My friend is selling his intercooler because he just got a new one. His old one is slightly larger than the one I have now. Its a little thicker and it has a couple more horizontal prongs than mine has. Am I going to see a big enough difference in power for it to be worth it if I upgrade just slighty larger? Sorry I don't know the exact dimensions of the intercoolers but his is bigger which hopefully will make a difference either way. Thoughts and helpful opinions please.

 

Bigger may not always be better. With air-to-air intercoolers, the idea is to get as much surface area (height x width) while keeping the intercooler core as relatively thin as you can.

If you compare two exact sized intercoolers of different thicknesses, the thicker intercooler will definitely support more hp (because there's more opportunity for heat transfer as air passes thru the fins), but it will also be more of a brick. What I mean by that is that it will be harder for air to pass through it because it's so thick.

With that in mind, a 4 to 5-inch thick intercooler core may be better suited for the race track (you can push a lot of air through at 100-mph) while a 3 to 3.5 inch would be a lot better for stop n' go daily driving.

Bar and plate designs are also considered to be better than tube and fin because they 1) can handle higher boost loads and 2) are more resistant to damage from road hazards. Tube & fin designs, however, are lighter and cheaper in price.

Core efficiency (part of which is determined by above) , pressure drop and fin design & aerodynamics are other factors, too . . . but don't really relate to your situation since you don't really know what you have.

Hope that helps you. Good luck with your new intercooler.

 

i have the apex-i gt intercooler, what do you think of that intercooler for a 600whp street car?

 

yeah that did help, I know that the one i might get off him isn't 4-5 inches...i think mine is 3 and his is 3 1/2

 

Glad that did, Jcup

As for the Apexi, I have no clue. Sorry