Fair enough. Maybe he has a crappy kit? I realize that intercoolers are not what you would call a high maintenance item, but all I have to do to my Meth kit is put meth in the bottle every couple of weeks. I installed my own kit, so I have no leaks. I am very happy with the performance so far and I always watch my IAT's just to see the improvement. I can also switch over to water only when I run a race gas tune later, then switch back to meth only when on pump. Is it better than bigger intercoolers, probably not, but for the little money and time invested, it's worth it to me and recommend it to everyone that asks, that's all.

 

The few guys I know who have water/meth on supercharged/turbo's Chevy motors have been pleased with them as well. Some of them run them in lieu of intercoolers.

 

Marek
Dude, those are some serious looking ICs!

 

No, I absolutely think more efficient ICs will offer a benefit! Without question.

My issue, if there is an issue, is how to quantify 'better'. People say "A is better than B, and C is better that B"..or "I have an XYZ kit and run the C and it is fantastic" or "so and so has the B on their kits and they won't use anything else".

Point is there are automotive engineers that design and spec intercoolers... why is there essentially zero data on these aftermarket ICs, other than a few dyno runs on one vendors' site?

It seems one is stuck making their best guess as to who is better based on physically observable attributes, and their feelings about the vendor- and feedback from users, who unfortunately usually have not used multiple IC designs.

My gut tells me more efficient ICs will benefit any car, even stock! and agree that the effect becomes larger with higher ambient temps and larger ICs.

A

 

sorry, I misunderstood your previous post, it sounded like you didn't think they helped.

I agree, there is not much data. but I do think that with anything you need the right type and size for the job. If you get to large an IC for a lower hp application you will have more lag, just like a huge exhaust system may produce more top end power but the mid range and bottom end suffer from to much freeflow and not enough backpressure. So stock turbos, K16's aren't going to benefit from a $2k+ set of IC's like a big hybrid setup. But I wold also like to see some factual data provided by independent testers.

 

if intercoolers did not have a benefit in high hp cars,we would have stuck in stock ones...here in Greece where we do have high temperatures,at 15C degrees we measured two same k24/18g cars IAT...one(mine)with AP intercoolers and the other with GT2...on the second pass,there was a great difference in IAT between them...and the second car was slower...finally its up to you...

 

Subscribed...

At what HP level do people generally feel an upgrade past the GT2's is worth it? I'm in SoCal and occasionally track my car... Last time out I felt a very noticeable drop in power until I let the car cool down...

Also, are IC's "safer" for our motors given the heat kills cars in the long run? Assuming there's some benefit?

I'm running about 600 Crank HP fyi (in theory)... Considering next big jump to a hybrid kit or GT's to get me to a 700 kit...

 

It's no newsflash that bigger intercoolers will help everyone. People with k16's will likely never notice much improvement. People with Higher HP 18G's and GT30's and bigger will definitely notice the difference. Bigger IC's allow more air to be pushed in less restricted, thus having a lower pressure drop and also a larger surface area for cooling. It's a no brainer. The problem as everyone knows, is the cost effectiveness of said inprovement. I chose the Meth route as I don't road race or spend unusual amounts of time under boost. I watch my Brockway 1000 all the time just to watch my IAT's. I'm pretty happy with my decision, but still may buy IC's someday, when and if I get to that level.