Intercooler's: Water to Air vs. Air to Air
I have been trying to convince a good friend of mine to leave the sad n/a game to finally go boost. Well yesterday he finally committed and bought a precision 6076 turbo. now the eternal game of what comes next has started.
rather than the normal text messages and such, I told him the only way I will discuss it with him is here on your forum, so not only did I recruit a new member (rbsjnh +1), I am hoping to increase the technical knowledge as well.
I am a huge fan of w2a intercoolers and the major reasons why are:
1. Less heat soak
2. Less lag
3. Overall can control iat's more consistently over an extended period.
so to get started I thought I would show whats required, whats available, how to do it.
Parts needed for W2A intercooler:
1. Intercooler core- no matter what kind of ic you use, make sure it is a non-epoxy cores. Epoxy will break down under extreme heat, causing leaks and or debris to enter your engine. if they make it so shitty it needs to be glued together, is that what ya really want?
Barrell Style
http://www.siliconeintakes.com//imag...25_picture.jpg
http://www.siliconeintakes.com//imag...23_picture.jpg
Barrell style's are great for very small systems, they can typically reduce lag time on a turbo by 500-700 rpm, they see less than a 1% pressure drop and are usually cable of supporting between 300-450 whp
Box Type
http://www.siliconeintakes.com//imag...e9_picture.jpg
http://www.siliconeintakes.com//imag...13_picture.jpg
These units typically require a larger core, they maintain a less than 1% pressure drop, generally capable of supporting 600+ Whp. Issue becomes more piping is typically required as these units are big and bulky, and the more piping, the more lag incured.
Heat Exchangers:
Really based on sizes, the larger the unit the longer it will take for heat soak to occur.
examples of heat exchangers:
http://www.siliconeintakes.com//imag....5_picture.jpg
http://www.siliconeintakes.com//imag...er_picture.jpg
http://www.siliconeintakes.com//imag...er_picture.jpg
ideally you want the largest exchanger you can use, as it will reduce heat soak, but small cores do work excessively well, and if you need to save money somewhere, this is ideally where you'd want to do it.
the units are cheap as well, so upgrading can be done without breaking the bank,
Filler Systems/Resevoirs
from the meak and minor
http://www.siliconeintakes.com//imag...ap_picture.jpg
to something a little more serious
http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...9E9V9QEZmt0NPA
this is actually a ps fluid resevoir but works perfect for a w2a ic resevoir
to the extreme trunk mounted
http://www.smreperformance.com/image...-tanks/wt5.gif
these units are perfect as they typically hold approx 10lb's of ice, reducing iat's far below an a2a intercoolers ability
Pump
http://static.summitracing.com/globa...0392022002.jpg
Bosch intercooler pump, these units are made for 12v pumping high temp water constantly, imho you should not use anything less than a bosch pump.
if a bosch pump is too pussy for ya there is only one option
http://dagostinoracing.com/images/Meziere-WP136S.jpg
the king of racing fluid pumps.
