I'm a drag racer and like 1/2 mile events too... I need to upgrade my intercoolers. I'm told there is an efficiency difference between most manufacturers intercoolers based on different kinds of racing. Since my car will never see a road course, I'd like some REAL world experience as to which intercoolers to go with between the most popular brands? Btw... car is an 2011 997.2 TTS.

 

neither. srm 4.5' with billet end tanks or the marston cores he has for major big bucks

 

Hmmm... I haven't heard of them. Tell me a bit about them please. Cost wise, are they compatible with above said brands? Wil they fit in factory location without modification or having to hack up the rear section of the car? I thought the AMS units were like 5.5" inlets with billet end tanks?

 

Take a look at what longboarder is running.

 

Pretty sure he's running Champion...

 

look up sillyrabbitmotorsport.com as with any larger i/c the ductwork has to be modified but thats about it. theres plenty of data on them from the 996tt forum regarding cooling effieciency and the cost is much less than either champion or ams

 

I would run the ams, and champion as a close second

 

Exactly.

 

I'm sure all the top intercoolers work great. I have certainly put the Champions through grueling real world track and airstrip events on my stock turbo 997.2. My vbox results across a lot of events fairly consistently show that my best acceleration comes from the middle (warmest part) of the day. It is certainly odd and may be based on other factors, but that's exactly what you want an intercooler to do, give you consistent results in all conditions. The consistency allows me to keep racing over and over and never need to cool my car down. I used to do cools downs including icing down the intake but after a few years of figuring this out I no longer even bother. In fact at the last NFZ Arizona event I attended with my 997.2 my meth was not working (nozzles clogged). It was scorching hot over 100 degrees F around 2pm no one was racing but maybe 3-4 cars and I decided to do some back to back runs with no cool down. Bizarrely, each run my mph improved for six runs in a row, and ended up being my top mph for the day. The event organizers handing out timeslips were tripping since the temps were really slowing everyone else down.

When it came to my 991 with upgraded turbos I needed an intercooler to handle both IATs AND flow. Interestingly, a forum member here who didnt want to be named and runs a competitor package had the champions tested against the others from a flow standpoint and the champions came out on top. I was not privy to such tests but this individual is well known here and I trust him. So again I went with the champions on the 991. Haven't done much testing on that car yet and boost is pretty mild at 1.7 bar currently but with good fuel I won't hesitate to turn it up.

 

Thanks for all the feedback guys, I appreciate it. Trying to decide if I should do exhaust or intercoolers first? Just getting info on which coolers seem to be best for my application? Both choices seem to be high on mosts lists.

 

In the end-game I know you will have both. But they equally hold you back form pushing the tuning. Generally start with exhaust. That way you go to Stage 2 and enjoy the sound as well. Then keep moving.Good luck bud!

 

I'm with longboarder, Champion would be my recommendation - which is ultimately what I also went with.

 

I spent a lot of time looking through datalogs, posts, dynos, etc on this subject. My conclusion was from what is readily available you can't go wrong with the AMS kit or the Champions. The 997.2 are a good options but have their limits especially in the durability department and flow. There are even more efficient options out there but the HP/$ ratio gets way steeper. I don't have data on this particular set but take a look at the ones Garrett released at SEMA. The Garrett cores have some of the best density availability in aftermarket. These would be like the Champions but thicker. I have plenty of data on my AMS if you ever need. Good luck.

 

Aren't the AMS intercoolers the largest of all the ones mentioned so far? I honestly don't know, just what I think I've read somewhere... I'd love to see data comparisons between all of them. I've even gotten a couple of people suggesting DO88's. I respect each opinion given so far, and I know some have run data, but it surprises me that it's split across the board so far! Again, I appreciate all the posts so far, I hope to keep them coming.

 

i've been doing this same back and forth for a few months , decisions decisions .. maybe you and i can get a 2 for 1 price break .