[supercoopers]

Ok, the next in my review series is the GRS Chargecooler

Straight after finishing at Autotech, I drove down to Yeovil at about 1am, so that I would be there nice and early the next morning, lol

I arrived at Graham's house at 9.30am the next morning and was greeted, again, by great hospitality - tea, biscuits, sandwiches, you name it, Graham has it . It was great to finally be able to spend some quality time with Graham; we have met at pretty much every MINI event going over the past 4-5 years, but this was the first time that I actually got to see where he works and work on my car with him (even though I did very little on the day of the install because I was feeling a bit lazy )

Anyway, what is the product like? In a word blinding.

Now, I'll leave you to read between the lines here, but this is the best intercooler I have tried and by a long shot (I've had three, and seen others like the M7 and Alta V2 in action when I met with Jan in the States).

The first thing that I noticed what that immediately the car stopped pinking. I have been running a MTH tuner map I bought direct from Franz two years ago which was specced for a big intercooler and with the standard cooler, the car was pinking over 4K revs. Not great. The GRS then went on and the pinking stopped immediately and I noticed a little increase in power...hmmm, not what I expected.

Then, on the way home, I reset the ECU. Now, I know that some people say this is bogus etc, but when your car has been running on a standard intercooler for 2,000 miles and then suddenly has lots of lovely cool air courtesy of a larger intercooler, the overhead for ignition advance is going to change a lot!.

And then the power kicked in...like a bloomin Tsunami! The best way of describing it is having the power 'uncorked.' It's just completely rabid now!

I have noticed only a small pressure decrease from stock: 18.2psi before, 17psi after - to be expected really.

Even in 22 deg C heat, the outlet intercooler horn is cool to the touch after giving the car some stick. It will heatsoak a little in stop-and-go traffic due to the heat rising off the engine, but that is the same for any intercooler situated in the stock location.

In summary then:

1) Graham is a top bloke (meet him if you get the chance!)
2) Your engine will love the cool air the chargecooler provides
3) This is the best intercooler for a supercharged Cooper S and you get what you pay for (£1k ish?)
4) Power is consistently available at all times with this intercooler in all temps. I haven't tried it on the track, but I don't forsee that it would be any different there, the heat exchanger is the same super-efficient core as the stantard air-to-air GRS intercooler.

Talking to Graham, I don't think that he wants to sell *too* many of these because they are quite an involved process to make and install, so queue up quick!

Pics to follow.

Cheers,

Henry

[chrisflyer]

Hi,

Thanks for the good clear report. Sounds like a nice peace of kit.
Were there any mods required of the front grill to house the rad. What was the time taken for the installation and how often do you antisipate you will have to refill the water bottle.

yours

Chris.

[supercoopers]

Quote: Originally Posted by chrisflyer (original)

Hi,

Thanks for the good clear report. Sounds like a nice peace of kit.
Were there any mods required of the front grill to house the rad. What was the time taken for the installation and how often do you antisipate you will have to refill the water bottle.

yours

Chris.

Chris:

In answer to your questions

* No mods are required to the front grill. The heat exchanger fits behind the grill with room to spare. The only mod you have to do is drill 2x holes in the aluminium slam tray to mount the bracket for the front heat exchanger.
* Allow 3-4 hrs for installation if it's your first time
* The circuit is a closed system, so you don't *have* to refill the water in the system, but I may do it every 12 months as a matter of procedure, when I do the third annual oil change and first annual coolant change for example.

HTH.

Cheers,

Henry

[chrisflyer]

Hi,

Thanks for your prompt reply.
Looks like I will have to get one. Better start saving.

Thanks
Chris

[Bhozar]

I would be interested to see how the temps are after running it on the track for a while.

[GRSmotorsport]

Hi Henry,

Thank you for your kind words glad to see your pride and joy's back on the road

Quote: Originally Posted by Bhozar (original)

I would be interested to see how the temps are after running it on the track for a while.

Alex, if all goes well my car will be on track at Castle Combe, so hopefully I'll give you some temp figures...

[Bhozar]

Quote: Originally Posted by GRSmotorsport (original)

Hi Henry,

Thank you for your kind words glad to see your pride and joy back on the road



Alex, if all goes well my car will be on track at Castle Combe, so hopefully I'll give you some temp figures...

Oh nice one Graham.

[Richard Crofts]

ooooooo .....

Just show him its shiney graham, and tell him you take credit cards ... he can't resist things that are shiney and he hasn't got to pay up front for

LOL

[Damo]

Quote: Originally Posted by Richard Crofts (original)

ooooooo .....

Just show him its shiney graham, and tell him you take credit cards ... he can't resist things that are shiney and he hasn't got to pay up front for

LOL

It'll be even shinier if he starts offering them polished ones (like his polished end tanks on the intercoolers)

[Lucky Dave]

I did peak a look at the cooler! It does look very nice indeed!

Infact I think you nearly left it at mine by mistake! ha ha!

Nice work.

[supercoopers]

Quote: Originally Posted by Lucky Dave (original)

I did peak a look at the cooler! It does look very nice indeed!

Infact I think you nearly left it at mine by mistake! ha ha!

Nice work.

[Loui]

Grahams a top bloke an the stuff he does is very good. My GRS cooler is a great piece if kit, nice write up Henry