intercoolers (1 Viewer)

[Serius]

are intercoolers necessary for cooling hot air coming from a turbo or are they simply an added on performance boost as the cooler air means more air molecules packed into the engine = more hp

also whats the deal with engine detination? i have heard that intercoolers decrease the likelyhood of this happening, but how likely is it to happen if you had a turbo without an intercooler?, if not very likely i guess it answers the above question.

with the air intake, that doesnt get cooled? so there would be no point having an intercooler without a turbo?

sorry if i didnt use proper car fanatic terms i dont know much about cars and i am trying to clarify a few issues

 

[S13WPN]

are intercoolers necessary for cooling hot air coming from a turbo or are they simply an added on performance boost as the cooler air means more air molecules packed into the engine = more hp

also whats the deal with engine detination? i have heard that intercoolers decrease the likelyhood of this happening, but how likely is it to happen if you had a turbo without an intercooler?, if not very likely i guess it answers the above question.

with the air intake, that doesnt get cooled? so there would be no point having an intercooler without a turbo?

sorry if i didnt use proper car fanatic terms i dont know much about cars and i am trying to clarify a few issues

check out this site man http://auto.howstuffworks.com/turbo7.htm it explains it pretty well.

if u can afford to buy & run a turbo why not get an intercooler when its gonna give more power and keep it running smoothly. and yeh i wouldnt be putting an intercooler on a NA car... rice kw would skyrocket

 

[Serius]

whats aNA car?

that site sorta explains it, but it doesnt really go into depth.

so theortically, not because of money or anything but you get a turbo and dont get a intercooler, then thats all good? like your engine wont overheat, or blow up or anything?


it was just one of my friends had an arguement with me over them, where as i said i thought the primary purpose of intercoolers was to cool the air going into the engine, where as he thought it was to keep temp down in components of the car such as the engine,
i felt an intercooler was to get more air molecules into the engine which is an increase of power.
so logically the discussion went into turbos, and i was on shaky ground because i felt that logically an intercooler wouldnt be necessary[ being the key word] to run a turbo as i saw the main purpose of the intercooler is to cool air going into the engine.

we then argued about what cars have turbos without intercoolers which i couldnt think of... then we argued over seen as he thought an intercooler was to cool parts of the car like the engine, then every car would have to have one to stop an engine overheating.
seen as most cars just have radiators i felt that that shows that intercoolers are simply an aftermarket, performance-adding device designed to increase hp by cooling air entering the engine, and is most effectively used when cooling the hot air coming from the turbo

 

[braad]

whats aNA car?

that site sorta explains it, but it doesnt really go into depth.

so theortically, not because of money or anything but you get a turbo and dont get a intercooler, then thats all good? like your engine wont overheat, or blow up or anything?


it was just one of my friends had an arguement with me over them, where as i said i thought the primary purpose of intercoolers was to cool the air going into the engine, where as he thought it was to keep temp down in components of the car such as the engine,
i felt an intercooler was to get more air molecules into the engine which is an increase of power.
so logically the discussion went into turbos, and i was on shaky ground because i felt that logically an intercooler wouldnt be necessary[ being the key word] to run a turbo as i saw the main purpose of the intercooler is to cool air going into the engine.

we then argued about what cars have turbos without intercoolers which i couldnt think of... then we argued over seen as he thought an intercooler was to cool parts of the car like the engine, then every car would have to have one to stop an engine overheating.
seen as most cars just have radiators i felt that that shows that intercoolers are simply an aftermarket, performance-adding device designed to increase hp by cooling air entering the engine, and is most effectively used when cooling the hot air coming from the turbo

radiators and intercoolers are different things, intercooler, as said, cools the hot air (from a turbo or supercharger) before it enters the engine. Because (as the diagram showed) the air going to the turbo comes from the exhaust, it's hot, very hot, so if it ran that air back into the engine it'd just get hotter, increase detonation, end up killing the motor. So people generally run one of two types of intercooler (air to air, and water to air) on turboed or supercharged motors.

radiator cools fluid which runs through the engine block to keep that cool.

you're both right (you and your mate) because cooling the air increases performance (denser air) and also helps the engine run cooler. therefore stopping detonation. detonation is when theres a heat build up in the cylinder chamber, read this (might as well, it's better put than my explanation) -

"WHAT IS DETONATION?

