The other thing about using the std intercooler is it'll look nasty behind the front bumper. They ned to actually fit and look stock IMO, there's some other kits that look weird where you see a big gap either side of a skinny intercooler, looks like a lash up job to me.
As I said, my car came with one of the ebay kits and the front bumper intact. I didn'tlike it like that myself but there's no reason why you couldn't just trim the back of the bumper centre and run it stock looking.
The reason I didn't like it was because it's all too close to the bumper and looks strange.
I ended up cutting my front bumper and can understand some who don't like the look. I'm not 100% happy, but to be honest I would be if I could get some better mesh, ie mesh that's identical to the brake duct vent mesh. I did however take time to make the cutout look stock and left a ridge around the cutout. Most people just hack too much out and it looks a bit gaping at the ends. I saw another gti-r in the flesh the other day with a front mount and it looked plain nasty, it was just badly done and finished. I wanted mine to look almost factory. Even people who don't like my car at work had to admit it looked better than before.
ie
I'm tempted to paint the intercooler black? and do something next to the end tanks to block it in more but I want it to look 'factory'
