Author Topic: Intercoolers  (Read 18428 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline daveismissing

  • Two Buicks- too little money$$
  • Turbo Street Outlaw
  • *******
  • Posts: 6515
  • PSI: 3
  • Two Buicks- too little money$$
    • View Profile
Intercoolers
« on: February 07 2019, 01:34:21 PM »
Rob O's secret intercooler posts sent me down the rabbit hole:

Cores, seems these are the choices:

Honeywell/Garrett

https://www.garrettmotion.com/racing-and-performance/performance-catalog/intercoolers/

Spearco/Turbonetics

Asian various?
Don't see any specs


Aluminum is not that difficult to cast so I presume these mfgs all cast their own endtanks?


Steve  has archived a nice old writeup:

http://www.vortexbuicks-etc.com/ICtest.htm


nice comparison picture from TR custom parts

http://www.buickgn.com/ICCOMPARED.jpg

I presume his stretched SLIC is the GN1 unit (23 rows), anyone know what cores they use?

This looks to be the nearest to stock unit (19 rows?)

https://www.wabtec.com/products/7990/air-air-intercooler-1986-1987-buick-turbo-regal-stock-location-intercooler

Airflow - top to bottom or left to right - does it matter?

All fun stuff
-Drain plug by Earl Brown, custom oil pan by Rich's Auto

Offline Steve Wood

  • Turbo Street Outlaw
  • *******
  • Posts: 9882
  • PSI: 34
    • View Profile
    • http://www.vortexbuicks-etc.com/
Re: Intercoolers
« Reply #1 on: February 07 2019, 01:49:09 PM »
I am very cynical about magic IC's any more.  At the point of today's manufacturing, most difference is strictly someone's theoretical projections but we don't really seem to see much, if any, improvement in the real world.

As long as pressure drop across the cooler is insignificant, they work.
Steve Wood

http://www.vortexbuicks-etc.com

A lot of broken parts does not make you a racer; it makes you a slow learner.

Offline good2win22

  • Turbo Street Outlaw
  • *******
  • Posts: 2019
  • PSI: 0
  • No man lives happily lest he remove the boredom
    • View Profile
Re: Intercoolers
« Reply #2 on: February 07 2019, 03:58:02 PM »
I've been privy to some intercooler testing.  We measured pressure at the compressor and then pressure at the manifold. We also measured temperature rise during the run as well as exhaust pressure but that didn't really seem to change any.  All testing was on the same car. Stock long block, valve springs had been changed, 6262, E85, 120lb injectors, IAT in the up pipe


Stock intercooler  28 psi at manifold = 36 psi at compressor, almost 200 degrees on that pass from starting at ambient
GN1 SLIC    28 psi at manifold = 34-35 at compressor, up in the 170's on temp
Precision SLIC 28 psi at manifold = 34-35 at compressor, up in the 170's on temp


No real advantage to either of the two major aftermarket intercoolers once the boost was over the 25 psi mark.




I did a pass on my precision FMIC on my limited.  Completely different combo but still a 6262.  .4 psi drop at 21 psi at the compressor and only a 30.8 degree rise from ambient. More testing to come with this setup with a few tweaks to come...


My belief is that the airflow across the air to air intercooler is irrelevant when only making passes at the drag strip.  I feel that the intercooler acts as a heat sink during the pass, therefore the size of the intercooler and the degree of the turns that the air has to make plays a key role in the magic of the intercooler. 


my two cents...
Jason

1966 Ford Ranch Wagon
1982 Jeep Wagoneer Limited
1986 Grand National BLK PHNX
1987 Turbo Regal Limited
2018 Ram 2500 Cummins

Offline Steve Wood

  • Turbo Street Outlaw
  • *******
  • Posts: 9882
  • PSI: 34
    • View Profile
    • http://www.vortexbuicks-etc.com/
Re: Intercoolers
« Reply #3 on: February 07 2019, 04:26:55 PM »
I would not be surprised to find little improvement in performance as E85 does a lot of cooling once the air hits the combustion chamber.

I would have thought that the slic aftermarket ic's would have had less pressure drop than they showed, but perhaps the volume of air being pushed by the turbo was great enuf to overwhelm the increased internal volume.
Steve Wood

http://www.vortexbuicks-etc.com

A lot of broken parts does not make you a racer; it makes you a slow learner.

Offline nocooler

  • Administrator
  • Turbo Street Eliminator
  • ******
  • Posts: 1786
  • PSI: 3
    • View Profile
Re: Intercoolers
« Reply #4 on: February 07 2019, 05:03:19 PM »
The thing I’ve noticed is cheap cores have less fin density. The Garrett/bell intercooler cores are supposed to be about as good as it gets. But I’ve seen countless cars fast with cheap low quality china cores both a2a and a2w.
IhaveaV8

Offline Steve Wood

  • Turbo Street Outlaw
  • *******
  • Posts: 9882
  • PSI: 34
    • View Profile
    • http://www.vortexbuicks-etc.com/
Re: Intercoolers
« Reply #5 on: February 07 2019, 05:12:08 PM »
I had never thought of it, but Jason's remark about the core being a big heat sink has a lot of merit when considering a single pass.
Steve Wood

http://www.vortexbuicks-etc.com

A lot of broken parts does not make you a racer; it makes you a slow learner.