Detonation (also called "spark knock") is an erratic form of combustion that can cause head gasket failure as well as other engine damage. Detonation occurs when excessive heat and pressure in the combustion chamber cause the air/fuel mixture to autoignite. This produces multiple flame fronts within the combustion chamber instead of a single flame kernel. When these multiple flames collide, they do so with explosive force that produces a sudden rise in cylinder pressure accompanied by a sharp metallic pinging or knocking noise. The hammer-like shock waves created by detonation subject the head gasket, piston, rings, spark plug and rod bearings to severe overloading.

Mild or occasional detonation can occur in almost any engine and usually causes no harm. But prolonged or heavy detonation can be very damaging. So if you hear knocking or pinging when accelerating or lugging your engine, you probably have a detonation problem."

hope that explains it for you

an 'NA" car is a Naturally aspirated, as in a non-turbo/non-supercharged car. Due to the fact that the air isnt being forced in by a force other than a natural one (such as driving, compared to a turbo or supercharger which basically forces more air in)

 

[Serius]

thanks s13wpn znd braad, your explanations were really good, i think i understand the issues more clearly now.

naturally asiprated eh? makes sense

 

[S13WPN]

lol no worries mate, i didnt really explain much

 

[braad]

lol no worries mate, i didnt really explain much

lol, same...well sorta.

i just hope what i said wasnt confusing, as i seem to confuse people with advice more than i help them.

if it helped, no worries

 

[SlipStream]

Just skimming over some of the replies, braad looked to cover it pretty well.

Here's my input, sorry if I'm repeating anything braad said.

Just skimming the surface, if we go into detail then it becomes complex and confusing:

+ Intercoolers are a MUST on any serious high-boost turbo installation
> A turbo can only run without an IC
+ They work by cooling the induction air - when you compress air, it becomes hot
> Cooler air has a greater oxygen density than hotter air, and the more oxygen the more combustible the fuel/air mixture is
> By reducing intake temperatures, you're reducing the likelihood of detonation (which can cause a lot of expensive damage to your engine after a while)
> However, if you put your hand in front of a flow from an intercooler you'd burn yourself. It's a common misconception that intercoolers reduce intake temps to that of air conditioning
+ There are 2 types of intercooler
> Water-to-air intercooler: the core is surrounded by a water jacket that removes the heat in the air, much like the radiator that cools your engine (although it's around the other way: the air is removing the heat)
> Air-to-air: the most common variant, air is passed through small fins in the core to remove the heat
+ Intercoolers can be front mounted (FMIC) which is most common, or top mounted (TMIC) which is less common, but easy to package and cheaper. They can also be V-mounted, which is hard to explain but the radiator and intercooler are designed in a fashion that air flow is more effective, increasing the efficiency of both (V-mounting intercoolers is very expensive, but you can tell someone is serious if they have a V-mount)

Just to clear some of your stuff up
+ Intercoolers aren't intended to cool the internal or external components of the engine
+ Yes there would be no point having an intercooler without a turbo, don't say that to any car people because such an idea is basically absurd

If you have anymore Qs, fire away.

 

[cb205]

I'm probably repeating people too, but here's it in a nutshell.
An intercooler cools the the intake air (air going into the combustion chamber) either before of after it goes through the turbo, depending on whether it is upstream or downstream from the turbo.
(because the turbo is driven off the exhaust manifold it gets very hot)
The main point of having cooler air, is
Its denser>takes up less space>more can be packed into the combustion chamber.

And yes, it helps avoid detonation.

If you have an interest in diesel 4WD's, you'll notice that practically all of them are turbo (one reason for this thay most people dont think about it is emission laws, but thats off topic) and almost all are turbo-intercooled because it is much more beneficial to engine performance if a turbo and intercooler are paired together.

That's the VERY basics, if you want more info, email or PM
cheers
steve

 

[Jiga]

Lol you revive a thread over 1 years old to repeat whats already been said

 

[cb205]

Lol you revive a thread over 1 years old to repeat whats already been said

Yeah, I was very bored @ the time.