Wouldn't you think...

That the manufacturers of intercooler kits for this car would save pipes and horsepower by making a short route intercooler kit. I know its skeptical but i just wanted a second opinion on the subject.

Here is the cooler i had in mind...

au-ic0005_23x11x3_v3-1.jpg
 
Trust me, i am looking forward to doing so, but i gotta start saving some money. I'll consider this a summer to-do project.
 
I like the top - bottom intercoolers. They flow much better. But you may want to try them with the inlet and outlet on opposite sides. You will get a much better flow distribution of the core that way.
 
well, i would have the hot air come in through the bottom inlet, seeing as hot air rises, and the top going right to the TB. Well that's the basic idea, anyway.
 
That intercooler pictured above doesn't likely cool nearly as well as the conventional type.

The air going through it spends less time in the fin area, and air has the ability to go right in the inlet, right across the fins, and the right back out. Very little air probably makes it to the distal end of the core. Hardly a recipe for increased efficiency, as far as I can tell....
 
that b**** looks smaller than the TMIC, even if it cools more efficiently it will still be a restriction. I would be careful with cheap no name part like that with this car as well, it seems to be a fragile platform.
 
Well, i plan on getting a air temp gauge for the cold side pipe as well. As for efficiency, i don't think it would be a restriction, seeing as the air has to travel through the whole lower end-tank before it hits the curve and travels through the core. I don't plan on using a no name inter-cooler as well, i was just showing the type i want to use. BTW, Have you seen some rsx''s? They commonly use this inter-cooler type and produce high numbers.

pb_rsx_turbo_kit.jpg
 
That intercooler pictured above doesn't likely cool nearly as well as the conventional type.

The air going through it spends less time in the fin area, and air has the ability to go right in the inlet, right across the fins, and the right back out. Very little air probably makes it to the distal end of the core. Hardly a recipe for increased efficiency, as far as I can tell....

False. Intercoolers with a greater number of shorter runners are more efficient than coolers with fewer longer runners. Assuming that the surface area is the same, cooling would be near identical, but the intercooler pictured could do it with less pressure loss.

Usually, these types of intercoolers have an internal baffle to direct a portion of the air evenly through the entire intercooler, but it's worth asking.
 
False. Intercoolers with a greater number of shorter runners are more efficient than coolers with fewer longer runners. Assuming that the surface area is the same, cooling would be near identical, but the intercooler pictured could do it with less pressure loss.

Usually, these types of intercoolers have an internal baffle to direct a portion of the air evenly through the entire intercooler, but it's worth asking.

Well, that's what armchair engineering gets me. :p

I stand corrected.
 
False. Intercoolers with a greater number of shorter runners are more efficient than coolers with fewer longer runners. Assuming that the surface area is the same, cooling would be near identical, but the intercooler pictured could do it with less pressure loss.

Usually, these types of intercoolers have an internal baffle to direct a portion of the air evenly through the entire intercooler, but it's worth asking.

Yea you are right. Instead of a baffle you could just flip one endtank to the other side like I was saying earlier. This way all the air has the same length to travel to get from the inlet to the outlet. That should better distribute the air accross the intercooler. Like this:

G_Pop_IC_AA2.jpg


Other wise you can get syphoning action like this:

ic001k.JPG


If you do this and have a baffle with a top bottom intercooler you will have very well distributed air.

It seems most MS3 intercooler piping is plumbed from both sides anyways.

Some good reading on intercoolers:

http://dvdtfab.com/intercoolertestlab.pdf

http://www.are.com.au/techtalk/intecoolersMR.htm

BTW: Top-bottom intercooler > Side-side intercoolers.
 
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