intercooler opinions

[dumbo]

get the one with the flexo section!! IMO-might be a bit of restriction but it'll save you some cracks in the future.

and for the IC, i personally think that is a very good price, and pretty good setup. i woulda bought that one when i did my build if i seen it...instead i spent 1200 on a kit that didn't replace ALL the pipes...

 

[MRSUPRA]

"Link for the test? I'd be interested in seeing it "

Wish I could remember exactly. I think it was on Honda-Tech. I beleive "Full-Race" did the test.

 

[Nghty89]

Hmm. How far off were the IAT's? If they were that bad then I guess it might not be worth the low price, but then again I've seen nice cars run shit IC's and they work

 

[becauseican]

The BIC downpipes come with every thing thats needed to bolt it up. You will reuse the stock steel upper Turbo/ Downpipe gasket. It bolts up just like stock with no modifications needed. Click on the link in my sig to order, or you can order through HPF too.

Now about the Intercoolers, I have used the "ebay" ones and sure they flow great, but they wont cool much as there is hardly any internal fins to absorb the heat from the air. The point of an intercooler, as the name states is "cooler". You can actaully read a magazine by looking through the core inlet from one end to the other..... Take a look at any top quality core like Spearco, Precision, Turbonetics, and you will see thay all have dense internal fins. However, there are some better "ebay" type intercoolers out there that have denser internal fins, it should be at least as dense as the outer fins.

Randy

 

[arizzle]

I've got a Ebay intercooler but yes as randy said doesn't cool that well. I was running a 24x12x3 IC ebay special, it cooled enough as i was only pushing 12PSI nothing higher. but if your planning on running high boost id recommend getting something real like Spearco, precision, ETC.

 

[Nghty89]

Makes sense to me! So I guess the ebay ones would be good as long as you know what sort of internal fins they have? Example: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Gred...ptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

Now I know this one is probably not the same as most of the ebay IC's, but if one could get a picture of the internals like that, would the ebay ones have less fins? Let me see if I can find an example for the nicer intercoolers...
http://www.precisionturbo.net/intercoolers-display.php?company_id=101795&category_id=3013

Those pictures are off of the precisionturbo.net website and compare low density to high density. Looks like I just answered my own question. Point taken - Go for the nicer IC in the first place! :biglaugh:

 

[Canuckrz]

Were any of you guys referring to this kit or just the generic universal intercoolers on ebay?

http://cgi.ebay.ca/89-92-TOYOTA-SUP...kparms=72%3A1215|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318

I'm interested in what people have experienced with it as its the one I've been looking at.

 

[becauseican]

Now I know this one is probably not the same as most of the ebay IC's, but if one could get a picture of the internals like that, would the ebay ones have less fins? Let me see if I can find an example for the nicer intercoolers...
http://www.precisionturbo.net/intercoolers-display.php?company_id=101795&category_id=3013

Those pictures are off of the precisionturbo.net website and compare low density to high density. Looks like I just answered my own question. Point taken - Go for the nicer IC in the first place! :biglaugh:

The Precision Intercoolers are great, they are what I use in my car and the intercooler kits I build. They use a Garrett high density core.

This is what i mean about internal fins....which one will transfer more heat??

 

[grimreaper]

Originally Posted by davidbuschur
Here you go, we finally did it. I hope everyone is happy now. I know I am.

My car is on the dyno making huge power, 640 whp with the new HTA35R on it. We have our Race FMIC on it which I say is the best FMIC you can buy with your hard earned money. The tempurature today is 62 degrees F in our dyno room.

I made a bunch of pulls this morning and the car was making within 1-3 hp on the last few of 640/511 torque.

When I got done I decided to leave the car on the dyno and put on the Ebay intercooler that is a copy in appearance to the AMS FMIC.

My car is running C16. I am using NO air temp correction for fueling other than when the air is BELOW 50 degrees F. So if the air temp goes UP the fuel stays the same. I am using no timing compensation for anything either. What I am telling you all is the map is the map, it is running what I told it to and not making adjustments.

The last pull I made with our Race FMIC was 643 whp and 511 ft lbs of torque. I MADE NO CHANGES. I left the dyno, had Ted bolt on the new intercooler and came back when he was done.

Here is the important data:

Air temp after the intercooler at the start of the pull, 62.60 degrees.
Air temp after the intercooler at the end of the pull, 69.80 degrees.
Increase in air temp 7.2 degrees.
Peak boost was 40.3 psi.

We then bolted on the Ebay special that is an AMS attempted copy. Absolutely NO changes were made to anything other than bolting on the I/C.

Car made 633 whp and 505 ft lbs of torque. So not a bad loss at this HP level.

Here is the BAD part.

