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Intercoolers

jtssrx

Lifetime Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2003
Messages
1,542
Location
New Baltimore,Michigan
Intercoolers are very new in Turbo technology. Intercoolers are used to create more HP. Mr. Turbo has been around for 25 plus years has assured Me and my partners that an intercooler is uneeded in this application. They believe this so much so that they don't currently build a Turbo kit that has a cooler. Everyone of there kits runs in 75 plus degree temps and uses 8 to 10 pounds of boost on pump fuel.

If anyone is concerened about this email me your numbe and I'll give you more info


jts7797@aol.com
 

ICs have been around on diesels for 25 years at least. For maksimum HP they are needed.
 
Porsche introduced intercoolers for the 930 in 1978, almost 30 years ago. They were needed and thet made a difference!
 
Whom ever says the intercooler isn't needed is on Crack Im sorry. I have been racing turbo car's and modding diesels for years. The cooler definatly keeps your intake temps down, keeping detonation down on so-so fuel. It sucks when mis-information is spread like this and a rookie reads it. Also my apex will heat the cooler up if you are running the hell out of it imagine a sled with no cooler at all? I can't.
 
a7m266d said:
Whom ever says the intercooler isn't needed is on Crack Im sorry. I have been racing turbo car's and modding diesels for years. The cooler definatly keeps your intake temps down, keeping detonation down on so-so fuel. It sucks when mis-information is spread like this and a rookie reads it. Also my apex will heat the cooler up if you are running the hell out of it imagine a sled with no cooler at all? I can't.


Well said brother, a littel harsh but true. At 10# of boost it is not unheard of to have your intake are temp around 300 degrees. Unless your kit is dirt cheep you are going to have a hard time selling it. The kits that are around have a lot of R&D into them and the ones that work well have intercoolers, the better the intercooler the more power you can get out of them. I think the rear mounts have the edge for total HP because of the precooler thay can run in the tunnel. Good luck with it
 
Intercoolers are they needed are not? It is true that at some point with a lot of boost you need to control pre-ignition and intercoolers can help. If you are not at that higher boost level then you don't need an intercooler. It is also true that a cooler air charge will help with power. In the winter you already have cool air. If you are going to drive around at 65 like a diesel truck then an intercooler is just the thing. But most of us do something else, we race, and there are some issues with intercoolers.
1. Intercoolers add to the system so there weight but most of all they have more area that the turbo must fill with air, you will always have some turbo lag with an intercooler. Some intercoolers are better than others but all will have turbo lag. Take a look at the top drag racing cars (NO intercoolers). F1 and indy cars no intercoolers. There are many other examples of engines without intercoolers, because there are other and better ways to get the job done than with an intercooler. Some of the ways are really cheap and some are not, but for racing they are better.
2 To reduce turbo lag the intercooler size and piping size must be reduced and this makes the turbo and intercooler less efficient.
3. The effectiveness of an intercooler is dependant on air flow. The better the air ducting (in and out of the intercooler). and the faster you are moving makes the intercooler more or less efficient. In a short bast of acceleration your intercooler does zilch but give you trubo lag. In a longer run your intercooler only gets to working at the end of the run.
3. Out side air temp. is always changing so the effecency of the inntercooler is never the same.
4. I have a hard time thinking that an intercooler stuffed under an RX1 hood with really poor aid flow management works very well.

One thing about racing if you can get extra speed sooner and quicker, like out of the hole, then you can carry that speed all the way to the end. I have not heard of anyone with the Lightinpro Turbo (no intercooler) having problems.

Nealsracing
 
I don't think too the intercooler's in our sleds are that efficient after all... but have anyone tried to run like 17-20 # of boost without one?
 
Why bother? You're talking high dollar mods here with or without the IC...it's not like we're all just scraping together a turbo kit in our backyard (are we???). I'm sure if you keep your boost/compression (and hp) to a minimum you'll be fine but I don't think that is the point of turboing is it?
 
FYI Neal just built his car which is designed for speed events and fun racing. There are pictures of his car on our web site " lightningprollc,com "
Everything on this car is hand made---- by Neal
We hope to feature some helmet cam action soon.
 
Cooler intake charge means more horsepower .............Just look at what the Powerstroke ford diesels made for power before intercooling , and after they started putting intercoolers on.
 
Why would you put a turbo on something and not wind it up, man that would be lame, if ya can make 7 pounds with the gas in your tank why not run 12# intercooled. Would you turn down your turbo? If so why whats wrong with you.
 
Hi Fred, thanks for the info on clutching, it has been real helpful. I am considering getting your secoundary clutch, I may need a quicker back shift. I'll let you know.

Now back to intercoolers. Hey, I just pointed out some issues about intercoolers. I know that in the right applcation they work and I also know that in the right applcation they are not needed. I just ran my car that has an RX1 motor in 92 degree weather, at 9 pounds of boost with no intercooler. Guess what no problems, best of all no turbo lag. What I read on this forum is that a lot of you think that you must have an intercooler when most of you really don't. For those of you that have intercoolers you should spend the bucks and get some air flow thru the cooler so they have a chance to work. You could at least bolt it out on the front of the sled so it will get some air.
a7m266d who thinks that you must be on crack if you think an intercooler is not needed. But yet he posted this "Also my apexwill heat the cooler up if you are running the hell out of it imagine a sled with no cooler at all." Wrong question, Mr. a7m266d, you should be asking, "Why is my cooler so hot? Does my intercooler really work?" Maybe you need to get a better grade of crack.
Neal
 
We run an intercooler on our race car and we need it.
Discharge temps are a bit above 400degF out of the blower and 75 deg (on a 90 deg day) after the cooler through the lights. Ours is liquid to air.
The spark retard required to keep the engine from detonating with 400deg temps just kills a ton of power. With the cooler, we can run alot of timing without detonating.

I've worked on a bazillion boosted cars with and without intercoolers.
What the cooler does for you is allow you to run more timing/boost than you can without one on the same type of fuel. Even with little to no airflow across the cooler, there is a drop in temp from inlet to outlet and if you can take advantage of it by advacing the timing or up'ing the boost, your going to make more power.

Will a cooler by itself make power? No. not really. Your not packing any more air into the engine. The output airmass from the turbo or blower is the same no matter what the downstream air temp is. Now for every 10 deg inlet temp drop to the turbo/blower, you can expect about 1% increase in power.
 


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