Hyundai Genesis Forum banner

Tuning and Intercooler Opinions

2K views 20 replies 6 participants last post by  Cgbape 
#1 ·
I’ve been reading mixed things about tuning a gen with a stock intercooler. Some say it’s a no no and some say you’d be fine. I’d rather get a clear and concise answer on the matter. I’m sure this topic has been beaten to death at some point but I still can’t seem to find a clear answer. To give you some background I have a 2011 Hyundai Genesis Coupe (BK1) 2.0T (automatic transmission). I recently bought an sfr stage 1.5 tuned ecu. Yes, I know there’s long been a debate between sfr and other tuning companies. I don’t want to discuss that. I just want to know if an aftermarket intercooler would be needed prior to installing the tuned ecu. I understand it could make things run smoother but if it’s not needed immediately I’ll buy it in a couple months. Preferably after the holidays. Also, this is my daily driver. I have a cold air intake, full catback exhaust and a bov. The majority of my driving is done on the highway and I probably drive about 70-80 miles a day. I got the tuned ecu to make it a slightly more fun car on the weekends to just do a couple launches to have a little fun every now and then. I by no means plan on putting too much stress on the engine whatsoever. Like I said, just wanted to make the car a little more fun. If anybody can just discuss this a bit with me I’d greatly appreciate it. Any and all feedback is appreciated. Thanks I’m advance!
 
#2 ·
From what I've read on other forums the BK1 intercooler is pretty much at max potential, but there shouldn't be any problems with keeping it for a little bit with the tune until you get a better one. BK2 intercoolers are actually an ok upgrade for stage 1 or 1.5 tuned BK1s also. Once again that's just what I've read though. You can get a full aftermarket one if you'd like
 
#3 ·
You don't need an intercooler right away. Will it help? Yes. I've been driving tuned for like 30k miles with the stock intercooler without any issues. You'll start to notice the bad performance of the stock intercooler when it's a little warmer out. You'll have good power when first driving, but once your engine bay heats up, and the IATs rise, the intercooler won't do a good job of cooling that air down. It's not a problem and won't cause harm, but your ECU will pull timing and your performance will drop as your IATs rise. You're fine - that's just my take on it though.


From what I've read on other forums the BK1 intercooler is pretty much at max potential, but there shouldn't be any problems with keeping it for a little bit with the tune until you get a better one. BK2 intercoolers are actually an ok upgrade for stage 1 or 1.5 tuned BK1s also. Once again that's just what I've read though. You can get a full aftermarket one if you'd like
You're right. The BK1 intercooler is not sufficient and you'll heat soak pretty quick especially in warmer climates.
 
#5 ·
Like the previous comment said you don't need a Fmic for the setup you're running. The stock intercooler is good enough for you're current setup, however it is worthless and will heat soak after a few hard pulls. I run fbo with a tune and I'm running the stock intercooler and it works fine but like I mentioned before after a few pulls it gets serious heat soak which gives you turbo lag and higher intake temperature which is no good. If you decide to run a bigger turbo and more boost then you will have to upgrade the intercooler in order to avoid detonation due to high intake air temps.
 
#10 ·
Upgrading the Ic piping is not going to do anything it's a waste of money the polished piping is more of a cosmetic upgrade that's all. Also removing the fog light bezels is not going to do anything either as the bezels are far away from the Ic itself. I have a brand new TurboXs Fmic "never installed" sitting in the box with everything if your interested for $500. I would seriously have to think about it if I want to sell it as the price went up like everything else it's now selling for $650. It's a super nice Ic kit top notch quality, very shiny Ic with the nice shiny Ic piping.
 
#17 ·
Lol my guy if your worried about blowing up your motor with 168k miles then why would you mod it at all? With or without a big turbo even if you're running a stock turbo with Fbo "Full bolt on", your taking and assuming the risk that you can blow you're motor regardless. Not to mention you're running an Sfr tune and Jay's tune are well known for him leaning them out so he squeezes the most power out of the tune all while sacrificing reliability. If you blow you're motor with his tune he's not going to take responsibility and he will say you abused the car or your maintenance was not up to par that's why it blew. He could care less really after he has you're money. Even if you buy a Fmic your still going to have to spend more money to run bigger injectors so you don't run lean. Then again he's the only one that can tell you if you will need to run bigger injectors and also reflash the existing tune to accommodate the Fmic and bigger injectors only he would know. It sounds like you really don't know what you want to do with you're car, not to mention you don't want to spend the money as well, and or you're on a budget. Modding cars on a budget definitely don't go in the same sentence lol.
 
Top