do88 Intercooler Review- New option stock location FMIC

[rupertpupkin]

I have no affiliation with this company. Normal consumer like the rest of you that bought a part during an intro sale.

Saw it here: http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthrea...ped-worldwide!

www.do88.se



Reason for Purchasing: I have wanted to buy an upgraded stock location Intercooler for some time. The car is UM stage 2 Loaded set to 28PSI. I have the Neuspeed TOP, and Uni intake. The FMIC seemed to be the last major bottleneck on the intake stream. I told myself an IC near $1000 was ridiculous and I wanted to spend around 4-500 on maybe a used one. When I saw the do88 page about this FMIC I first laughed at the name, and then began researching. The Saab, Volvo, and Porsche guys rave about this brand. They all speak to the quality and gains. I really liked the fact that they chose to pick airflow and pressure drop more seriously than straight up cooling. I never had an issue with high IATs, but wanted more flow and the increased cooling of an aftermarket FMIC was going to be an improvement regardless. With the data provided and reviews I read online it seemed like a solid choice. The unknown name to me and lack of this IC in the U.S. made me question it, but in the end I decided to buy it. I am very glad I did.


Ordering Process: Very simple. I PMd do88 on Vortex and was sent a PayPal invoice which I paid in USD. This was on Friday 11/14. I received a UPS tracking number on Monday the 16th with an expected delivery date of Wednesday the 18th!!! 2 days from near Stockholm Sweden. When I checked the tracking it showed a customs fee. I called UPS on Tuesday and paid it over the phone with a credit card. It was $14.50. Apparently can be paid in cash or check to the UPS driver as well. Super easy ordering from a company in another country. Isak was very good with communication and Information.


Unboxing: The box was waiting for me when I got home on the 18th as expected. Very large (38 x 9.5 x 19.5) It weighed 36 pounds per the UPS label. The intercooler itself was very securely packaged and surrounded with plenty of packing material and tape to keep it from moving. All accessories and hoses were nicely packaged in bags. A Full color installation manual was included as well as an info sheet from do88 about the intercooler. The intercooler itself had a very nice finish and welds and overall appearance are of excellent quality. Silicone hoses, clamps and hardware are all nice quality. I was very impressed!










Installation: Same as every other FMIC install on a mk6. Took me about 5 or 6 hours total for the intercooler. I took my time to make sure everything was perfect and done properly. My only other experience was installing and APR FMIC on a mk6 GTI. This was nearly identical and was not that difficult, just tedious. Tons of screws and bolts to keep track of. Hoses fit nearly perfectly, CNC coupler fit perfectly and the O ring transferred from my stock pipe fit as intended. Clamps were perfect fitment. Only trouble was the AC line bracket which slowed me down, but would have happened with any other FMIC. It is such a snug fit in there it has to be done slowly. Best advice is to only tighten each bolt all over a few threads until they are all in. Then tighten them done. You need all the slack you can get. After we put the front end on I attached all the hoses. Literally zero issues with fitment or install.





Fitment: Spot on. No issues, all bolt holes lined up properly and were all tapped perfectly. No trimming of anything was necessary. Really helped having a second person to hold things while we finagled the new IC into place. It is a lot bigger than stock so does take some finesse installing. Once in place, it fit perfectly.


Fit and finish:
• Very smooth casting
• Machined mounts into radiator support
• Perfectly tapped mounting holes
• Excellent welds
• Fin spacing and core was nearly perfect
• Light grey powder coated finish is very nice
• Overall was very clean and well prepped and ready to be installed.
• CNC coupler was flawless
• Silicone hoses were very nice, printed “do88” on them. Had the stepped ends where it meets the intercooler similar to the APR ones.
• Very sturdy overall construction, no noises when shaken or anything loose or anything at all. Incredibly solid.
• Intercooler alone weighs 28.1 pounds








Cons: Install booklet is for an older S3. If someone has never installed this will cause issues. The concepts are all the same, but not 100% to a mk6. Could be improved. Weight could be seen as a con to some.

