S-Max Intercoolers...Good or Bad?

[Woody1989]

Hello,

I'm considering a new intercooler and was curious if anyone has seen or knows anything about the S-Max intercoolers SupraSport.com offers?

I've put a call into S-Max, but so far haven't been able to get the right person on the phone. I'm hoping they'll be able to provide me more detailed performance specifications on their intercoolers. I'm curious if their air-to-air performance is similar to HKS, ETS, Precision, Greddy, etc. Or if they are only worth a crap when blasting CO2 through their built in cooling coils.

Another idea I had (that's probably crazy) was to plumb the low pressure side of my A/C system through the cooling coils within the intercooler. I expect this wouldn't be nearly as effective as blasting CO2 or nitrous oxide through the coils, but it would offer some cooling.

Just a guess, but I would think while idling or between runs the IC would see some cooling benefit from the A/C system. The best part is I wouldn't have to refill CO2 tanks etc. BTW, I live in Texas and 99% of the time I have the A/C on anyway!

Any thoughts or flames on the idea?

http://www.speedmaxperformance.com/

Thanks,


Brad

 

[grimreaper]

ac pressure is in the 150-200+psi range high side (in the tx heat more like 230psi+ ), can this handle that ALL the time?

also with out some sort of expansion valve, its going to be a heat exchanger for the freon...think heater for the air. Guess you could run it on the low side of the ac system but just seems like an extra complication to a simple system. Id run meth injection WAYYY before i tried this. Mainly that WM/I is alot more proven, tunable etc... how would you control the temp in the IC if using the ac system? what about when the compressor kicks off to avoid freezing temps in the evap.? You'd have a nice, BIG spike in air temp.

K.I.S.S. (learned that on here )

 

[cuel]

A/C probably wouldn't work; not cold enough, and there's not enough coils. Take a close look at the evaporator core in an a/c system. They're pretty thick, with a lot of coils(looks like a really fat radiator) that the incoming air actually blows across. It also builds up alot of condensation(depending on the temp. of the air blowing across it), which is why they have drains to the outside of the vehicle. That intercooler only has two or three coils, and looks like it uses radiating cold to cool the air coils around it.

IF you had coils that were run in the direct flow of the air passing through the innercooler it would work, but you'd have a big condensation factor to worry about, with no way to drain it.

 

[Woody1989]

Hello,

Yes, the thought was to pipe this in-line on the low pressure side of the A/C system...so I think the pressure levels would be safe. This is also the side that is after the expansion valve...the A/C lines under the hood that are cold.

The condensation is a good point to consider, but wouldn't running cold water through the coils also cause condensation? Wouldn't blasting C02 or nitrous cause condensation? All three of those cooling solutions are recommended by S-Max. I wonder if they have any test results explaining what if any condensation occurs? Is it possible the IC is just too hot to ever have a meaningful amount of condensation occur?

I seem to remember my AEM reporting 300F-400F intake temps before the ETS intercooler and 100F-200F after the intercooler. Does that sound about right for an air-to-air intercooler temp drop?

Agreed, keep it simple is probably the best route...these S-Max intercoolers just got me to thinking about possibilities.


Thanks,


Brad

 

[Hmong_1G]

Not worth it. Go water to air for just draging or drift and air to air for all others. Just like Grim said, I would rather invest in a Water meth injection kit.