how much is my stock intercooler hurting me?

[johnnyttype]

i was wondering how much i would benefit from an upgraded intercooler. car runs 12.2 @116 and a 1.996 60ft. street tires. im running 93 and razor alky kit, denatured alky, and the tt chip is setup for 23-25psi @ 23/21timing and i can only get about 21 psi out of it on a 60degree day before it starts to play with my knock sensor. gain knob on about 6.5. never see any knock until third gear if i remember correctly. took a degree of timing out and didnt have any effect. o2 reads about 770 to 800 most of the time in third gear. could this be due to the stock intercooler? any thoughts? if u have any questions i will be happy to answer them! thanx!

 

[jurassic five 7]

YES!!! Even put a duttweiler neck on there! When i first got my car, it had the stock cooler on there, it would spool slow and i hated it. So i got the V4 and it spooled 10 times faster and perfect now.

If i was you, i'd get a duttweiler neck if you're pressed for money, but if anything i'd get a V4 (it'd have to be used) or a PTE stock location.

-Adam

 

[johnnyttype]

do u think that would allow me to run some more boost? also i was wondering about people running smaller plug gaps like .032. what does that do for the car?

 

[jurassic five 7]

Yes it will, ive been told the duttweiler neck is good for 2-3 lbs. My car has seen 28lbs with the dut neck on there. Did i own the car then? NO. But that was before i bought it....

Anyways, yes it will allow more boost and when running 20+ psi, it's a save idea to run a colder heat range, and gap them to .32. I run AC Delco R42's (two heat ranges colder then stock) and gapped at .32......i think?

But i'd get a new intercooler, gap the plugs tighter and run a heat range of 42. Also when people run a gap of .32, its because they will cut the chances of popping a HG.

-Adam

 

[hemity]

Johnny your car is making great HP. Spend your next money's on a set of sticky tires and get your 11.40s timeslip and then look for more HP after that.Sounds like it can be a 10s machine. good luck.

 

[Chuck Leeper]

yep!

Johnny your car is making great HP. Spend your next money's on a set of sticky tires and get your 11.40s timeslip and then look for more HP after that.Sounds like it can be a 10s machine. good luck.

Exactly what I would do. No need for more HP til you can use what you already have....

 

[ijames]

The tire advice is good, 116 mph should be an 11.70 on average. As much as I love big mph it is definitely frustrating to make hp and not be able to use it. I don't know how much the alky will change the results (lower pressure drop will still be a big gain but better cooling efficiency won't mean nearly as much) but on the 5 or so cars that I've been around over the years without alky that went from stock intercoolers (with or without big necks) or a stock location stretch to a V2 or Cottons or PTE frontmount the average gain was 5 mph and .5 sec, starting anywhere from 11.75 to 13.30. The 11.75 car went 11.24, and the 13.30 car (me) went 12.79 after some retuning. I could run 2-2.5 psi more boost on 93 octane and could maybe have gone more but I was out of injector and didn't upgrade them until I also switched turbos.

 

[Boost231]

good post thanks for the info. i was always wodering this same question.

 

[Chuck Leeper]

Some of the tests I've seen, indicate the stock IC is only 58% efficient, when new. The efficiency falls off as the heat cycles take effect on the integrity of the tube and fin joints. [General consensus is the IC should be at least 70+%, to get the max benefit.]
Same phenom is present in 20+ yr old radiators...

 

[johnnyttype]

Some of the tests I've seen, indicate the stock IC is only 58% efficient, when new. The efficiency falls off as the heat cycles take effect on the integrity of the tube and fin joints. [General consensus is the IC should be at least 70+%, to get the max benefit.]
Same phenom is present in 20+ yr old radiators...

yea i got one of those 20+ yr radiators aswell

i definitely agree about the tires, but im not gonna benefit too much from them because im launching off the ebrake at 3.5psi and thats as high as it will go because of an old mismatched converter!

 

[Boost231]

wow i have done 20psi+ e-brake launches with my converter.

 

[hemity]

Johnny in that case I would be looking at a converter to match your set up.and then a set of slicks.Hook that car up at a 1.55-1.60 short you would have 11.40s 116mph in the bag. You mph+time may even increase more.
Good luck great post.

 

[johnnyttype]

those are numbers i like to hear. i just dont know when i will get around to doing a converter, tires, etc. because im in my junior year of college about 700miles from home! i got a month in december and maybe next summer depending on where i intern/work.

on a different note, would hooking those kind of 60ft. times wreak havoc on my stock trans. all it has in it is rebuild kit from poston, hardened stator, 13vane pump, and ck billet servo! if not the trans what about the stock rear!

 

[hemity]

I'm doing those shorts on mine and all I have is a Art Carr shift kit.

 

[Boost231]

trans not sure about. as far as your rear end it will hold up.

 

[SloGN]

as you increase the stall on the converter you will lose some mph due to a smaller rpm range of usable power. If i were you i would try and tune the car to help get the spool-up a tad faster. i lost 2 mph when i went from a 2800-stall to a 3200 stall . but the loose in the mph but gained in the short time.



i would think that it could hold a tad bit more boost.

 

[johnnyttype]

ive tried that some already. i added a degree of timing and cut some fuel in first. i think o2 was 720 or so. I'll say one thing, the cars tires didnt spin near the top of first gear until i added one degree of timing!!! my last two runs i broke loose and that was the only difference. i think maybe my alky is spraying too early??? because i didnt mess with any of those adjustments on the controller. maybe i can get a few more lbs. from that? all i have is an old crappy 12in. red stripe converter that im not sure if it even stalls at 2600.

would i lose mph from the red stripe 12in. to say a 3200 stall 10in pats or 9.5in vigilante? less rotating mass, plus my powerband should be higher with my weber 206 roller and ported heads right?

 

[hemity]

I also agree about the mph loss in most cases. But this car fined tuned is putting out some good HP with that parts list including alky . I think it would not lose any mph. Again good luck sounds like a nice car.