Why is my Boondocker ic blocked off on the carb side?

[sledfvr]

I just picked up a new to me Boondocker t-rx1. I pulled the intercooler off and it is completetly blocked off with an aluminum plate across the air chambers right before it goes into the carbs. I thought I knew how these i/c's worked, but now I'm stumped. It doesn't look like any air would be able to flow through it. Just wondering if this is how they all are?

 

[sledfvr]

All there is for air to flow through is about 1/16" gap around the outer edge of the aluminum.

 

[johno]

Just looked at my intercooler off the apex and it doesnt have that plate.
Maybe do a pic of the fins.
If they were too free flowing the plate would even the flow to all cyliders.
in the apex the tubes seem to be the restrictor.

 

[sledfvr]

Boondocker says that this is an updated i/c. They said that it flows more than what I can see. I guess I'll take their word for it.

 

[GT Mills]

When I raced GT1 in my old 500HP, 1800# Porsche 930 in the early 1990's we discovered that the big Garretts we were using designed for semi-trucks liked a little back pressure on the charge air side of the snail, though the later 750+HP Twin turbo Porsches using two, much smaller snails liked zero back pressure, and spun up a lot faster. Any turbo will spin up faster and have less lag with less back pressure.

Bottom line: That restricter plate intercooler might give you a small bump in top end HP, but at the expense of turbo lag early on. It all comes down to what you want, what kind of race you're running.