Air temp after the intercooler at the start of the pull, 62.60 degrees.
Air temp after the intercooler at the end of the pull, 122 degrees!! That is an increase in air temp of 59.4 degrees in a single gear pull!
Peak boost went up which I find strange as it hit 42.1.

The knock count went up considerably with these higher air temps. To run the car safely I would need to pull atleast a few degrees of timing.

**So in summary the intercooler with 2 more psi boost made 10 less whp than our Race FMIC at that is at big HP levels. The problem is the intercooler is NOT EFFICIENT AT REMOVING HEAT. Which is what it is there for. I am betting the stock FMIC is not much worse than this. An increase of 59.4 degrees is absolutely HUGE in a single gear pull. On a summer day or road race/autocross situation this intercooler would absolutely SUCK.

Bottom line is, you get what you pay for and buying one of these I do not think is a good investment of your money.

i would really like to see some Intake temps on the spearco replica, anybody taken the time to record some?

 

[Evilempire1.3JZ-GTE]

I would just role with the ebay one they are more then able to make good HP numbers for our application.

The Ebay one 24X12X4 and could handle 15psi of boost anyway.
If you plan to boost more then 15psi of boost invest in a meth/water kit or even turbo A ducts that will make way more of a difference or a water to air cooler.

The Ebay one is around ~100, The name brand stuff where most of your money buys the logo is about 4X that & you could use your extra money to buy a meth kit where you would make a bigger difference.

I think the problem with higher density IC is they will block off more air flow to cool off your other coolers like radiator/ac condensor/oil cooler/automatic cooler = more heat soak.

 

[grimreaper]

The Precision Intercoolers are great, they are what I use in my car and the intercooler kits I build. They use a Garrett high density core.

This is what i mean about internal fins....which one will transfer more heat??

whats the fin count per inch on those?

 

[gaboonviper85]

Get a Precision Intercooler and be done with it. The Ebays have been tested and they suck as far as bringing down IAT's.

Got proof?...

 

[MRSUPRA]

/\Nope. Just my memory from what I read.

 

[grimreaper]

i posted the only listed tests done with the exception of one turbo mag (they tested on a wrx). However buschor (sp?) has been known to lie (or so its said) on other issues and the responses to this have been questionable at best. Everything i could find with guys doing there own testing shows they will work just fine for dd and street use where heat soak from an auto X is not an issue.

 

[cmdeoro]

How about if you had to choose between the Spearco Replica and an Ebay godspeed intercooler. I have been shopping for some time and these are the best prices. Which would you choose

 

[MRSUPRA]

One good, simple formula for measuring your intercooler efficiency is by Subtracting your IAT's at full throttle by the air temperature outside. This is called the APPROACH. For example if it is 60 degrees outside and you IAT's are 90 degrees, your approach will =30.
From what Ive read (I'm giong to see if I can find it), a very good approach will be 20.

I have a small AMS intercooler (about 6*12*3) which has a spearco core. When I did some tuning last summer I was getting IAT's right around 120 degrees according to my AEM on a 83 degree day. That would give me an approach of about 37 degrees. That was on a pump gas run at 17psi. My tuner thought it was pretty good, and said he has seen IAT's in the 160's at similar temps on some turbo hondas.

 

[grimreaper]

How about if you had to choose between the Spearco Replica and an Ebay godspeed intercooler. I have been shopping for some time and these are the best prices. Which would you choose

I personally will be using the spearco replica due to my costly IC piping that has been coated and not wanting to replace it. Do you know the fin count of the godspeed IC's? flow rate? Is it a bar and plate design? Only thing i have seen that i dont like is the turn on the top

One good, simple formula for measuring your intercooler efficiency is by Subtracting your IAT's at full throttle by the air temperature outside. This is called the APPROACH. For example if it is 60 degrees outside and you IAT's are 90 degrees, your approach will =30.
From what Ive read (I'm giong to see if I can find it), a very good approach will be 20.

I have a small AMS intercooler (about 6*12*3) which has a spearco core. When I did some tuning last summer I was getting IAT's right around 120 degrees according to my AEM on a 83 degree day. That would give me an approach of about 37 degrees. That was on a pump gas run at 17psi. My tuner thought it was pretty good, and said he has seen IAT's in the 160's at similar temps on some turbo hondas.

good info!
i have my k type probe ready to be stuck in front of the tb this weekend to see where i am at with the stocker and ill compare to the replica. That ams is tiny, how does it handle back to back runs?

 

[MRSUPRA]

Here you go:http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/turbo/intercooler.html

 

[black89t]

just to through it out there i cut open my old ic from my crashed car a while ago to see how they design the stocker. check it out. fins aren't that dense on the outside but look how dense they are inside of it.

 

[grimreaper]

good pic! for the time, the stocker looks to be quite decent! i wish it flowed more