Overall Reaction: Better than I could have imagined. The quality of the product and the ease of install allow me to highly recommend this intercooler. The car pulls incredibly hard now. The boost builds and builds and a lot smoother than stock. Feels like it is breathing better which would make complete sense. Seat of the pants reaction is that it added as much power and response as when I put just a downpipe on my otherwise stock car. It feels excellent. Boost builds and peaks and holds. It used to drop off a little. This is based on watching my boost gauge. I do not have a before and after dyno, but the Butt dyno is saying there is more power for sure. The overall drivability has gotten much better. The car feels much healthier. When you see the stock intercooler, hoses, couplers and piping you can see obvious restrictions. This seems to have addressed every bottleneck within the restraints of the chassis. I cannot speak highly enough about this intercooler. I would say the quality of everything is better than the APR that I installed a few years ago. Not knocking APR, but this just seems to have more care into it. It is currently on an intro sale for $500 shipped worldwide. I would say this is a deal for sure. I would have been this happy with it had I paid the full normal retail price. It is worth its price.

Stock Dimensions: - Tube and Fin Construction





do88 Dimensions: - Bar and Plate Construction







I will try to add more photos and logs as I can get them to this review over the next couple of days. I would ask the do88 guys how long the sale is going for. At $500 shipped it is a steal. if anyone has any specific logs they want me to run i have a VAG COM cable, but have never really run logs or know how to turn them into pretty graphs. Please let me know and i can provide the raw data dump to be made pretty.

[rupertpupkin]

Reserved to add additional photos, logs, and info.

here is a photo i was able to get with my gopro the other night before install of the inside of the core. I put the gopro in the inlet of the intercooler with a flashlight and took this with the gopro app. You can see super clean finishing and a very nice bar and plate construction.

[Mindfields]

Wow nice pick up, can't go wrong with &500

[GoodTimesIndeed]

Nice write up and pics. Seems like a really solid choice for $500 shipped. The cars looking good man.

[KramNella]

Great in depth write up - I've been looking at making an intercooler my next upgrade and this helped a ton!

[rupertpupkin]

Thank you. I'm no expert, but if you have any questions on this particular one or the install or anything let me know.

Originally Posted by KramNella

Great in depth write up - I've been looking at making an intercooler my next upgrade and this helped a ton!

[toxicfusion]

the price and quality on this IC is superb.... This is what the cost of the IC should be. mind blowing that other name companies want over $900 for a heatsink.

[rupertpupkin]

I agree. While this is on sale for $500 it is normally $767 plus $120 for shipping from what their site says. The quality is excellent. I was blown away when i got my hands on it and was able to check it out up close.

The shipping makes it a lot, but even their regular price is amazing for what you are getting. This for $500 shipped right now is insane.

Originally Posted by toxicfusion

the price and quality on this IC is superb.... This is what the cost of the IC should be. mind blowing that other name companies want over $900 for a heatsink.

[Pmanpop]

So much want. Great review. This looks amazing for the price.

[rupertpupkin]

Thank you! Again any questions or logs anyone might want let me know. Car now has 82 miles on it as of today with the IC, feels excellent. Super smooth. It definitely smoothed out the entire RPM range and pulls super hard when you punch it. It goes against logic with a bigger core, but it feels like it spools sooner than the stock. That could be due to the less pressure drop and all. Overall extremely happy with it!

Originally Posted by Pmanpop

So much want. Great review. This looks amazing for the price.

[pashley]

I love that they decided to focus more on pressure drop rather than uber cooling. They are correct that the best option is a balance. While I'd love to have ice cold air, I dont want it to be at the expense of throttle response or boost lag. So, this IC combined with a little w/m set-up should be the balls. I'm ordering one. Thanks for the review.

[rupertpupkin]

No doubt. that was the main deciding factor for me too. throttle response and spool seem a lot smoother and more responsive. Sooner too. Very pleased.

Originally Posted by pashley

I love that they decided to focus more on pressure drop rather than uber cooling. They are correct that the best option is a balance. While I'd love to have ice cold air, I dont want it to be at the expense of throttle response or boost lag. So, this IC combined with a little w/m set-up should be the balls. I'm ordering one. Thanks for the review.

[Jcarollo765]

You bastard I just dropped 3k on going K04 and just placed an order for this haha. It really does look amazing and the pricing is unreal. Thank you for the review

[rupertpupkin]

haha it will never end!!! Sick though. Post up your thoughts here when you get it. Curious how everyone else feels about it. Also here is a photo i was able to get with my gopro the other night before install of the inside of the core. I put the gopro in the inlet of the intercooler with a flashlight and took this with the gopro app. You can see super clean finishing and a very nice bar and plate construction.

Originally Posted by Jcarollo765

You bastard I just dropped 3k on going K04 and just placed an order for this haha. It really does look amazing and the pricing is unreal. Thank you for the review