i have a ? about how intercoolers work. is it the same basic theroy with how a radiator works, like if your moving air is flowing through and keeping engine cool. but if your not moving the engine gets hot. so if you have a supercharger and your sitting still is the compressed air flowing through the intercooler, is it still going to be hot when it leaves the intercooler? i'm not to sure on this.

 

Assuming that the engine is idling when you say "sitting still", there will be some intake air flow through the 'cooler, and some cooling may still take place. This will depend on ambient air temperature and the temperature of the intake air after it passes through the blower. An intercooler is just a heat exchanger, and works most efficiently when both the intake/ambient air temperature differential and flow are high.

 

so pretty much standing idling in traffic at 200* isn't probably the best thing.

 

correct

 

Heat is generated when air is compressed, so when you are sitting still your power adder isn't really compressing much air, so the intercooler isn't being needed anyway. Bob

 

Even though there isnt any air moving through the intercooler core it still has an efficiency rating of about 20%.

 

i'm just more concerned that if i put on an ati procharger with 8psi of boost. and i'm idling in traffic because of traffic jams and all, is that gonna cause any problems for me. And i'm idling at 200* or somewhere there about. Like detonation or anything like that.

 

First, you won't have ANY boost at idle. From experience in Texas, when you are "sitting still" like in traffic, you engine isn't putting out anything like full power. So it won't be generating the heat like WOT will. It will stay as cool as if it had no power adder (whatever that is, 190°, 200°, etc.) because there is no boost heat at idle or just off idle. Where the IC comes into play is when you get into the throttle, the boost comes in and the boosted air temp starts to climb (and you are moving, not brake stalling). The IC will cool the intake charge just like the radiator does the engine coolant.

The short answer is: No, you won't have any problems. HTH

 

At idle, depending on where your IC is, you may have more problems cooling if the IC blocks any part of the radiator that might normally get airflow. Other than that, what they said above.

Jim

 

Ah, si, jes! Exactly so! My IC radiator was almost the size top-to-bottom and side-to-side as the engine radiator and didn't affect the idle temp enough to see. Not to worry. lol

Sorry, forgot to mention, at WOT for a significant time, the heat of the engine and the heat of the IC CAN affect your overall temp. But the airflow from the forward speed should more than overcome the problem if your radiators are properly sized. This is the only place where you might find a HD radiator for the engine useful. But only if it shows excessive temp climbs under those conditions. Usually it won't.

 

I mention that because it caused me issues before I modified the bumper with an air duct:



More because I chose the up n' down channel design where the tanks are top and bottom, and the top one blocks a decent chunk of radiator.

Very stable temps now, with 2 e-fans.

Jim

 

Just curios on the size SC you have because the intercooler core looks extreamly small and I would assume the Delta P is really high.

 

SC is Vortech V-2 SQ S-trim. That pic only shows less than 1/2 of the IC - core is 23"Wx6"Tx4.5"deep, with 34 downchannels. It has a very low pressure drop.

Internal flow area is: 34Channels X 4.5"depth X 3/8" channel width= 57.38 square inches.

IC is rated at 1089cfm with 1.5psi drop.

I am measuring IC efficiencies of around 84% since I put good ducting to the IC.

Jim

 

The intercooler sounds good with the 1.5lbs. The area you listed does not include the amount for turbulator fins. Does it have internal fin? Just curios I am working on an upgrade for PSJ and i have came up with two seperate designs utilizing our new tube. This tube does not have any inner fin. I set the first one up like our CS-000AE-01. The next one was stood up like what Delta T has shown. The two units are getting the newer tube we have. The two units are both 14.00"x30.00" the one with the vertical core has 44 tubes and has an area of about 30.00" (no fin). The two units will be thermal modeled early next week. I just wish there was a little more room in the T/A's to broaden the core and make it a little thinner. The core on the one we stood up is 7.75"x26.00"x4.055". BTW what car is that setup in?

 

Yes, I have inner turbulator fins. They are not the densest I've seen but are pretty dense. I have not found a good way to model the impact of the turbulators on the internal area... maybe just take my 75-85% of my number? This setup is in my sleeper 4DR 81 Malibu Sedan...

Jim