Anybody done any studies on after-market intercooler vs. stock?

[Forbidden Snake]

I'm just curious if anybody has done a study on after-market intercoolers vs. the stock intercooler. By that, I mean plug a temp sensor device or probe directly into the output of the intercooler (going into the engine), monitoring the coolant temperature, looking for average and top temps, etc... and doing the same with the stock intercooler and seeing if there is a difference. If so, how much cooler is the coolant temp with the after-market piece, etc.... Know what I mean?

Seems like a nice upgrade performance-wise and definitely look-wise, but is it worth it? Meaning will it lower the coolant temp 20-deg celcius or what?

(I'm sure this may have come up before, but the search engine is down so have at it again.)

 

[Shadowgray03]

Your actually talking about heat exchanger arent you? The intercooler itself is under the blower. There isnt any aftermarket intercoolers that I am aware of. As for monitoring temps, you can monitor temps after the blower via the IAT2 sensor with an autotap or similar.

 

[Forbidden Snake]

You're right. I meant the heat exchanger. And I'm looking for coolant temp right when it exits the HE, which may or may not be the same as the IAT2 temp sensor you're talking about.

 

[toofast4u]

I am also interested in this. Any IAT1 and IAT2 information before and after would be great.

 

[Juiced46]

My car with 21#s of boost was holding a consistent 75 degrees F on the dyno with the factory HE setup. Never went above 90 degrees

 

[Forbidden Snake]

If the coolant temp exiting the HE isn't very much different between the two, then it may not be worth the extra $350 bucks.

Logic tells me that the more volume liquid has to run through, the cooler it will get when exiting such HE. But I want to see real world results before I plop down $350 bucks.

 

[Juiced46]

I am making over 600hp and cooling has not yet been an issue with the factory setup

 

[HaulinBuggy]

Originally posted by Juiced46
I am making over 600hp and cooling has not yet been an issue with the factory setup

That helped me make my mind up.:thumbsup: I was pondering this issue the other day.
Anyone else with a fair amount of mods (OEM HE of course) chime in on cooling issues.

 

[xVENOMx]

dave have you thought about getting like a gords ford h/e even though your not worried about that since your stock setup is fine.

 

[Juiced46]

Originally posted by xVENOMx
dave have you thought about getting like a gords ford h/e even though your not worried about that since your stock setup is fine.

nope, i do not think its worth the $$ @ the moment for my situation. However on an Eaton car where there is more heatsoak it may help more for them then me.

 

[1 bad bullitt]

Heres another point to conscider these products for there astetic purposes, they flat out look tough. The previous owner of my car curbed the stock HE and it was all messsed up so I made that my first mods. It makes the car totally menacing and ther is no way it performs worse than the stock HE. So if you got the money and are running out of mods, I say get one, they dont hurt.

 

[Juiced46]

By no means will it hurt the car. And yes i agree it looks badass. If i had extra $$$ laying around it would definetely be one of my top mods. I was ready to buy one for the Eaton before the PC went on the car.

 

[Friendchicken]

Obviously it's going to be much harder to define the value of these HE for $350-400... The real test comes from 1 hour of hard driving and then immediately dyno the car to see how much HP you get under normal driving conditions.

Put in the aftermarket HE and then drive hard for an hour then re-dyno. You WILL see a difference.

On a hot day of driving, ever feel like your car is down on power compared to when you first start the car in the morning? The HE draws much more heat from a heatsoacked intercooler than the stocker.

How much money do people spend trying to cool the intake charge with full length CAI, or Nx, iceboxes or whatever-floats-your-boat mods to lower the temp of the air going into the engine? Who here has done the Postban Blankie Mod (tm)? Why do you do it? It doesn't pull any more heat out of the engine- only the ambiant air and is useless when you are lining up for a race.

Heatsoak/coldstart really makes it hard for anyone with a tune to nail the perfect tune cause the car has to be safe when cold and when heatsoaked. At least the HE will help to lower the max temps these engines see.

To me, there is no more accurate guage than my touche-o-meter and after an hour of hard driving I could feel my car wasn't as peppy than when it was cold. Not now tho.

 

[mosconiac]

The aftermarket HE really pays off for daily drivers on long commutes and for back-to-back WOT runs. Typically, an '03/04 (with the stock S/C & HE) will lose a few hp (not real specific I know) on each successive full-throttle run. With an aftermarket HE, those loses are minimized leading to more consistent performance and a possible competative advantage.

I drive my '03 everyday and I can feel it losing power as I near the end of my 40 mile commute. This is why I bought the Gord HE.

 

[Forbidden Snake]

No doubt that an after-market unit will cool better. The question is how much better? in terms of degree celcius of the coolant coming to cool down the intercooler. The intercooler is only as efficient as the liquid coming to cool it.

On the track and in heavy traffic, I can see the benefit. But once you hit cruise at 40+ MPH, there's probably negligeable differences.

This may not be something I would be doing since I'm not at the track often.

 

[Friendchicken]

Originally posted by Forbidden Snake
No doubt that an after-market unit will cool better. The question is how much better? in terms of degree celcius of the coolant coming to cool down the intercooler. The intercooler is only as efficient as the liquid coming to cool it.

On the track and in heavy traffic, I can see the benefit. But once you hit cruise at 40+ MPH, there's probably negligeable differences.

This may not be something I would be doing since I'm not at the track often.

I am still a few months from putting in a H20 sensor on the hose to the intercooler, so i can't help you there. You can put a thermometer in the intercooler overflow tank before and after the install after hard driving to get some kind of idea. I forget who, but they could hold their finger in thier resevoir after running the car hard and it was barely warm after the install.

As for your application, at a 40mph cruise, you are not in boost anyway. The only way to know if it's for you is if you don't want the loss of power after spirited driving. If you add a pulley, I would definately get the HE due to the overspin and heat you are generating and possibly affecting the longevity of the blower.

The more heat we can draw out of these cars at WOT the better.

How about sending Gord an email requesting him measure the outlet temp with a stock HE, then with his HE and then with his HE and Fans.

Another factor too is when the car is heatsoaked, it will require a much more efficient HE to draw out those higher temps. You can run a whole battery of tests to equal what you could prove at the track. I've seen people spend over $1000 for headers to see an extra 10-20hp in a race environment- if the HE prevents you from losing that much, I would say it's a good investment.

You might even be fine with adding fans to the stock HE for the limited hard driving you do.

 

[Forbidden Snake]

Good writeup 98kobra...

Just my opinion, no proof, but I think a better upgrade MIGHT be to upgrade your radiator and not your HE. Anybody ever thought about that?

 

[Jimmysidecarr]

The primary beneficiaries of a larger HE/ and or radiator will be...

1-OPEN TRACK guys these cars go into heat soak after multiple full throttle runs and the computer pulls boost and timing and you go limping.... and that's with a bone stock car!!

2-Hot climate streeters, with lots of stops and lots of full throttle.

3-Heavily modded hot climate streeters.

Purpose is to prevent power loss..... not increase power.

Jimmy

 

[Ray Hilton]

Where can I get more info and pics of the Gords HE?
Thanks, Ray

 

[Jimmysidecarr]

Ray.... here ya go!!http://www.socalterminators.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=93

BTW Nice job on those boost gauge transfers :rockon:
Jimmy:thumbsup: