I just got my car tuned here in Japan (famous ECUTek tuner here) and the tuner was telling me my intake temp was about 15 degrees higher than other cars that he's been tuning. Ambient temp was around 90 degrees that day and my car was running anywhere from 113 to 131 degrees intake temps (4th gear). I don't want to point any fingers at intercooler manufactures but the tuner told me that the stock intercooler would probably run cooler than the intercooler I currently have. The tuner told me he had to decrease ign timing on my car about 3 degrees more since it kept switching to the low octane map when the temp rises too high. He loaded my car with maps from other cars that had similar mods as mine but they didn't work too well (knock). We spent about 8 hours on the dyno and at the end my car ended up being 333whp/368 torque (20 whp lower than other cars with similar mods)on a dyno pack.

I wanted to ask what other tuners were seeing for intake temps on back to back dyno runs. Mine started around 113 degrees for the first cool run and then all the way up to 131 degrees for runs after.

 

Have you seen the ARC intercooler yet ?

It's like 50% lighter than any IC out there .. and it has one of the lowest charge temps ..

Only problem with it is prolonged runs causes it to lose its efficiency compared to the bigger US intercoolers

PS Are you talking about post intercooler temp or just intake temp??

If it's post intercooler temps, then avg I see with ambient at 90 is around 100 using Nisei race core .. stock core shows 130+ and ARC shows 110 increasing to 120 by 5th dyno run ..

 

Keep in mind that the IC can only do so much no matter the design or size. That little turbo is running to MAX capacity over 5000 RPM ALL the time so obviously it's going to start cooking eggs. Upgrading the turbo will help tremendously in getting the IC temps down. Maybe even just a compressor wheel upgrade will be enough.

 

If one where to do this, what would be the downside? Loss in low end torque? On the up side, less loss in boost above 5K rpm? More hp? Thanks!

Later, Ken

 

how about the intake, could it be sucking hot air from the engine bay. Did the other cars also have a same design intake as yours? or did they have a box type intake. I think the IC is big enought to negate the heat difference. Unless the air going into the turbo is hotter due to being expose to more heat!

 

There could be many factors involved here, the starting temp at the intake could have an impact but assuming you have some fresh airflow reaching the filter that shouldn't be more than 10-20F difference and a good intercooler should overcome most differences.

If your BOV is leaking above a certain PSI, then the stock turbo would be worked even harder as the wastgate tells it to stay closed and spin as fast as it can trying to overcome the leak and reach the boost setpoint. I'm betting this is likely your case and would consider a Works BOV that is similar to stock operation but with a stronger spring, or a proven aftermarket one that recirculates.

The Intercooler efficiency from hotside to cold side will also play a role and can make up for a slightly overheating turbo that is pushed to the limits of flow within reason. Any aftermarket intercooler worth a salt shouldn't be worse than stock considering it's medium flow rate and tendancy to heat soak when boost levels are raised.

I would check for boost leaks, upgrade the BOV and lower the boost to 20 PSI and see if suddenly the charge temps are back to reasonable levels. Once you get it back to the temps you want then slowly inch up your boost to 23-24 psi and see what you get. Regardless of where you set your initial boost it will usually taper down to 18 Psi or so at redline unless you upgrade the actuator. I'm actually going to test a Forge Actuator this afternoon with before and after results.

 

I don't think the AGP intercooler will provide worse performance than a stock one. There's a couple of people running that intercooler and making loads of power so, I don't think this problem is being caused by the intercooler.

 

We ran the dyno more than 20 times that day and we tried with different intakes (stock box type and open types), different exhausts, cats, etc. The intakes made minimal changes to the charged air temp (sensor on the intake manifold).

He was explaining to me about how larger cores aren't always going to run cooler than smaller cores. He told me that the core itself looks effective but the shape of the tanks were poo. He mentioneed that more than likely air is only flowing thru about 50% of the core since the tank shapes were bad.

BTW, if any of you plan on getting the Kakimoto exhaust I have, don't cuz their a big POS too. We tried the exhaust they had on their demo EvoX and it gave me about 15whp more.

 

I will keep in an eye out to see if more people experience this problem with this intercooler, because I was thinking of getting it since it's one of the more affordable ones. With the exception of only a few the end tanks on most of the intercoolers for the X though look very similar.

 

I am not sure if you have seen the Perrin, but seems like a solid unit, and they have done their own testing and have all the dyno sheets and stuff.

 

The sad thing is I chose to buy this intercooler to support US companies and I wanted to show the Japanese some quality US parts. Since I live in Japan, I could've bought the ARC or Blitz for about $850, but I chose to pay $790 for this one (parts & shipping). I wasn't being cheap or anything, I just thought it would be cool to show off a big US intercooler but I guess it kinda back fired.

My car is probably one of the only EvoXs here in Japan with North American parts on it so lots of people were anxious to see my results after the tune. But now, I am too embarassed to post them on the Japanese EvoX sites.

 

So what boost levels were you trying to run on the stock turbo and were you using the stock BOV?

 

25psi from low RPMs, drops to 23psi at redline, and drops to 20psi at 7400 RPM.

And yes, stock BOV but so were the other Evos and there were no boost leaks.

 

Can I know what exhaust are they running?

 

Well i know in the SRT4 comunity AGP made the best IC. I would sugest calling them and see what they say. Also the SRT setup for the IC piping was different it came from the bottomg went to the side and into the IC, the over goes in over the top.

P.S. I wish i could buy ARC at that price