intercooler thoughts
 

I have a greddy fmic. I used to have an aftermarket fiberglass bumper, but I destroyed it. :p Now I got a stock s5 bumper. I was thinking why I even need such a big intercooler if air isn't even passing by it. right? Maybe I need to make a shroud or something

pm'ed

Air is not supposed to pass by the intercooler, air is supposed to pass through it.

you really don't need a core the size of the newer greddy kit unless you are at or past the 350whp mark.

Sorry Aviator. :)

Just thinking the intercooler is so big, only half of the intercooler is exposed so air can pass through it.

So i'm trying ot think of ways to increase the efficiency of my setup.
Water sprayers on the outside
water meth injection at the turbo intake.

My old bumper used to have more of the intercooler exposed for air to pass through it

In most cases the inlet is only supposed to be about 1/4 to 1/3 the area of the intercooler core. If the inlet is larger than 2/3 the area of the intercooler core, then flow efficiency is usually reduced because the air starts to back out of the inlet. The same applies to other heat exchangers, such as radiators and oil coolers. A large inlet will also increase drag, slowing the car.

See this race car duct as an example:
http://www.fivestarbodies.com/index....id=3&chapter=0

Cool, good point, thanks man!

Also keep in mind that an intercooler is a thermal mass. The more metal you can cool down when driving under vacuum, the more effective it will be at pulling heat out of air when you are under boost as there is more cool surface area for that air to flow through. Street driving generally involves short periods of boost, so if the cooler is "pre-cooled" through it's entire mass, even though some areas don't receive as strong an airflow as others, the cooler is still more effective then a smaller one that is totally exposed.