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Ok, the bell is good. Just making sure you weren't trying to do a "cold air" inlet that some try to do and totally choke the blower out.
I would bet your problem lies in that intercooler. Those cheap china intercoolers are not made to flow any kind of CFM, regardless of their horsepower "rating". Without seeing the core, I can't tell if it's even a bar and plate. It could be a super-crappy tube and fin.
Also remember, if turbo guys say they have success with a cheapo intercooler, doesn't mean a blower car will. On a turbo car, if the intercooler is restrictive, the wastegate just stays closed longer and the turbo spins faster to overcome the restriction and create the desired boost in the manifold. If a blower car has a restriction, the user has to pulley it down to try to overcome that restriction. This creates more drive power loss and a lot of extra heat. A blower setup needs a very high-flow intercooler to make good power. Your best bet is to switch to a "vertical flow" or "top to bottom flow" intercooler. This style provides much more surface area for flow. A "horizontal" or "cross flow" intercooler is good for IATs, but has much less surface area for flow and therefore is much more restrictive.
Ok didn't see the pic before I hit submit. The core looks like ok construction, but it's just too small. Take a look at my intercooler, 0 psi drop. It's 4.5" thick and 27" wide. Bob can sell you this exact intercooler, but it isn't cheap.
If you look at the CFM rating on that intercooler (which is probably inflated to begin with), it flows 385 cfm with 1 psi restriction, and 635 cfm with 2 cfm. That restriction is not a linear curve, more exponential. So by the time you get to the 1700 CFM your blower flows, you are at an extremely high restriction.
Ok, the bell is good. Just making sure you weren't trying to do a "cold air" inlet that some try to do and totally choke the blower out.
I would bet your problem lies in that intercooler. Those cheap china intercoolers are not made to flow any kind of CFM, regardless of their horsepower "rating". Without seeing the core, I can't tell if it's even a bar and plate. It could be a super-crappy tube and fin.
Also remember, if turbo guys say they have success with a cheapo intercooler, doesn't mean a blower car will. On a turbo car, if the intercooler is restrictive, the wastegate just stays closed longer and the turbo spins faster to overcome the restriction and create the desired boost in the manifold. If a blower car has a restriction, the user has to pulley it down to try to overcome that restriction. This creates more drive power loss and a lot of extra heat. A blower setup needs a very high-flow intercooler to make good power. Your best bet is to switch to a "vertical flow" or "top to bottom flow" intercooler. This style provides much more surface area for flow. A "horizontal" or "cross flow" intercooler is good for IATs, but has much less surface area for flow and therefore is much more restrictive.
If you go to the CXRacing.com web site and look at Part number IC0023 you can get a lot better idea on how the core of the intercooler looks.
Ok didn't see the pic before I hit submit. The core looks like ok construction, but it's just too small. Take a look at my intercooler, 0 psi drop. It's 4.5" thick and 27" wide. Bob can sell you this exact intercooler, but it isn't cheap.
If you look at the CFM rating on that intercooler (which is probably inflated to begin with), it flows 385 cfm with 1 psi restriction, and 635 cfm with 2 cfm. That restriction is not a linear curve, more exponential. So by the time you get to the 1700 CFM your blower flows, you are at an extremely high restriction.
Outside dimensions mean nothing. Think internal airflow area. Your internal airflow area is 12 x 4 = 48 sq inches.
Mine is 27 x 4.5 = 121.5 sq inches.
In addition, it looks like that core has 5/16 or 3/8" tall cooling rows, and only 1/4" tall pressure rows, further reducing the amount of internal air flow area.
Outside dimensions mean nothing. Think internal airflow area. Your internal airflow area is 12 x 4 = 48 sq inches.
Mine is 27 x 4.5 = 121.5 sq inches.
In addition, it looks like that core has 5/16 or 3/8" tall cooling rows, and only 1/4" tall pressure rows, further reducing the amount of internal air flow area.
On CX Racing web site they take this intercooler and put it on a flow bench designed for intercoolers.Check it out.
Steve, there is a problem here somewhere. Back when we had a ProCharger F-1A (prior to the F-1C we installed) on my '99 Camaro with my 408 engine, we had a 7.65 crank pulley and a 3.90 pulley on the head unit. We were seeing 18 to 20 psi of boost at somewhere around 6500 rpm. An F-1R requires a lot more power to drive it than an F-1A does, but it also produces more boost than an F-1A. Bob
__________________ ATI ProCharger and Moser Sales 260 672-2076
Steve, there is a problem here somewhere. Back when we had a ProCharger F-1A (prior to the F-1C we installed) on my '99 Camaro with my 408 engine, we had a 7.65 crank pulley and a 3.90 pulley on the head unit. We were seeing 18 to 20 psi of boost at somewhere around 6500 rpm. An F-1R requires a lot more power to drive it than an F-1A does, but it also produces more boost than an F-1A. Bob
I would like to be able to measure the boost going into the intercooler and then measure the boost coming out of the intercooler.If I remember right your shop car had the same size intercooler that I now have before you switched over to air to water.
I would like to be able to measure the boost going into the intercooler and then measure the boost coming out of the intercooler.If I remember right your shop car had the same size intercooler that I now have before you switched over to air to water.
That would be one of the first things to do.
Yes we did use the same intercooler on my Camaro. I know of two people though who have used this intercooler and had problems getting boost with them. It seems their quality control is not that good. One of the guys had a GTO and replaced the intercooler with a brand name one and picked up a boatload of boost. Bob
__________________ ATI ProCharger and Moser Sales 260 672-2076
Yes we did use the same intercooler on my Camaro. I know of two people though who have used this intercooler and had problems getting boost with them. It seems their quality control is not that good. One of the guys had a GTO and replaced the intercooler with a brand name one and picked up a boatload of boost. Bob
I have sent an e-mail to CX Racing who I bought the intercooler from to see if maybe I could send it back to them to put on the flow bench to check for any obstructions.Will let you know what I find out.
Yes we did use the same intercooler on my Camaro. I know of two people though who have used this intercooler and had problems getting boost with them. It seems their quality control is not that good. One of the guys had a GTO and replaced the intercooler with a brand name one and picked up a boatload of boost. Bob
Bob, Was the very me part number IC0023?If it was the very same intercooler then I might just take it off and switch it out.
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