Thread: What kind of Intercooler

Unbelieve. I can't believe this convo is still going on.

By the way getting 3 inch on a NX2000 without cutting is not going to happen. To get that to work on a NX2000 you have to take off about 1 inch for an easy fit.

I will have to cut my bumper support a bit for sure to put it back in.








This is the ebay 24x12x3" core with 3" inlet and outlet size. I will post some more pics once i cut the bumper support to fit and cut the bumper a bit, its resting on the inlet and outlet, thats whay the bumper isnt on all the way. It doesnt hang down past the bottom of the bumper at all, but with a factory one it might, which wouldnt look the best.

hot damn!

I am a newbie when it comes to turbos so I am trying to gleam as much information as I can without asking too many questions. One thing that unsettles me is the use of cheap ebay intercoolers. See, I remember watching one of those car tuner shows a while back and one of their turbo specialists was talking about proper intercooler design. I believe the one they were showing was a top to bottom so the overall design was a bit different but still pretty much applies. They were saying that on a poorly designed intercooler the air will mostly run though the middle and not be spread out. In essence the intercooler is not as efficient. On a properly designed intercooler the air entry vains varied in angle (sorry it is hard to explain properly) and basically regulated the amount of airflow through each vain. This would spread the air out through the entire intercooler and be more efficient.

My first question is, does this matter that much or do we just go with the biggest and cheapest intercooler, which ultimately negates the efficiency drop? I guess we can then diverge into the question now are we hurting ourselves more by going this route and blocking more flow to the radiator?

My second question is, has anyone used thermometer to actually measure and see if their is a heat gradient across their intercooler, and if so what was their results?

natethebrown, before you get us off topic, your post belongs here:

http://www.sr20-forum.com/turbo/11580-intercoolers-brand-name-ebay.html#post150893

And read the thread. It will answer some of your questions.

^Hot D*mn is right!

i know, i usual dont like eggs but that one is niice, too bad its not rwd

Not really off topic, I was questioning the recommendation of the ebay FMIC. Actually most of what was talked about in the thread did not answer my questions about the temperature differential but was mostly concerned about the delta pressure across the intercooler. Luckily, the links inside that thread had some awesome information so thanks for that.

I still would like to know if anyone has measured the temperature differential of the Andreas recommended (or one similar) intercooler from top to bottom. While most of you turbo boys like to go for big power on dynos and drag strips there are those of us that would like to road race our cars and with that in mind heat soak becomes a concern. I think knowing if the FMIC will become heat saturated in one area because the air is not being properly spread over then entire IC is important depending on who you are going to recommend a FMIC too.

I think I can help you there. Let me handle one other thing first.

This is a road racing community with a sizable drag race following. For the most part we like turns between our straights though. =]

Sure. Sure. I know it wasn't explicitly covered in the thread I linked you but it was covered decently well in the Hybrid Z thread here:

Intercooler CFD Testing - HybridZ

In that thread there is minimal real world data and measurements, but a lot of flow analysis comparing different end tank designs. Real world measurements and tests would be great to have from members here, and if they have them, I'm sure they will post them up. But for now, we can at least rest on what others have found out. Specifically, Corky Bell and others found that the best way to utilize the entire core (as you wish to) is to have the end tank inlets in the middle of the core. If that can't be done, the next best thing is to have them on opposite sides of the core. If that can't be done, baffles can be added to help.

I guess you already know all this though and are just looking for solid numbers? If so, I guess we'll just have to both wait and see if anyone has any, because I don't. =(