what exactly does an intercooler do?

 

It simply uses a radiator like chamber that's designed for
air rather then water, to cool the air before it goes into your
engine.

More air per cubic inch means more fuel means more power.

I have mixed feelings on intercoolers on naturally asperated
engines.

 

Is it worth it to have an intercooler on NA engines? I mean are there any gains in power or torque?

 

totally unnecessary
you will lose critical air velocity by using an intercooler on an NA motor
and you car will probably run like crap

they are specifically used on boosted engines because anytime you pressurize anything, It heats up......
and most of the presssure remains after the intercooler on a boosted engine, so air velocity is not a problem

 

I've seen a few on NA engines....none of them posted any gains in hp.

keep in mind, when you use an IC on a forced induction (F/I) car, it's because the pressure from the F/I results in greater air temperature. When the air temperature increases, the air expands. This is a simple law of physics.

The intercooler is designed to reduce the temperatures, making the air more dense, and therefore more power. however, it doesn't drop the temperature *below* ambient levels.

On a NA engine, there isn't any increased air temp because there isn't any increased pressure (no F/I) to raise the air temps.

As TX said above, totally unnecessary.

 

what about on a supercharged engin? would it make a diffrence then?

 

yes. s/c is a type of forced induction, just as turbo's are.

The difference between a t/c and a s/c is that the turbos run off of exhaust gasses, which in turn spool the turbo. A s/c is driven by the crankshaft.

Any turbo or s/c setup will work more efficiently, and therefore generate more HP with a intercooler, than without.

On a sidenote, sometimes you will see the term "aftercooler" used. It is the same thing (it's actually the correct name) as an intercooler.

 

thanks for the answers. i never intended on getting one, i was just curious to know. thanks fellas

 

glad to be of help.

my responses were to both you and redheaded. I didn't intend to come across as demeaning, so if it did, I apologize.

As I've stated, I've seen a few on N/A engines. I can only assume that it was there for show. Far be it from me to tell someone what to do with their car.... I try only to give people information, so that they can make up their own minds

 

I want to see some pics of the retards that put intercoolers on n/a cars

 

Lol, man, wish I had taken some. It was pretty funny. the best part is that part of the IC was showing in the lower grill, so I was expecting to see a bad*ss turbo inside. Imagine my surprise when I saw no f/i. I was like WTF?????

 

i never took it as demeaning. i was always just curious to know what purpose they served, no knowing i dont think id ever get one. heh.

 

I've seen Intakes designed to look like intercoolers.
Laughed my Azz off too.

 

Don't forget also to mention that the act of compressing air alone creates heat. In the case of turbos, extra heat is picked up from the turbo due to EGT, and friction from the turbine shaft. In the case of Roots type superchargers where air is squished by intermessing splines; again heat coming from friction of moving parts and compression itself. I've seen data sheets of ceramic intakes heak soaking up to 117 degrees F due to the fact that when under daily driving, air inside the splines are compressed, expanded, and then recompressed over and over, until the driver lays on it allowing new fresh, and cooler air into the SC to be compressed. In the case of roots type sc's, it is especially difficult to intercool. An air to water is mostly used between the sc and the cylinder head. No visible FMIC. In the case of Centrifical SC's where FMIC's are an option but difficult due to the bulkiness of the SC and charge design. I've personally seen air-water intercoolers, or mostly known around here as cool boxes, are used.


And the real ONLY reason intercoolers are used:

None intercooled compressed air is hotter than intercooled compressed air. What happens to something when it gets warm? It expands. So the oxygen molecules are less closely packed then they could be in intercooled compressed air. The closer the oxygen molecules are (meaning the colder the better) the more oxygen per cubic inch enters the cylinder camber, which allows you to tune the car to burn more fuel more efficently, thus causing more power! Say for the sake of argumentation that 1 fuel atom needs 2 oxygen atoms to burn efficently and producing the absolute most energy it can. If you used none intercooled compressed air @ 6psi, (again for the sake of argument) lets say you got 500 oxygen molecules per cubic in (again not actual numbers) which means the exact MOST amount of fuel you can use to make the MOST efficent amount of power is 250 atoms of fuel per cubic inch. Again using 6lbs of INTERCOOLED compressed air you'd recieve 800 oxygen atoms per cubic inch (due to the O2 atoms being more tightly packed. Then this allows you to burn 400 atoms of fuel per cubic inch making far more power efficently than 250 atoms of fuel per cubic inch.

Again for the sake of argument. If you ran 400 molecules of fuel per cubic inch (intended for the intercooled air) for the none intercooled 500 atoms of O2 per cubic inch, then you'll run extremely "RICH" and make even less power.


Make any sense? This is my first time trying to extensivly explain the chemistry behind it all.

 

^^ preaching to the choir bud, makes perfect sense. The reason I didn't go into that much detail was that judging by the questions, the people were relativelty unfamiliar with F/I. Going into that much detail was something I didn't think they'd care to read about (i.e. too technical). If you read my previous post, you'll see I touched on Boyles law a little bit with the hint of "pressure of the f/i creates higher temps". I tend to oversimplify sometimes, in order to retain the audience.

Clearly you have a thorough working knowledge of F/I and combustion in general, so my contrite explanation didn't quite work for you At any rate, thanks for the more in depth discussion, it is always good to see an explanation backed up with an example.

 

/\/\ No prob. I'm at home on a friday night with nothing else to do. Read the thread, then i was like, what the heck.

Self tuning teaches you tons








I miss my civic