I know that PWR and Spearco are both quality intercoolers, my question is about the design. PWR is a tube and fin design and the Spearco is a bar and plate design. I have heard that the bar and plate design is better but why? cooling efficiency? less pressure drop? more flow? Can you help me?

 

I was wondering the same thing. Tony1 did a comparison I believe, but I can't find it!

 

I stressed over this for a long time too. I ended going with the spearco, from boostcooler on ebay. The PWR was a close second. There was a link on here to an austrailian site that had an indepth article on the (many) different kinds of intercoolers. I couldn't find it now though. The tube+fin may have better cooling capacity, but it may have a tad more resistance. I almost want to buy a PWR and run both when I dyno, and see which works best for my app.

 

pwr/tube and fin) lighter in design, less pressure drop and also repsonds to temp changes much more quickly

spearco/bar and plate) heavier so it works as a heat sink better and lower speeds...

 

What do you mean by heat sink and lower speeds? Overall which IC do you think performs better on the street during spring, summer, and fall.

 

I found this but im still looking for more info thanx.

TUBE AND FIN
Benefits:

low cost
low weight

Disadvantages:

"effective" lower efficiency compared to bar and plate


BAR AND PLATE
Benefits:

35% greater heat sink capability (meaning you effectively COULD have a SMALLER intercooler when compared to the tube and fin)

Disadvantages:

weight
cost

The tube and fin is a common everyday upgrade due to its low cost.
The bar and plate is far superior BUT it costs more.

 

you pretty much answered your own question...except the last 2 lines are hog wash. Bar and plate cool better at low speeds because they are heavier and more metal means they work better as a heat sink with no air passing by them. So at low speeds, they will be better. But with that...that makes them slower and changing temps when high speeds are run. Go with which ever you get a better price on a looks more pretty.

 

And if you decide on the PWR, get it from Mike (ninesecrx). I love mine and the price was much cheaper than the spearco. Plus it took 1/3 of the time to get.
HEre is a picture.


Great price and great service.

 

what size is that intercooler?

 

Core is 22x8x3

 

I got a PWR from earl for a great price.... It looks awesome sitting in my room waiting to go in.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ladysman &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">And if you decide on the PWR, get it from Mike (ninesecrx). I love mine and the price was much cheaper than the spearco. Plus it took 1/3 of the time to get.
HEre is a picture.



wow...your car looks great! Great job with the intercooler mounting
Great price and great service. </TD></TR></TABLE>

 

This guy gets a 10 for looks of the intercooler, and an 11 for quality. The welds look amazing and everything is straight and true. If you want more pics ill send them to you.

Its 31x8x3 with 5 inch end tanks in case you wanted to know.


CHECK THIS: <U>https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=528934</U>

 

Thanks for the comments Mike.

Here it is mounted.


I bought some 1 inch wide 1/8 inch thick aluminum sheet for $4 from Lowes and had it welded on. The welding cost me only $20.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ninesecrx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you pretty much answered your own question...except the last 2 lines are hog wash. Bar and plate cool better at low speeds because they are heavier and more metal means they work better as a heat sink with no air passing by them. So at low speeds, they will be better. But with that...that makes them slower and changing temps when high speeds are run. Go with which ever you get a better price on a looks more pretty.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Not disaggreeing with you, just throwing a little everyday common sense into the equation. while bar and plate may cool better at low speeds, how much are are you going to be boosting at low speeds? So is this really an issue in an everyday real work application?