Ok, maybe I'm not understanding this right, but when hot air goes through the intercooler it is supposed to be cooled. Now when hot air is cooled, the pressure drops (remember PV = nRT; ideal gas law). So why do people want an intercooler w/ as little pressure drop as possible. That would mean the temp change is less.

Am I missing something here?

 

well u want the most efficient intercooler. the one w/ the least pressure drop and the most cooling. i usually associate a larger intercooler with more pressure drop but more cooling. but also huge IC's will cause lag cause of the added volume. i guess its another trade off.

 

Hmmm...I am thinking the pressure drop that people don't want isn't based on the cooling of the charge...

What they dont want is pressure drop caused by some sort of restriction in the IC.

 

aha....knew i was missing something.

 

I don't know if that is right though....it seems a restriction would just limit flow, not pressure.

But then again, I suppose if flow is restricted thru the IC then the pressure would be greater coming into the IC, but less coming out of it.

 

What I think is if you have less pressure drop, the air does'nt cool off as good because it does'nt give enough time for the i/c to cool the air coming through. I would prefer a bigger i/c, the colder the air get. I'll just have to up the boost to make up for the p/d.


[Modified by boostedb20vtec, 10:57 PM 12/23/2002]

 

ahhh u nerds!!! do u guys want detonation or safe reliable turbo set-up? u and ur E=mc2 crap....this is christmas vacation...leave the schooling at school guys