[manderson81]

Just found this thread and had a few questions.

1. Did anyone end up custom fabbing a hard pipe kit for the cruze? I'd be interested if the price was right.

2. Has anyone bought hard pipes and FMIC and noticed gains in economy. If so, what were your average numbers? For MPG as well as HP and Torque if you dyno'd it also.

I found a kit that has an FMIC and hard pipes for around $400 shipped to the door, but wanted to see what all you have found since this was originally posted also.

 

[Blue_RS]

Coming from a turbo background, the intercooler/ pipes will be the biggest improvement in effiency because if you think about it, 1) the stock ic is wedged between 2 heat sources, the radiator& the ac condensor, therefore it causes heat soak very quickly. 2) the stock piping is garbage! Those things blow up like baloons under stock max psi, let alone when your tuned.

after a catback exhaust, the ic kit from zzp with be my next purchase!

 

[prince_bigd]

Honestly from monitoring my AITs the stock intercooler is fairly efficient as is. Really I think the crappy charge pipes are more of a hinderance to power than the intercooler itself. I cant find anyone that makes just charge pipes for our cruze though. There has been talks of custom fabbed but I dont think anyone has stepped up to offer them to the community yet.

 

[Blue_RS]

Yeah but if you in any traffic, it doesnt take long for those iat2 temps to sky rocket. And it takes longer for them to come down with the stock ic then it would with an actual front mount.

 

[SportBilly]

I might take a look of this ant talk with my man that does custom pipes/coolers etc and I might come with a good price for either only pipes or a full kit.


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[widebody60]

I am down for just the piping. Don't feel like spending 600+ on a FMIC.

 

[endub]

I'm in for just pipes as well.

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[SportBilly]

im estimating them no more than 150-200 max. cause after that we can just get a universal cooler and call it a day. i might use a stock evo 8-9 coller..

 

[prince_bigd]

CX racing makes a intercooler kit that you can pick up for around 400 bucks for our car and it includes everything even an intake. Im thinking I recall another member mentioning he reached out to CX racing and they offered to sell him just the intercooler and piping without the intake for even less around 325 if im not mistaken. However Im truly happy if I can just get charge pipes. I think good charge pipes would make a worlds difference with just the stock IC.

 

[SportBilly]

im looking to have aluminum pipes done..

 

[prince_bigd]

good aluminum pipes without the factory kinks and with better bends would provide better throttle response and tighter boost control as we wouldnt get flex as with the stock rubber hoses. That and with the increased flow in and out the intercooler could work better with less pressure drop. If youve looked at the factory charge pipe connections they have a ton of play and the rubber feels really weak. If you can fab up quality charge pipes that are direct fit for the sonic/cruze community you should find plenty of takers.

 

[widebody60]

I just checked out the cxracing site. Is the Sonic setup exact fit to the Cruze?

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[prince_bigd]

No they are not. Thats one area where the sonic and cruze 1.4t engines differ. It has more to do with the frontal area, engine bay space and overall platform width. The sonic is narrower and has less frontal overhang so it faces some different packaging limitations compared to the cruze.

 

[widebody60]

Thanks for the info. I can't seem to find the fmic for the cruze on the site. Maybe I am just over looking it.

 

[prince_bigd]

cxracing.com: Front Mount Intercooler Piping Kit For 2010+ Chevrolet Cruze 1.4T Turbo
here ya go. However Ive saw and heard that honestly the stock intercooler flows better. I cant confirm as its not first hand knowledge however but after doing some homework this is from the Sonic owners forum. Granted the sonics intercooler is mounted different from ours. This and a few other things lead me to really want to just do hard pipes or quality silicone pipes at least.

More intercooler testing - Chevy Sonic Owners Forum

 

[SportBilly]

All stock coolers are good. The flow is way better than any low-mid price aftermarket. Stock ones suck tho with the plastic sides. That doesn't help with keeping the temp low and cool fast.

In my past car with k04 hybrid turbo I've tested 4 different intercoolers-pipes and when I ended up with custom aluminum pipes and intercooler from the evo 8 I saw the best results. 4hp more always the same boost pressure and 10degrees Celsius less intake temp.


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[widebody60]

Good deal...I am thinking about going with different piping and no fmic.

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[SportBilly]

Good deal...I am thinking about going with different piping and no fmic.

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same here cause the stock cooler is quite enought for the stock turbo and power output..

 

[TheKidJoey]

Has any one looked to see if the hard charge pipe from ddm works for the Sonic works with the Cruze?

 

[prince_bigd]

No they will not and Dave at DDM works actually emailed me back today regarding any work on charge pipes for the Cruze. Basically it said that as of now they are working on a few things for the cruze but nothing is ready for testing or sales yet. The Sonic has a true front mount intercooler, where as ours is sandwiched between the radiator and heater core. The bends and such are different.