Do I need to Weld this intercooler shut or no?

[GLoBaLReBeL420]

Hey guys and girls. I just recently found out that my IC has been leaking out of 2 dings i believe on the top and bottom of the IC itself where the L brackets where welded to hold the ic to the frame. I was wondering if anyone here had any comments on how bad this is, and if i will need to weld the entire top row, or if i will need to even get a completely new IC . . .
Here is the top weld. You can see where it was welded too hot and morphed. . .


Here is the Bottom Weld. Same goes for this one as the top . . . .


Here is a complete pic of the intercooler itself. Please tell me what you think i should do. Also, if you know of any places that can do this for me in Orange,CA 92867.


Thank you soo much for all your help.

[NemeGuero]

Man, if its leaking.. replace it. Unless you can pinpoint the leaks and make 100% sure you seal them all the way.

[punxva]

holy shit, and you couldnt tell it was leaking from those damn dings lol, just replace, it'd be cheaper in the long run.

[GLoBaLReBeL420]

come on guys, I'm low on dough here!!! I need to get some positive feedback

[phrozen]

get one from ebay for like 100 bucks,

[mrmephistopheles]

I suggest you cap off one end, and fill the damn thing with water.
You'll find your leaks pretty quickly that way.
Otherwise, fill it with smoke or something else that can/will escape.

[GLoBaLReBeL420]

water? But wouldn't doing this leave water behind and get sucking into my engine? If not, then that would be one hell of a idea.

[GLoBaLReBeL420]

MRM, thank you very much for the picture, it is actually leaking from the gouge on the right, but as for the one in the middle its just a ding. Would u guys just recomend, having a machine shop or any shop that can weld aluminum just weld that shit shut? Also, should i try to level out that top and bottom dings so that air can get through? Or no?
(do you think the ding of the right is big enough to cause a rich AF mixture? Becuz my car runs HELLA rich!!!)

[NemeGuero]

Yes, 'cuz you're metering more air than is actually going into the car.. therefore you have excess fuel.

But man, replace the IC... don't patch it up.

[GLoBaLReBeL420]

Why not just have a friend weld that tear up and use a flat head to fix all the bent fins? I mean, its a TRUST so its good quality. And I'm not running mad HP so its not a big deal to me to have a bigger IC yet. I think that the TRUST one i have right now after being fixed, will be just as good if not better then an Ebay IC. But, i do appriciate your input.

[krustindumm]

get a couple rubber tube caps from home depot and a bolt in valve stem. Drill a hole in one and install the valve stem, clamp them on the inlets. put like 15-20 psi in the intercooler and either listen for the leaks, spray with soapy water, or submerse in a tank of water and look for bubbles.

[mrmephistopheles]

for everyone telling him to replace it, why bother? the cooler is fine. it needs a few bucks of repair to be good, and it'll be 10x better than a stock sidemount.
the ripping at the top and bottom isn't a huge deal, and if it can hold pressure after the repair work is done, why not?

[TheWolf]

JB weld for small pinhole leaks FTW!

[andrewmp6]

mrmephistopheles is right but if you jb weld it dont plan on it to last a long time intercoolers are thin metal buy a new one asap

[GLoBaLReBeL420]

Well, I was just going to ahve a friend in my class do the weld for me. He has been welding for around 3 years now, so i think he can handel it. What would be a good intercooler for cheap that i can buy off ebay? Also, I'm only ever going to reach 300whp, so what size should the intercooler be? Dimension wise? Seems like everything is at least 3" thick on Ebay. What should my inlet and outlet tanks be?(3" in, 2.5" out?) Any help is appriciated.

[NemeGuero]

You don't really need one bigger than (these are approximations) 16 long X 8 high X 3 deep.

And JB weld holds great. hahaha