bricks
that were lying around.
Removing the covers and bumper was a breeze – I read on the forum some people
installed the RPI Intercooler without removing the front bumper. I think it can
be done; but it is so much easier if you can see what you are doing by removing
the bumper.
Basic tools are needed which you can pick up at your local
hardware store such as basic metric sockets, screwdrivers, torx bit, ratchet
handle and maybe an extension.
Removing the stock intercooler after unclipping it from
its connectors will literally slide out. This you can do on your own without any
help. The attach pictures show how small it is compared to its replacement and
certainly MUCH lighter.
Pushing the RPI intercooler into the gap is not easy
because it is much larger than the stock unit. One person cannot do this alone.
I had to use my feet as well to push the new unit into place. But once in and
the clips on the connecting pipes clicked in (make sure you hear those clips
“click” in place); two screws fastened –the job is done. All that remained was
the bumper and bottom covers refitted.
When you start up the car a little bit of smoke and funny
smells will come from the exhaust, probably the Intercooler cleaning itself? But
after a quick drive it will be back to normal. Well not actually!
But before I describe the new driving experience let me
share some of my concerns:
1. The stock intercooler had dirty “blow back” oil on both
sides of the connecting pipes that will certainly find their way into the turbos
and filter intakes. It is disconcerting for a car with only 4 000km on the
clock. Without an “oil catch can” this will happen with the new intercooler as
well. BMW engineers better fix this!
2. The RPI intercooler does not have any hooks or holes at the bottom to attach
the bottom car covers – at high speeds the wind lifted/pushing into or down the
bottom covers – there is no other way to attach the covers. With the stock
Intercooler the covers screwed into the stock intercooler holding everything
nicely in place.
3. The RPI intercooler does not require any cutting or modifications to the
bumper/covers or the plastic housing of the radiator. But due to its size the
RPI intercooler does bend some of the existing plastics below the radiator. This
will not cause permanent damage but it is not an “exact” fit.
4. My first install attempt flopped . I did not properly connect the intercooler
pipes with the stock pipes. The left hand side pipes were connected properly but
the damn pipes on the right slipped out because the clip was not correctly
inserted. So when I took the car for a test drive I had quite a few limp modes
with reduced power. From the advice of some of the forum members such as
oddjob2021 and Mariopalza, I was able to trace and fix the problem – thanks
guys.
The drive
The sound is the first thing that changed. The exhaust tone is louder, deeper
and throatier outside and inside the cabin (but a nice racy sound). The “ssssh”
of the BMS dual cone filters appears less pronounced.
But the car feels less enthusiastic almost lethargic at
lower revs in “D” and “DS” modes. But the moment you push it above 3000rpm, the
devil is let loose. The “butt dyno” pull is even and strong. Drive feels much
smoother compared to stock. The car runs cooler and the engine oil temp remains
shy of the 120 degree Celsius.
Another good investment.
