Why do I need an Intercooler?

[FivepointOHYEAH]

So I spoke with some people who drag raced muscle cars in the muscle car era and they explained to me the changes in the Marketing in aftermarket parts. basically they believe that an Intercooler helps engines for PSI above 10 or so because intercoolers losses dont outdue their pros for the $$$.

6 years ago, centrifugal superchargers sold for $2000-3000 and had the same % increase in WHP. But in order to make more $$$ companies tell you, you have to have one for any PSI you run even if like 6 or 7. Id like some input on if I got a Procharger head unit for $2500 and made an extra 150WHP how would another $2500-3000 on extra parts and an intercooler to make 30 additional WHP be worth it?

Im ignorant not informed please be nice.

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[FivepointOHYEAH]

sorry and Im also ONLY referring to CENTRIFUGAL ones. The most efficient ones.

 

[908ssp]

All compressors make heat when you compress air. It is a law of thermodynamics. You can't cheat the law.

 

[FivepointOHYEAH]

Go on...

 

[908ssp]

Cooler air is safer and makes more power.

 

[MotorJoe]

Only 7 psi of boost generate a lot of heat close to 50° C or so, combine that with higher compression engines and an Intercooler makes a lot of sense.

Besides intercoolers might cost 500 - 800 Dlls, not 3,000. The extra cost from years gone, is called Inflation.

 

[Reds197]

You will also get detonation with today's fuels. In the muscle car era leaded fuel had a octane rating in the upper 90's at the pump.

 

[FivepointOHYEAH]

Only 7 psi of boost generate a lot of heat close to 50° C or so, combine that with higher compression engines and an Intercooler makes a lot of sense.

Besides intercoolers might cost 500 - 800 Dlls, not 3,000. The extra cost from years gone, is called Inflation.

So im driving to work cruising 70mph at 2000 rpms ish not getting hardly any boost maybe 1-2 psi or less. Then see a Corvette Merge on and Pass it by downshifting to 3rd and hit boost form 5-8 PSI for 30 seconds at a time. What would you guess the Horsepower difference would be between Me with an Intercooler and Me without one for this situation? Assume 80 degrees out or whatever.

*Again so everyone reading knows im talking about a centrifugal SC, the most efficient least taxing until pressed charger.

 

[Screwdgie]

As said before, these are higher compression motors. Boost creates heat, no matter how efficient the type of boost you go with. High compression and heat equals detonation. You could get away with going without an intercooler if you do water/meth injection if cost is a factor.

 

[Novi331]

Cooler intake air will be more dense and have higher mass flow per piston-cycle. Getting more mass of oxygen into the cylinder will allow more fuel to be burnt, making each cycle produce more power (but also use more fuel). Cooler intake air also reduces knock (premature explosion of the fuel-air mixture due to heating via compression).

It does not matter which blower you use, they are all compressors, period. They all produce heat as they compress air. The engine performs better with cooler air.

 

[Lonmon]

Everything said above is true. Safety, reliability, and power will all be greater with a properly sized intercooler with forced induction on these high compression engines. It might account for about 1k of the price for the core, piping, couplers, and clamps but it is cheap insurance/power adder. I had a vortech non-intercooled kit on my 01 GT and once I went past 8lbs of boost I had to add meth injection to make decent safe power. I saved a few hundred bucks on an intercooler kit setup but constantly had to watch the bottle level. I eventually lost a motor to having the bottle run dry in 4th gear. I also noticed that the performance was not as smooth when getting on and off the throttle with meth injection compared to just having an intercooler. Trust me, just get the intercooler!

 

[Plimmer]

So I spoke with some people who drag raced muscle cars in the muscle car era and they explained to me the changes in the Marketing in aftermarket parts. basically they believe that an Intercooler helps engines for PSI above 10 or so because intercoolers losses dont outdue their pros for the $$$.

6 years ago, centrifugal superchargers sold for $2000-3000 and had the same % increase in WHP. But in order to make more $$$ companies tell you, you have to have one for any PSI you run even if like 6 or 7. Id like some input on if I got a Procharger head unit for $2500 and made an extra 150WHP how would another $2500-3000 on extra parts and an intercooler to make 30 additional WHP be worth it?

Im ignorant not informed please be nice.

Why don't you run e85 or a 50/50 mix of e85 and 93? These guys are right, you will likely have detonation with 93, a hot Houston day and inlet temps that could be as high as 250 deg F.

So if you are trying to save $$$ but not pop your motor you could run without an intercooler and use e85 or run a water/meth injection kit to cool the inlet charge.

 

[MotorJoe]

I like the E85 idea. And I sure would like to hear results from whoever tries it.

 

[phunk]

With the basic science already explained, I would add: When a few hundred bucks makes all the difference, supercharging a showroom new car starts to sounds like a bad idea to me!

 

[wproctor411]

So I spoke with some people who drag raced muscle cars in the muscle car era and they explained to me the changes in the Marketing in aftermarket parts. basically they believe that an Intercooler helps engines for PSI above 10 or so because intercoolers losses dont outdue their pros for the $$$.

6 years ago, centrifugal superchargers sold for $2000-3000 and had the same % increase in WHP. But in order to make more $$$ companies tell you, you have to have one for any PSI you run even if like 6 or 7. Id like some input on if I got a Procharger head unit for $2500 and made an extra 150WHP how would another $2500-3000 on extra parts and an intercooler to make 30 additional WHP be worth it?

Im ignorant not informed please be nice.

Those old V8s had lower compression, rarely above 10:1, and cast iron heads and blocks which also transfer heat better with less distortion than aluminum. Your also talking about people who probably ran very rich tuning and didn't use a dynometer to get the A/F ratio as lean as possible to build the most power. Tuned by ear and smell works to a degree.

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