Just got my new blitz intercooler. It looks real nice but it is hard to believe it could be much better than stock. Both are tube and fin. The blitz is around 12 lbs.

blitz 14 tubes tall 10.5 " over all height
stk 25 tubes tall 11.5" " " "

blitz 23" tube length
stk 19.25" "

blitz tubes 5/16" tall
stk 3/16" tall

stk appears to have no fins in the tubes and the blitz does have fins and the craftmanship "looks" top notch

end tank volumes look about the same. I am very happy with the Blitz as far as how it looks I just wonder if it makes much of a difference. Any thopughts from anyone?

 

Most tube and fin intercoolers will suffer from efficiency losses at the hand of flow gains and the stocker especially will heatsoak extremely quickly from this configuration. That is demonstrated by watching a log of AITs using the stock intercooler even through just one pull. This problem is exasperated in vertical flow designs as the distance the pressurized air travels across the face of the intercooler is significantly reduced. You're then losing fin contact and thus heat dissipation (efficiency) both by internal design and core orientation. The only time a tube and fin or straight through internal fin bar and plate core might be the better choice would be when space constraints are very tight and the setup is maxing out the given turbocharger. You'd get the most possible flow despite the sacrifices in efficiency which would allow the turbo to reach a boost pressure target without pressure drop getting in the way on an undersized intercooler.

Tom