this is going to be a dumb question. if you dont get an intercooler for your turbo, what is the downside?

 

Back on Subject..... Turbo it. Ask turbo guys about it. They virtually all seem happy about it.

 

Potentially hotter intake charge or overheating the turbo itself if you're running it too hard. At 7psi the non intercooled T28's seem to be ok. Guess we'll find out in dead heat of summer how well it does then. My guess: it'll be fine.

 

The intercooler cools the air after it leaves the turbo but before it enters the throttle body. Same principle as a cold air intake. The colder air is even more important with a turbo setup because the turbo is built on to your exhaust and the air gets much hotter. The colder air also helps prevent pre-ingition because it's harder to combust.

 

Derp yeah. Forgot predetonation. Considering the limitations of the stock internals though...honestly, an IC is probably more functional in terms of "look, he's running a turbo" than actually providing necessary cooling. Unless you run absolute **** for fuel you'd most likely be ok sans intercooler and not running terribly high boost levels. Watch out for some fuel additives that can create knock problems however. (I can't remember the name of the stuff, but they use it in cold states for emissions purposes during the winter usually)