intercooler too big...what happens

[D-meet07]

What would happen if say someone got an intercooler that was 31x3x11 or 12 and threw it on a 260-300hp honda. Would it be that bad of an idea?? curious on everyones input. I know bigger is not always better and that there would probably be some boost lag. what does everyone think??

[HybridKOOP]

Larger intercoolers lead to pressure drop. Shouldn't affect power #'s too much though.

[97turboteg]

my friend had a stock gsx with the stock t25 turbo, and bought a huge slowboy racing front mount, and it was too big for his turbo and blew his turbo.....but thats a dinky *** turbo

[komat]

Originally Posted by 97turboteg

my friend had a stock gsx with the stock t25 turbo, and bought a huge slowboy racing front mount, and it was too big for his turbo and blew his turbo.....but thats a dinky *** turbo

i dont believe that

[sohc_turd]

Thats the funniest bullsh!t ive heard today. haha...

[awdgsx96]

Just about everybody with a DSM blows up their T-25.

[dunkd]

too big may result in a slower spoolup time, but I would say go for it. bigger the better

[komat]

Originally Posted by dunkd

bigger the better

to a certain limit

[qfast817]

you can never go to big

[dunkd]

31x3x11 isnt that HUGE, ive seen much bigger. it will be fine.

[Joseph Davis]

Originally Posted by HybridKOOP

Larger intercoolers lead to pressure drop.

Nope, they lead to less pressure drop, for a given flow. Think about it. And, how the expletive is your build going?? I should have noticed it if you bumped your thread recently... hit the PMs if you've anything interesting to say.

Originally Posted by dunkd

too big may result in a slower spoolup time, but I would say go for it. bigger the better

I went from a non-IC setup and .48 turbine to a 24X11X4" FMIC and a .63 turbine at the same time... my FMIC had about the same volume as a 31X12X3" core... the whole shebang took 500 rpms longer to spool.

Oh, the horror.

[D-meet07]

see i noticed something similar when i modified my 1st intercooler. I went from a modded side mount to a 28x7x3 and it felt slow as ****. Then I got use to it. I went ahead and bought a 28x2.75x9. Thats a little bigger than my last one as far as the height goes. But I would think that if an intercooler is rated at lets say 600hp and your only making 270-280 then it would be sluggish?? correct me if im wrong. Intercoolers are like a turbo with an engine setup. To big would result in not so good performance.

[Joseph Davis]

That's what some people say, but I went from 2500 to 3000 rpm spool, and the car ripped.

You are the first person I've ever heard who upgraded intercoolers and felt a decrease in performance... not trying to explain you away or anything, but small holes in the charge piping can cause you to spool and hit boost fine, but the compressor is spinning all to hell to make the pressure with the leak and is out of it's efficiency range.

What's your experience with spool when you upgraded?

[D-meet07]

It felt sluggish but I never returned back to my side mount. the bigger intercooler definetly gave me more hp but it felt sluggish at first. I got use to it in about a day or so.

[Joseph Davis]

Can you define sluggish in terms of rpm?

[JustaZC]

This is a myth....in the case of Fluid dynamics. If you want to fill a known space...I.E. a cylinder, you will have to deal with the conduction of the lines. So if the lines are too conductive in nature, you either double the line diameter or shorten the legnth. Now obviously we are not working with super low Delta T's but we would like rapid spool. So if you can increase the size of the intercooler and piping...within reason, you should see a slight increase in performance. Not to mention, the cooler the air in going into the engine the better. Proof in point, I just installed my new Precision 750HP IC replacing the old one.. from 29X8.25X2.75 to 24X10.25X3 core size and did not change anything else. The car feels a bit more responsive. But the IAT's have dropped by 18degrees on average.

[Turbo-LS]

well intercooler size shouldnt affect much. I dont have a very big intercooler on my car with 400hp pulls both sides of the intercooler stay cool. its about 22 tall 25 wide and 3 thick. all depends on the effeciency of the turbo as to how big of an intercooler your going to need and also how effeciently the intercooler is cooling the air charge coming into it. the other day makign pulls on the highway it was about 85 degress and very humid i didnt see over 95 intake temps

It might be split seconds of spooling difference but i dont think noticable at all with the butt dyno and larger should cool the charge better and show minor HP gains with cooler intake charge

[D-meet07]

I dont know if there was a diffrence in rpms but bottom line get a fmic over a side mount. I dont regret getting one. never upgraded to something taller and bigger so I cant speak from that aspect.