I may have gone a bit large for my initial stock-lower-end setup. What I now have hanging off the nose of the car is a Treadstone TR8L bar and plate front mount intercooler that measures 7.8" x 24" x 3.5" (the TR8L has a core that is 2" longer than the normal TR8). I'm sure a TR8 would have been more than plenty, but without any difference in price (as well as a crazed notion that I will no longer need to upgrade in the future) I was set on the larger of the two.
To make it fit most of the nose was going to have to go. Most people seem to mount their intercoolers between the radiator and front crossmember, however my radiator was already pushed into this free space to clear the turbocharger. So, off came the crash beam with styrofoam, and the lower plastic that supports the bottom of the bumper. Despite the added room it was clear that, with the front crossmember still in place, the intercooler would still sit too far forward.
