INTERCOOLERS . . .

What are the advantages of an intercooler?

As a turbocharger generates boost pressure the air is compressed and the temperature of the air goes up, the hotter the air gets the fewer oxygen molecules available to mix with the fuel. An intercooler allows the compressed air to cool down about 200 degrees before entering the intake manifold. This increases the amount of oxygen molecules in the engine which allows more fuel to be burned.

When is an intercooler advantageous?

Maximum turbo boost needs to be at least 15lbs. or more before an intercooler enhances the performance. If boost is less than 15 lbs. there are still enough oxygen molecules in the air to get complete combustion of the fuel.

 

Where did you get your numbers for 15 psi and up being advantegeous? As long as the intercooler is at a lower temperature then the air before going through it it becomes advantageous to use it.

 

^^ What he said.

Plus, I've never seen a non-intercooled turbo engine with over 8lbs of boots.

 

http://www.difflock.com/diesel/diesel1.shtml scroll down until you see the intercooler section. its about diesels but i figured it might be relative

 

It's completelly irrelevant, firstly because diesels have no spark plugs and therefore combustion occurs under different conditions then in gasoline engines, secondly diesel fuel has a different chemical compossition then gassoline and therefore requires a different stochiometrical ration, so the number 15 means nothing to us. Thirdly this website is not exactly scientific america, so take their info with a grain of salt. I will go to how things work dot com and read some on intercoolers to see what they say.

 

I found this, eventhough it doesn't answer the question it is intteresting.
http://www.bellintercoolers.com/Pages/tech.asp#A

 

thats a pretty informative page you found there, i read a few then had to read em all. i see your point about diesels though having glowplugs and all. i kinda forgot about that and took what they were saying as general. on the page you found its still pretty intresting to see that if the air entering the intercooler is 150deg that the i/c will remove 110deg.