had my ebay one fitted at the weekend am well happy with it. Only a bit of cutting involved but for the money you can't expect it to bolt straight in. will get some pictures up tomorrow

basscrazy:

Id be interested to see the printouts to prove your case as in what temperature changes you found between them etc obviously for me there are no s3 ones and this was a direct fit and specific for the engine we looked at many ebay ones but the piping would of been a true pain due to the conversion of the s3 going in the golf if it had been a 1.8t i may have considered a kit but surley it makes sence that if forge charge 680 and ebay charge 280 there must be some reason why...

You dont need me to give you intake tempratures its been done many a time not only on here but on many other forums do a search on Votex you will find an interesting thread on your so called Forge Item??  Putting a kit in a S3 engine would have been no different to any 1.8T that is if it was a FMIC they all have a in and out pipe and the S3 is no different that is if you were replacing the twin intercoolers with a FMIC.  Its cheaper to find a core that suits your setup and get custom pipes made up with silicone sleaving and clamps...

As for the comment ""if forge charge 680 and ebay charge 280 there must be some reason why...""  I'm open to suggestions...I am not saying the Forge item is rubbish quite the opposite I just think the prices are over inflated because of brand name...

 Just spoke to Hash just now and said that the one I got will never fir behind a standard bumper in a million years.

The reason the forge one is more expensive is because it apparently comes with a new crash bar, recloates the battery and has all the pipes for perfect fitting but I still think that £800 is alot of money.

Little tip though, if you email forge directly and see what their best price is they will lower the price by about £160, a mate of mine did it with the FMIx for his leon

 Blackmagic20vt i think your setup looks the buisness and i am going outside just this very moment to see how it would fit under my standard bumper. and then going to price up all the silicone pipes.

What silicone pipe did you use coming straight off the turbo? and where did you get your silicone from?

Thanks

Stuart

Ashmond:

 Just spoke to Hash just now and said that the one I got will never fir behind a standard bumper in a million years.

The reason the forge one is more expensive is because it apparently comes with a new crash bar, recloates the battery and has all the pipes for perfect fitting but I still think that £800 is alot of money.

Little tip though, if you email forge directly and see what their best price is they will lower the price by about £160, a mate of mine did it with the FMIx for his leon

Why the hell would the forge one relocate the battery????  the bloody pipes come out the same side, it goes no where near the battery .  As for the pipes they cant supply that much as it uses the orriginal pancake pipe and the outlet isn't that far off the oem.

correct me if im wrong but i think someones pullin your leg.

Now another question, the Ebay Fmic mentioned earlyer 350084119479 the core size is 58mm  isn't that alot smaller that other Eby cores so might fit better???

Gilly

 didnt mean to say relocates the battery Hash, said there is a bit in there that relocated the rad to get pipes through. I didnt get a forge one so im not speaking from 1st hand experience, I wouldnt pay £700 for their kit, hence why I did my own my way ;)

(Note the pipes are shorter now)

 I think im gonna go down the DIY route and just make up the pipes.  i know a fella who does great welding likes section bends i might give him a call.

Anyone know the ideal sizes for a core that will fit behind the standard bumper???

I can remember Blackmagic20v mentioning that 2.25 inlets well about right.

Thanks folks

Gilly

 blackmagic said to me that a core of sizes no more than 60mm thick would fit behind the standard bumper and thats with teh radiator spaced backwards by 10mm. as lor length and height well i measured and i would say about 700mm long and 190 mm high. or there about no bigger though.

Stuart

 Forge cores are tube and fin .....not bar and plate and differ internally to Pro - alloy , no cutting . no messing , if you need a great price please contact me ,

ashmond how big is the core on yours it looks very big for the car...do you suffer from lag at all?

 dont suffer from any lag as far as I can see just the normal later spool on the KO4, vdubben has a ko4 with standard set up and they are identical in power

what did you do in the end? Not sure about the size of the core on mine, think its 3 inch

 im still debating which intercooler to go for if anyone can recommend the right one these ebay ones dont seem to bad what are peoples thoughts?

 An intercooler is an intercooler at the end of the day mate, I know loads of people that run the ebay ones and they are brilliant.

My one is from XSPower and it works and looks brill, I replied to your pm mate.

 you pay peanuts you get monkeys

Nuff Said

It's unwise to pay too much, but it's unwise to pay too little.

When you pay too much you lose a little money, that's is all.

When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything,

because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing

you bought it to do. The common law of business balance

prohibits paying a little and getting a lot. It can't be done.

If you deal with the lower pricing seller, it's well to add something

for the risk you run. And if you do that, you will have enough

to pay for a better service and product

 Thats all good in the "theory world" but when you have a fair few guys on here and VWvortex running substantial power reliabily with intercooler setups that cost a fraction of the forge one and still getting temp drops in the same region then people will refuse to pay the amount that forge ask.

thats just my opinion as someone that is looking for a cooler setup and i personally will not be paying that amount of money when it cant be justified that the forge setup is 3 or sometimes maybe 4X efficent that anything that can be made for £200-£300.

Stuart

Forge Motorsport:

 you pay peanuts you get monkeys

Nuff Said

 

It's unwise to pay too much, but it's unwise to pay too little.

When you pay too much you lose a little money, that's is all.

When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything,

because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing

you bought it to do. The common law of business balance

prohibits paying a little and getting a lot. It can't be done.

If you deal with the lower pricing seller, it's well to add something

for the risk you run. And if you do that, you will have enough

to pay for a better service and product

 

In Theory mate you make a good enough argument...  I'd give up your day job selling intercoolers and become a Poet..lol...On second thoughts maybe not....We have been through this before and no doubt we are heading in the same direction with this conversation just like the ones we had on Vortex all them years back lol...

I am not knocking your coolers what so ever check other threads on the subject all I am saying is that you are well over priced.  This may seem ironic to you but If I can get a cooler along with many in th US and get it put on the car for say £200 and test it in the same ambient temps same conditions as the Forge one say side by side in two cars and your intercooler that used to retail for £750 -£900 does not perform any better than a ebay £200 then you have no leg to stand on.

I really think you should play on your companies strengths by producing qulity gear and try pricing the equipment accordingly..

Slating Pro Alloy and coming out with tube and finn is all well and good but it does not change facts of intake temps they dont lie...  Even a godspeed core with greddy piping gives the same results tested independantly..

Maybe you can explain that on the thread.....

I cant stand pompous companies that just come on here with baseless information and start slating the competition without even testing the said products have you ever tested the said ebay coolers?  Then how can you compare one to yours?

 Like I said before on other threads test independant coolers against your ones post the results up on your website for all to see why your products are far superior than the rest.   That would a much more contrucive way of expressing yourself and proving your peoducts against the cmpetition rather than just assuming because you have been around a long time people should stick to brand loyalty....

Dont even get me started on silicone hoses from China..........

For thr record I have nothing against forge and still maintain your products are quality and have many cars with your products in just not the intercoolers lol... 

For the record... I've opted for a Forge one

Goody