I am thinking about getting spearco to make me a custom sized intercooler... it'd be 3" thick by 6" tall by 24" long. How efficient would something this size be? It's about the same size as the 2-209 core. Would something like this be good enough for say 15psi?

thanks,
-Shing

 

thats pretty good...you don't want anything too thick, 'cause your pressure will drop too much ...3" is good enough...and the longer it is(in length) the better the efficiency, so you want the longest possible one that will fit on your car.

 

I agree. When it comes to ATA intercoolers, it's the length that matters, not the girth.

 

You said Girth..

 

Length = efficiency in heat transfer but also = increased pressure drop, which means turbo has to produce more boost to make equal boost when it gets to the manifold. More boost from turbo = more heat to dissipate, so it would be interesting to see where the "break even" point is in compromise between intercooler efficiency and head drop.

 

I thought that length doesn't really matter. I was always told that the more tubes(rows) it has, the more eefiecient it will be. AS for example: a top-bottom of 18x6x3 will have the same efficiency if not better than a side to side of 24x8x3. DOn't quote me on these core sizes, I'm just throwing numbers around, please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

So if thickness doesn't matter that much, would one even want to go down to say 2.5"?

-Shing

 

i have a spearco, all i know is that right after i run her hard, one pipe is cold, one is hot so i'm satisfied

 

2.5" is fine. It will also allow you to get your bumper cover back on without a fight.