400+ hp intercoolers

[mr.bennett]

What intercoolers are you guys that have 400+ hp running? I've got a late model 325 that I'm swapping an m52b28 turbo into and am trying to figure out my intercooler situation. I'm going to run an electric pusher fan in front of my radiator and deleting A/C.

There is a bit of info about the ebay 28x9x2.75 intercooler on the forums but they are only rated for 350 hp and I don't think that will do.

My plan is to run 2.5 in pipe into the cooler and I need to run 3 in out for the maf sensor. How much cooler can I fit without having to completely hack the front of the car apart?

I've read through every intercooler thread I could find and most of them by now are scattered with random crap and good info is pretty limited. Then there are the broken picture links that are everywhere.

I'm not afraid of doing some modifying, that is unavoidable I just don't want to have to completely destroy my valance/bumper to make one fit. I'm also ok with going up in quality a bit from the ebay units to get a more efficient unit but I dont want to spend $800 on one either.

Thanks for the help!

wall mounted motivation

[Nutzy]

Laimis is running a 450x300x76mm core cooler and what, like 760whp.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-UCAoZJ754&feature=youtu.be

[mr.bennett]

I'm considering this one

http://www.treadstoneperformance.com/product.phtml?p=68149&cat_key=63&prodname=TR11+Intercooler++560HP

Now the question is will an intercooler that is 11x28.5x3 overall fit behind a late model valance/grill assembly without a ton of work?

[speedracer 2002]

I can take rough measurements of mine. I made 400whp on 17lbs before clutch let go. Waiting to install new one and turn it up.

[mr.bennett]

That would be awesome. I'm trying to get everything together before I tear the car down and the motor is about to go back together. It's getting close to fun turbo time.

[Q5Quint]

What is the cfm of your engine?

What temperature do you want the air going into your engine to be? It will be 250-300deg F coming out of the turbo.

I was trying to post the nerd math of how to do this correctly.

[ak-]

A guy on the Mistu Evo forums took the time to compare a treadstone to an ebay intercooler on multiple runs.

Same results on the first two passes or so, then the ebay intercooler started heatsoaking and made less power while the treadstone cooler was consistent.
I really was about to purchase a treadstone till I came up on my huge $40 ebay intercooler

[Q5Quint]

The treadstone might have started heat soaking after 4-5 passes instead of 2 or 3 if it was thicker aluminum.

The calcs for how much they will lower your intake temp at x speed would be the same though if they are the same fin area/size. Aluminum is aluminum no matter who makes it.

You should probably use water-air if you are drag racing, and air-air if it is a dd. If you want to drag race your dd add a water squirter in front of your air-air cooler or use fans between runs to try and cool the lady down. If you are in a bracket and want consistency you would do ice+water/air so you can get the same temp each time.





400hp and 600cfm means ~ 30inch internal flow area on the chart. You want the max frontal to make that most efficient. My 12x3x24 inches with a 36 inch internal flow area was somewhere between slightly and grossly oversized. a 9x3x24 would be perfect behind your kidneys.

http://www.e30tech.com/forum/showthread.php?t=33339&highlight=q5quint+intercooler

[mr.bennett]

I think it's going to need to flow around 800cfm. Q5Quint how much cutting of the valance did you have to do to get your cooler to fit? It's about the same size as the core I'm looking at. The car is definitely going to be more dd then drag(it may never see a drag strip).

[LowR3V'in]

A 24"X12" is the biggest one you can fit without heavy modifying.
I feel that smaller wouldn't be enough.

Half of my cooler gets pretty hot. Not just warm, but HOT after some power pulls yet
the other side isn't bad.

[E30volk]

I'm not super familiar with intercoolers, but I know number of jdm guys in the higher power brackets that recommend Buschur intercoolers

[Q5Quint]

The frontal area will be your biggest issue if you want it to be efficient at 800cfm. Luckily your engine will only be flowing 800cfm at wot full boost 6k rpm, which only happens for a few seconds.



The entire top half of a 12"x24"x3" is behind the valance metal which you can cut, but it will still be behind the bumper. I would honestly try that size first because it should be ok for 450hp *continuous* if you are at *continuous* speed. Like I said I hardly had over ambient temps but I was only at 250-300hp.

The thing about the vehicles is those two *assumptions* are not always true. You could always do the biggest air-air you can squeeze in and then a 2nd water-air after that if space/looks are an issue. Make sure it is rated higher than you need so the pressure drop doesn't cost you boost. Make sure it is not too efficient of an air-air or it will cost you boost too. The calcs are important. If you size for a start-stop heat soak environment you might need 2x the size of intercooler plus water spray as you would use for normal hard driving at 35mph+.

A $1000 core is not always 'more efficient' than a $100 core if it is over-sized and causing a pressure drop. If you are using megasquirt you can get it to pull timing if the intake air gets a over certain temp for overheat knock protection- that is probably more important than the intercooler sizing if this is going to be a DD.

[mr.bennett]

That 24x12x3 is the core size correct? The overall length is 31" with the tanks.