The Hyundai i20N is an impressive hot hatch with plenty of potential for being fun and fast. However, when looking at the OEM intercooler our development team were able to see that this will be a weak point for those owners looking to push more power or enjoy spirited driving and track days.

Our development team started with what we learnt from the successful FMINT15 for the Hyundai MK3 i30N, as the 1.6 litre engine in the i20N shares the same design concept as the 2.0 litre in the i30N. We hand fabricated end tanks as a starting point to create a mock-up intercooler, allowing us to understand design parameters. This was then 3D scanned, allowing our development team to fine tune and produce the biggest core with the smoothest flowing end tank design for the available space.

SolidWorks CAD and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) was utilised to develop our high flow cast end tanks. This helped us to incorporate a turbo side internal divider to ensure the full volume of the stepped core is utilised for maximum cooling. With the design completed, we 3D printed the end tanks using our Formlabs Form 3L printer, to then test fit to the vehicle to sign off the new design. To complete the development, we had one-off sand-cast end tanks manufactured allowing us to test the design before manufacture was started on the Forge Motorsport performance intercooler.

Our industry leading bar and plate core is an increase of 113% in volumetric capacity and an increase of frontal surface area of over 57% than the OEM intercooler/Heat exchanger. FMINT28 is the largest currently available on the market. The inlet and outlet sizes have both been increased in diameter, the hot side from 50mm to 60mm giving a volumetric increase of over 44% from the OEM intercooler, and the cold side from 50mm to 63mm giving a volumetric increase of over 59% from the OEM intercooler.

Testing was completed using Performance Remap in Gloucester with their VTEC 4-wheel drive dynamometer. This was to ensure all our data has been achieved with results as accurately as possible by an independent tuner. As you can see from the dyno results below, peak power was increased from stock by 11bhp and 43nm of torque with the Forge Motorsport performance intercooler installed. The best news is that there are significant gains across the entire rev range, meaning that the car will pick up quicker and pull the whole way through to redline, including up to 25bhp increase over stock at 4500rpm.

To give consistent result which reflects real-world driving conditions, the dyno pulls were done with the car up to temperature with the radiator fans tripped on. With the OEM cooler two consecutive runs showed a maximum temperature of 44°C at 6747rpm. With FMINT28 installed we ran four consecutive runs, and the temperature didn’t rise to any more than 32°C at 6717rpm. This 12°C is a massive temperatire decrease of 32%.

It’s also worth noting that the dyno cells ambient temperature rose from 24°C to 29°C between the test days so you may experience even better results. With this reduced intake air temperature (IAT), you will prevent the stock ECU from pulling out the engines timing which results in a loss of power. If you use a i20N for fast road or have a high-performance tune in a hot climate, this performance intercooler is essential. 

This intercooler combined with our intake, and a quality aftermarket cat back exhaust with factory software will deliver you unparalleled levels of performance. The Forge Motorsport front mount intercooler has all the necessary hardware to install the kit in approximately 2.5 hours depending on competency and tools available. The Forge intercooler weighs 9.65kg compared to the OEM's 3.7kg