Intercooler usage on street - A TEST with results.

[Craig 930 RS]

TEST/data point:

Three days ago it was 70 degrees & sunny, so I went for a drive.
RUF intercooler (modestly sized unit, fully shrouded), K27 HF, nearly fully optimized CIS system & .8 bar.
Approximately 438RWHP/413 RWTQ.




Metered (stoplight) freeway entrance ramp, at a dead stop, up a slight hill.

Inlet air temp 84 degrees, IC outlet temp 88 degrees - (with my setup, inlet is always 14 degrees higher than ambient)

Accelerated from 0 to 70 mph, full throttle all the way, on track tires which were hot - so plenty of grip.

Results:

Intercooler outlet temp went up just 14 degrees.
Perhaps use this as a rough guide for your future decisions regarding intercoolers for street use only? YMMV.

[Jeff Alton]

Interesting test, would love to see a comparison to a stock or other intercooler.

Have you got the temp guages mounted in the dash?

Cheers

[Craig 930 RS]

I'll do one when I install the BlownSix IC.

I'll do it in the same location, and at or very close to the same temperature.

Temp gauge is right in the dash, just below and to the right of the boost gauge:

[RarlyL8]

That is a good start but does not begin to test the limits for street driving.

You need to do a hard run up a hill then turn off the road and let it idle for 5 minutes while stopped, then drive in stop and go traffic for 10 minutes, then hit the hill again and boost it. THAT will give you some real world data on how well the intercooler handles and recovers from heat soak.

[Jeff Alton]

Cool, set up, I would love some hard data on the intake temps delta with the blowsix that I could relay back to mike, and use for my customers.

Cheers

[Lukesportsman]

I as I'm sure everyone here appreciates the effort and info, but I agree with Brian. What you presented is more akin to drag racing than street driving. One short burst with a good setup shouldn't ever be too challenging (as you have and have shown). But its the question of boost than minimal air flow/recovery to the next boost session that seems more challenging.

It might also show the strengths and weaknesses of one design over another for street vs track useage. We might see core thickness vs. width having different characteristics. In any case, thanks for the trouble and good luck with the blown6 design.

[Jeff Alton]

Well, lets get Craig to the track with his current intercooler where he can test ambient vs inlet temps after 10 laps! As he seems to be at the track often, once his new intercooler is on maybe he can do the same results......

Either way, it is a good start.

Cheers

[Craig 930 RS]

I tried not to read too much into one simple 4 second run. It is A test, one parameter.

Here's what that one blast consisted of:
1) Stop and go driving in the city, onto an on ramp, then a short stop at a ramp metering light.
2) Full throttle 0-70 blast up the merging lane and onto the freeway.

Slowing back down to abou 40 mph (traffic), the IC temps dropped a degree per second.

What can this show?
This simple test can serve as a replication of just toolin' around the city or freeway, then a full throttle run,
and what the resultant IC temps can be.
This is the sort of blasts that most of us do on the street (highway), anyway - either this, or 40 mph -80mph runs etc, etc.
the sort of stuff that we all do with our 930s.

There are numerous tests / infinite replication possibilities of different situations.....sitting, track use, sustained high speed,
higher boost, larger/smaller/stock intercoolers....

I'm presonally more interested in situations that replicate real world usage - like the test I did, plus track use - but here are some data some may like:
When parked after freeway use, the IC temp goes up about 35 degrees -- to about 120 degrees. Drops to about 80 or 90 within 3 minutes of easy 35 mph driving.
Recall that this is when EVERYTHING is heat soaked - all tubes, turbo, intercoolers, everything is quite hot at a standstill.

More data:
IC outlet temperature can reach 135-140 on a track day - lap after lap, very hard use on an 80 degree day .
Local shop said this is actually not bad at all, and what he sees with MOTEC EFI cars with larger intercoolers.
Temperature falls much more rapidly on track - about 2+ degrees per second - so I see the temperature go down to about 95 on every lap.

Hang tight, and I'll do some more tests, and some more numbers -