Product Description

• Hand fabricated in the UK
• Simple installation 
• Gains up to 24BHP 
• 35°C temperature drop
• 16 litre volume
• 640mm x 250mm x 100mm
• Genuine OEM crash bar supplied
• Guaranteed for life

With our vast experience developing intercoolers for the last three generations of Audi RS3, we at Forge Motorsport have now used this experience and data to create a class leading intercooler for the Audi RSQ3 F3.

FMINT38 builds on our reputation for delivering cores that offer real-world increases in power and temperature drops. Due to the RSQ3 using the legendary 2.5 TSFI engine used in the RS3 we knew that our intercooler design for that vehicle would work perfectly well on the RSQ3, however there are differences behind the bumper, so we have modified this kit to fit the F3 chassis perfectly.

The core used for FMINT38 is a huge 640x250x100 and of bar and plate design. This gives it a huge 55% more surface area than OEM cooler, and an even more impressive 94% more volume (8.2 litres increased to 16l litres). The end tanks are made with integrated pipes in order to retain the stock boost hoses. Just like on the 8V chassis, we supply a genuine Audi RSQ crash bar which we modify in house in order to accept the new larger core, then finish both the crash bar and core in our standard black finish powder coat for maximum longevity.

Why do we test different cores?

Here at Forge Motorsport, when developing an intercooler, we will test several different cores for each application. For example, a bar and plate style core, a tube and fin style core along with different fin pitches and heights i.e. 22 ,17 or 12 fins per inch as well as changing the internal fin pitches/shapes and density within the tube enabling to fine tune the amount of pressure drop the intercooler produces.

Pressure drop is not always a bad thing, as our testing and research has proven on various projects, this is because the pressurized air velocity is being stalled by the pressure drop within the cooler thus allowing more time to cool the air within the cooler itself, as air passes through the non-pressurized face of the core, that is open to the atmosphere.

Too much pressure drop can of course have a problem on the higher performance engines as the intercooler reaches its maximum efficiency the turbo has to work a lot harder to force the air through the core. This in turn creates higher inlet air temps (IAT’s) due to the turbo creating more heat as it is over stressed and worked harder.

No pressure drop can also prove to be inefficient as the cooler will not lower the charge temperature again resulting in higher inlet air temperatures.

As shown in the graph below, for both tests we let the car heat soak on the dyno until the radiator fans tripped on and off (which gives an inlet temperature of 36°C), then do a dyno pull from there. This gives a more consistent result and reflects real-world driving conditions more accurately. You can easily see the Forge intercooler cools much quicker and delivers a much greater drop in temperature compared to OEM.

On the standard car we tested on, it made 362bhp completely stock (so largely in line with what Audi quote) with a peak intake temperature of 58°C. With just this intercooler fitted and no other modifications, the same car made 386bhp with a peak inlet temperature of 23°C, a gain of 24bhp and a drop of 35°C. Gains on mapped cars will likely be even more impressive as the stock intercooler core really starts to struggle on stage 1 mapped cars.

The Forge Motorsport front mount intercooler has all the necessary hardware and comprehensive fitting instructions to install the kit in approximately 4 hours depending on competency and tools available.