Offline Scoobum

  • Turbo Street Outlaw
  • *******
  • Posts: 5549
  • PSI: 3
  • YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!!!
    • View Profile
Re: Intercoolers
« Reply #6 on: February 07 2019, 08:09:15 PM »
Hard work pays off, dreams come true. Bad times don't last, but BAD GUYS do!

RIP Scott Hall AKA Razor Ramon

Offline Steve Wood

  • Turbo Street Outlaw
  • *******
  • Posts: 9882
  • PSI: 34
    • View Profile
    • http://www.vortexbuicks-etc.com/
Re: Intercoolers
« Reply #7 on: February 07 2019, 08:19:25 PM »
so what happened to Tyler?
Steve Wood

http://www.vortexbuicks-etc.com

A lot of broken parts does not make you a racer; it makes you a slow learner.

Offline Scoobum

  • Turbo Street Outlaw
  • *******
  • Posts: 5549
  • PSI: 3
  • YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!!!
    • View Profile
Re: Intercoolers
« Reply #8 on: February 07 2019, 08:28:05 PM »
so what happened to Tyler?

Was talking to him a couple weeks back. All's well.
Hard work pays off, dreams come true. Bad times don't last, but BAD GUYS do!

RIP Scott Hall AKA Razor Ramon

Offline gusszgs

  • Turbo Street Modified
  • *****
  • Posts: 431
  • PSI: 1
  • Limited quick brick
    • View Profile
Re: Intercoolers
« Reply #9 on: February 07 2019, 10:09:28 PM »
I run a old SL stretch Jackson Fairpark that seems work decent.
Funny, I’ve never seen any testing or much talk about them. Probably cause there’s not many around anymore perhaps.
Jim
1987 T Limited

Offline Grumpy

  • Turbo Street Modified
  • *****
  • Posts: 489
  • PSI: 4
    • View Profile
Re: Intercoolers
« Reply #10 on: February 08 2019, 10:21:34 AM »
I run a old SL stretch Jackson Fairpark that seems work decent.
Funny, I’ve never seen any testing or much talk about them. Probably cause there’s not many around anymore perhaps.
Same with the old V4.  I am still not sold on front mounts. Doin some more testing in a few months.

Offline Grumpy

  • Turbo Street Modified
  • *****
  • Posts: 489
  • PSI: 4
    • View Profile
Re: Intercoolers
« Reply #11 on: February 08 2019, 10:22:49 AM »
so what happened to Tyler?
kinda disappeared on TB.  :chin:

Offline Forzfed

  • Turbo Street Eliminator
  • ******
  • Posts: 1337
  • PSI: 5
  • Boost n00b
    • View Profile
Re: Intercoolers
« Reply #12 on: February 08 2019, 10:47:03 AM »
I run a old SL stretch Jackson Fairpark that seems work decent.
Funny, I’ve never seen any testing or much talk about them. Probably cause there’s not many around anymore perhaps.
Same with the old V4.  I am still not sold on front mounts. Doin some more testing in a few months.
Love my V4!  And with the alky I'm in the 74-78'F intake temps.  I guess I will have to live with those really high temps!

Offline earlbrown

  • Turbo Street Eliminator
  • ******
  • Posts: 1571
  • PSI: 6
    • View Profile
Re: Intercoolers
« Reply #13 on: February 08 2019, 03:15:51 PM »
I had never thought of it, but Jason's remark about the core being a big heat sink has a lot of merit when considering a single pass.


Reminds me of the phase change intercooler.    I still want to build one, one of these days just for the hellovit.
'87 GN - 4.2L SFI Turbocharged innercooled V6 - Chrome valve covers - supra pump - 14" K&N - 52mm throttlebody - rocker shaft supports -  1/2 intake spacer - TB coolant bypass - 3" ATR exhaust tip - Alum intake pipe - NOS timing cover - chip - relocated charcoal canister - CR42's - stock

Offline good2win22

  • Turbo Street Outlaw
  • *******
  • Posts: 2019
  • PSI: 0
  • No man lives happily lest he remove the boredom
    • View Profile
Re: Intercoolers
« Reply #14 on: February 08 2019, 04:27:12 PM »
I run a old SL stretch Jackson Fairpark that seems work decent.
Funny, I’ve never seen any testing or much talk about them. Probably cause there’s not many around anymore perhaps.
Same with the old V4.  I am still not sold on front mounts. Doin some more testing in a few months.
Love my V4!  And with the alky I'm in the 74-78'F intake temps.  I guess I will have to live with those really high temps!
I moved my IAT closer to the intercooler in the up pipe to not have the alky spraying on it.  Trust me when I say that the temps in the manifold with the alky spraying are 20-25 degrees cooler than what is coming from the intercooler
Jason

1966 Ford Ranch Wagon
1982 Jeep Wagoneer Limited
1986 Grand National BLK PHNX
1987 Turbo Regal Limited
2018 Ram 2500 Cummins

 

SimplePortal 2.3.7 © 2008-2024, SimplePortal