didn't suggest it was. However, the average temp the engine (via cooling fan) sees, will probably be closer to the ambient in the whole compartment. I'm guessing that this is why Jim had a concern about air starvation at high speeds for prolonged times with the pass side completely blocked off and only air coming in via the IC side.

One has to believe that the company designers had some sense and did some empiric testing of the concepts (maybe not). But more importantly (in terms of heat/flow through IC), I will again say that engines run cooler with better IC's than stock, hence, any increase in heat at the cooling fan is more than offset by the charge being cooled.

How about Brandons (quattrorunner) point about water to air intercoolers? I know its steering off the topic a little bit but how efficient are they? is the setup a lot trickier than brandon says or is it THAT simple? are they much more costly? are they smaller?

I agree that the basic original design (air heading solely into the tail) is most probably the best and simplest to use and modify from.
This is why I bought a large SPAL pull fan for mounting under the IC. Fits perfectly. Plus, there is room for additional fans.
Still not thrilled about warm IC air into the engine, bu I'd hazard a guess to say this may not be a meaningfully bad condition.

In my opinon.....all this additional effort is really only realized as real gains through sustained on-boost / track use.
Which just so happens to be my area of concern.
I use an Andial turbo inlet/outlet intercooler gauge setup - currently it is plumbed to measure air filter inlet temps and post intercooler temps.

My intercooler outlet temperatures used to be about 130 maximum; now they top out at 150. That is getting pretty toasty.
Which is also why I have the BlownSix 965 style intercooler waiting in the wings for install.
(For track use), intercooler temperatures are listed by two local builders as job #1 for engine longevity and sustained on track performance. His MOTEC data form 12 930 EFI installs bears this out - very interesting data to see. Proprietary too....:( so no data to post. Stephen Kaspar said it well: "Intercoolers do not add power, they prevent you from losing (as much)"

As indicated previously through actual data, there is such a small net pressure in either the postitive or negative direction at the tail area - especially closer to the rear window you go that....

I derived these as the possible realistically workable/functional choices:

1) Wide open tail inlet area, no shrouds / push fans under the intercooler
2) Shrouded tail area / pull fan under the intercooler / small open area for air filter (essentially what I currently have)

Making certain that the inlet for the fan - either through the IC or off to the side/condenser/etc - is large for the fan to draw through.

So why did your temps go up? I thought you just did an engine rebuild, not change any of your intake chain or aero?

Water spray would seem to be very applicable to your app since you run defined lengths of time, the weight goes down as the finish approaches, and any extra humidity to the engine compartment/cooling air would increase the cooling (increased specific heat of air) efficiency to the engine?

Boost increase from .8 to .9 plus the partially tuned WUR.
An possibily exceeding the limits of the IC I currently have - a RUF unit.
No fan on it at this point.

Off topic a bit -
What was interesting (and surprising since the WRX spray setup doesn't do a thing, FWTIW) was the MOTEC data from the engines that have the spray bars actually showed a modest improvement.

Kind of a good example of a tail on our chassis that take advantage of where the higher pressure air exists - up high and waaaaay back ;)

http://www.pace-models.com/images/mo...18105_main.jpg

I've read the engine compartment is pressurized from the fan sucking in more air than can be lost over the cylinders and air filter.

I blocked off the passenger side on my tail at the track and my oil temps were 10 degrees hotter with it blocked.

I don't doubt what you've read, yet the side & rear rubber flappy skirts don't appear to hold much pressure at all.
But I might be wrong.

Who did those finite element analyses with the front (dam) oil cooler? Maybe we can get the whole car. And then one with and without skirts...