PRODUCT DETAILS
PRL Motorsports Intercooler Upgrade - 2017-2021 Honda Civic 1.5T & Si
If you've got the 1.5T Civic, you already know the dirty little secret of that motor: the factory intercooler heat-soaks badly. Lean on the car at all, especially on a warm day or a back-to-back pull, and those tiny factory cores load up with heat and just can't shed it. That spikes your charge air and cylinder temps, which kills power and ramps up your detonation risk, exactly what you don't want. The PRL Motorsports intercooler fixes that at the source: a way bigger, denser core that drops your charge temps and flows more air, so your Civic actually holds its power instead of falling on its face when things heat up.
What Heat-Soak Is Doing To Your Power
Here's why this matters so much on these cars. A turbo makes the intake air hot, and the intercooler's job is to cool it back down before it hits your engine. The problem is the factory unit on the 1.5T is small, so it saturates with heat quickly and stops doing its job, your intake temps climb, the ECU pulls timing to protect the motor, and you watch your power melt away the harder you drive. Push more power or drive it hard and it only gets worse. A proper intercooler keeps those temps down so your power stays consistent pull after pull, and your engine stays safer while it's at it.
The Core Does The Heavy Lifting
This is where PRL built it right. The heart of the kit is a dense bar-and-plate core measuring 25.5 x 4 x 6.3", rated to support 550-plus horsepower (and they've pushed past 600 on it), so there's a ton of headroom here whether you're bolt-on now or planning to tune and add power later. It's capped with machined billet aluminum end tanks, embossed and built to mount in the factory locations, so this isn't some universal core zip-tied in, it bolts right where your stock one came out. You get the cooling and the airflow without fighting the install.
What You Actually Gain
Let's be straight about the numbers, because the real story here isn't peak horsepower. Just bolting it on nets you around 9 horsepower and 3 lb-ft, which is a nice bonus but not the headline. The headline is the heat: you're looking at a 50-plus degree drop in post-charge-air temps at peak and an average drop around 36 degrees. That's what gives you consistent power delivery instead of watching it fade as the car gets hot, plus a real bump in engine safety from keeping detonation at bay. And here's the kicker: you get all of it with no ECU calibration required. It's a true bolt-on, no tune needed.
50-State Legal, And A Clean Install
A couple more things that make this an easy call. It's 50-state street legal with a CARB EO (D-878), so you're good to run it anywhere. And it uses your factory mounting spots and comes with all the hardware you need, so the install is straightforward. For best fitment, PRL recommends removing the lower factory intake airbox damper. It works with your factory charge piping right out of the box, or you can pair it with PRL's charge pipe upgrade kit for even better flow.
A Few Install Notes
Couple of heads-ups before you wrench on it. There are two O-rings total in the factory charge pipe system, and the kit includes factory-style replacements, but if your originals are torn, dry-rotted, deformed, or just high mileage, plan on swapping them while you're in there. And if you happen to be pairing this with V1 charge piping, reach out to us first so we can make sure you've got the right setup.
What's Included
- (1) Intercooler assembly with billet end tanks
- (2) Air guides with stainless hardware
- (2) Billet aluminum factory charge pipe adapters
- (2) PRL factory-style replacement O-rings
- (1) Cardboard stencil with PRL logo
- All hardware needed for installation
Fits These Cars
- 2017-2021 Honda Civic 1.5T (all variants, including CVT, 6MT, RHD, and international models)
- 2017-2020 Honda Civic Si
Note: PRL Motorsports intercooler upgrade for the 2017-2021 Honda Civic 1.5T and 2017-2020 Honda Civic Si. Replaces the heat-soak-prone factory intercooler with a dense bar-and-plate core (25.5 x 4 x 6.3") rated to support 550-plus horsepower, capped with machined billet aluminum end tanks that mount in the factory locations. Drops post-charge-air temps by 50-plus degrees at peak (about 36 degrees on average) for consistent power and added engine safety, with roughly 9 horsepower and 3 lb-ft gained on a simple bolt-on. No ECU calibration required. 50-state legal, CARB EO D-878. Cross-references OEM Honda intercooler part number 19710-5AA-A01. Uses factory mounting points and includes all hardware; removal of the lower factory intake airbox damper is recommended for optimal fitment. Works with factory charge piping or PRL's charge pipe upgrade kit. The factory charge pipe system uses two O-rings (factory-style replacements included), which should be replaced if torn, dry-rotted, deformed, or high mileage. If pairing with V1 charge piping, contact us first. One intercooler kit per order.