thumper64

What size bar and plate intercoolers are people running on their 5th gen Civics? Is there any formula or guide to picking one based on engine size and power goals? Physically, what can be stuck behind a stock bumper? I can cut and weld, so a little modification is ok.

I'm doing a GSR turbo setup and looking to run around 250hp as a daily driver.

boostedcivicsir

mst "good" intercoolers are rated by hp.
as far as your goal, realistically if thats your goal, a drag intercooler will do the job, i did it with a t04b made 330+-

TheShodan

iTrader: (14)

correct. Those typically are about 25 X 6 X 3 or so, give or take an inch on the length or height. We pretty much figure there's going to be some modification anyway. Very few will just fit in the fron there.

thumper64

I do understand that more expensive intercoolers are rated by CFM or HP and will probably perform better than an eBay intercooler, but I'm only going to have to run around 5-10psi of boost for my goals, and an eBay one should handle that fine.

Anyway, this is more a question of roughly what size would be sufficient to cool the air but not have a tremendous amount of turbo lag? Would a 28x8
And dimensionally what would fit without having my piping coming out the side of my bumper.

thumper64

so something like a 27 x 7 x 2.5 delta fin should be plenty for making 250 and have room to grow? With the stock bumper, I would think that should get a good amount of air over the entire core.

TheShodan

iTrader: (14)

7" is a bit high, you may need to either modify the metal bumper support, or it will sit lower in the bumper and you may need a lip to cover the bottom. Depending upon how low the car is, it may / may not be a problem.

A key advantage to par & plate is the variety of fin designs on both sides of the cooler. Plus, the height of the passages can be changed by using taller bars and fins, which expand the possibilities of the person designing them. That is why there are so many variations from Spearco, Precision, Garrett, and others. They all use bar & plate designs and different configurations.

The ability of a bar & plate core to handle high boost is determined by the thickness of the braze sheets (lateral bars), fins, side bars, and top plates.

Tube/Fin intercoolers need more surface area to cool than bar & plate. One of THEIR advantages are the fact that they have a lot of room between rows, and their extruded tubes are much LIGHTER than a bar & plate. Those same tubes are less expensive because they are extruded from thin walled material. The only problem is that any sort of extreme pressure can cause those tube to "inflate" over time and cause damage easily from street debris.. Hell, I've even seen BUGS bend the fins on tube & fin intercoolers.

Both work well, but the Bar & plate louvered fin design can take street punishment a little better than the tube & fin designs. This is where cost comes into play ... Ebay of course could be a NUMBER of companies, but almost all use Tube/fin intercoolers because of their less cost to makte, lighter to ship, and the fact that people just like to go BIG without going heavy.

From my experience, here's what I have found to work well from both camps.

Out of tube & fin designs that are available.

Ebay < Treadstone < Mishimoto < Vibrant < PWR < Greddy

Out of the Bar & plate designs available:

LHT<Spearco<Precision = Garrett

thumper64

Thank you for some more information on intercoolers, I do appreciate it. Would you happen to know anything about delta fin intercoolers? These seem to be a modified bar and plate design?

If people knew which seller they got their eBay intercoolers from, it could help to identify which are acceptable for budget builds and which are to be avoided at any price. I'm not ignoring what you said about intercoolers, it's just that the extra cooling isn't worth it to everyone for the sometimes large price difference.