need advice-which intercooler to go with
- Thread starter tracy
- Start date
Has anyone tested the before and after temps of the PTE or the Thunder Fab? I saw the write up in GM high tech on the mease and was very impressed to see almost ambient temp after the intercooler. Just wondering if anyone has done it to these other intercoolers.
What matters is the plenum temps..
Also, the rate of progession of the temps., not just what the best case scenario is for temp drop across the intercooler.
I've spend hundreds of hours watching plenums temps, with the stock location, no intercooler, alky only, and a Front mount. The front mount wins, period, the rest are wannabes.
For the ultimate set up you want alky and a F/M.
And with the smaller compressor housings, they're even worse for heating the incoming charge, so a F/M is even more effective on a small turbo then a larger one. But, that counters most of the opinions around here.
I PM'd you back. Sorry I missed your original PM. I have the tires, So drop me an email. donoroo@sbcglobal.net.
strikeeagle
New Member
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2001
Bruce,
FWIW, your conclusions sound right on the money to me - I'm a huge fan of FMICs, and a huge fan of alky.
I wouldn't mess with a SLIC, if for no other reason than the OEM units and V-4s I've seen fit like doggie pile. Thus, I'm of the mindset that the fit of any SLIC is problematic. Whereas I know for a fact that at least the V-2s fit like a glove.
FWIW, your conclusions sound right on the money to me - I'm a huge fan of FMICs, and a huge fan of alky.
I wouldn't mess with a SLIC, if for no other reason than the OEM units and V-4s I've seen fit like doggie pile. Thus, I'm of the mindset that the fit of any SLIC is problematic. Whereas I know for a fact that at least the V-2s fit like a glove.
To be a little more precise, what matters is the plenum DENSITY. The density is a function of both temp, and pressure. That said, it won't matter much where you measure the temp, when you are comparing ICs, as long as it is the same point for all of them. Measuring at the plenum, or just ahead of the throttle body, will give the front mount a very slight advantage in that there is a tiny amount of cooling that takes place in the pipe from the IC to the throttle body. There is also a pressure drop, also small, in that same run of pipe.
The "ultimate setup" varies, depending on what you want to do with the car. Street use, street/strip, salt flats, etc, all have different requirements, and benefit from different compromises. The stock location has the advantage of not blocking the radiator, or the A/C condenser, and it is cheaper than the front mount, and should give better throttle response. The front mount will certainly cool the intake charge better. So figure out what you want it to do, and how much you want to spend, then decide.
The original mention of temps was:
* Has anyone tested the before and after temps of the PTE or the Thunder Fab? I saw the write up in GM high tech on the mease and was very impressed to see almost ambient temp after the intercooler.*
In that reguard the discharge temp from the I/C isn't really an accurate indicator. And like I said the true indicator is the actual plenum temp., since in the first case it ignores outside influences of ducting, where measuring the MATs accounts for all the little differences in mountings.
The ultimate set-up of using alky and a F/M allows for tuning for any circumstance. Obviously, rules of one sort or another may effect the choice of what one can do.
As far your claim of *should give better throttle response*, do you have any supporting evidence, or first hand experience to justify that?.
just make sure you do the cooling mods before you even think about doing a front mount on a close to 100% street car...I have an aluminum radiator and the dual fan setup on my car...temps never go above 165 and usually hit 160 when the thermostat opens
this is what i always say when people ask me "which one should i choose?" if you want to stay stock appearing and have a mild combo and don't want to upgrade the cooling system, hands down the stock location is the best (and IMO the best out there), if you want to spend some dough on the cooling mods and you want to squeeze every single horsepower out of your combo you can get, and have more than just a mild combo, front mount is the way to go...yes you can do a front mount on a street car, but it's easier with a stock location...just my two cents, you don't have to listen to me if you don't want to!
Hate to fly in the face of convention again, but with a F/M you eliminate most of the advantage of running at 160. Dropping from 180 to a 160 also drops to drop the MAT temps.. And again, the premise for all this is getting the coolest air possible past the intake valve. It's cool air that helps to min detonation, and help keep the EGTs down.
If peak HP was generated at 160s then the major race car teams would be running at 160, which in fact they don't.
When operating at say 180dF, you also have the advantage of a great delta of temps between the engine temp., and ambient, so cooling the system is easier.
That is all other items being the same.
Unless your running for minutes at a time at WOT there's little need to invest in alot of cooling system when things are correct.
Not to mention most tuners are stuck with running alot more timing then's actually needed, in cruise/idle, and that puts alot of unnecessary heat into the system. Lots of the chip gurus, run the same timing as the stock chips (other then WOT), which is fine, if you're running EGR. Drop the EGR and the necessity for alot of cruise timing drops.
Right now my problem is keeping enough heat in the motor (at freeway speeds) to keep the thermostat open, in even slightly cool temps..
