Intercooler pipes

Draco · Post by **Draco** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 11:00 am

I got a intercooler yesterday, 600x400x76, its quite big, I spoke to vlade and Freddy but still wanna hear moore opinions, our turbo's are quite small so it will take alot from the turbo to fill a big cooler soforth, what size pipes from the turbo to cooler and to intake is the best option taking into consideration the volume the turbo needs to fill.

Daniel · Post by **Daniel** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 10:17 pm

60mm

but you could probably stick to 50mm if you wanted to, could just start getting restrictive at higher power levels i would think

Vlade · Post by **Vlade** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 5:28 pm

600x400 is big, bit it will do a nice job of cooling the air...

If I would redo my piping i'd keep my 63mm stainless hot pipes (pipe's from turbo), but upgrade to 76mm aluminum pipes on the cold side...

Draco · Post by **Draco** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 8:32 am

Hows the lag thing on your car Vlade, can't remember what you said....

WooHaa · Post by **WooHaa** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 8:41 am

Do you think it should be the opposite way around Vlade, about the pipes.
As heated air takes up more space, because of the faster moving molecules, should you not have bigger pipes on the hot side & smaller pipes on the cold side as the air is alot more dense, but taking alot less space?

I would think by fitting smaller pipes on the colder side, this will also help eliviate the lag a bit as the air has less area to fill.

Vlade · Post by **Vlade** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 8:42 am

Ummm not bad boost was normally strong at 3000rpm its now like 3200-3400rpm

Vlade · Post by **Vlade** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 8:46 am

WooHaa wrote:Do you think it should be the opposite way around Vlade, about the pipes.
As heated air takes up more space, because of the faster moving molecules, should you not have bigger pipes on the hot side & smaller pipes on the cold side as the air is alot more dense, but taking alot less space?

I would think by fitting smaller pipes on the colder side, this will also help eliviate the lag a bit as the air has less area to fill.

If you have a look at the top performance cars overseas they all do it the way i described or they fit 63 or 76 straight through... so there must be a reason for it.

I hear what you saying though

Gary57 · Post by **Gary57** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 8:47 am

The smaller the pipes the faster the air will travel. So if you worried about lag stick with stock 50mm. Are you sure you will be able to fit a 400mm high cooler in?? To me its a bit of a waste as the top of the cooler will not be in the fresh air, so not benefiting at all. 600x300x76 would of been more than enough.

@WooHaa, the reason for making the cold side bigger is you are creating a low pressure system in the intercooler, therefore the air molecules are further apart which makes for greater cooling.

Vlade · Post by **Vlade** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 8:55 am

I must add that my Intercooler's inlets are 76mm and the butterfly is also 76mm

I think if your pipes are too small in relation to the IC inlets that you might actually be creating a bottle neck in the IC, where the IC fills with the cooled air but can't be moved out quickly enough to the plunim, thus when gearchange happen you'll be dumping a mother load of air through your BOV...

Just another thought.

WooHaa · Post by **WooHaa** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 9:01 am

Gary57 wrote: @WooHaa, the reason for making the cold side bigger is you are creating a low pressure system in the intercooler, therefore the air molecules are further apart which makes for greater cooling.

Lower pressure, should mean the molecules are closer together & because they are closer together you can hold alot more in the same area.
Cooler air, is more dense & hot air is less. Hot air moves faster than cooler air.
That's how I understand it. If this is untrue, I'm gonna kill my science teacher

Draco · Post by **Draco** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 9:02 am

It fits with a bit of mods nothing major, according to articels on the net you only use the bottom 60% of the cooler in any way because air looks for the quickest and easiest way to flow, only with bigger turbos and intercoolers with the tank pipes in the middle do u use moore of the intercooler, whatever the case is, I paid for it and at the end it should work better than the standerd intercooler, everything has it's ups and downs.
As far as I understand the bigger volume u need to fill the more lag you gonna get because of the size turbo we are running, so then you use smaller pipes to lessen the volume reducing lag but again the faster air mooves and the moore compressed it is the hotter it is witch intern gives you a higher temp out, the best I think is to get something inbetween so I think 63mm in and out will benifit me the most.

Gary57 · Post by **Gary57** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 9:06 am

Low presure, think of it this way, If you go to the top of a mountain the air is thinner due to the lower pressure. If you compressure air you create a higher pressure and are forcing all the air molecules together.

Hot air will move faster because the molecules have more energy,heat energy.

Vlade · Post by **Vlade** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 9:08 am

Think I use only about 30% hehe as about 70% of it is concealed behind the bumper...

ChemCool · Post by **ChemCool** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 9:21 am

I am the first to admit, I dont know the answers. But I can tell you , you busy with big maths calculations. It is science and maths on its best. When you start reading about the math formulae for this IC application, you can understand members all have theire own theories. But I know we have to get the job done?

Gary57 · Post by **Gary57** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 9:23 am

There is only one set of formulars for this application. It is thermodynamics 101. There can only be one correct answer.