Intercooler

[locoloc]

My car is a 32 gtr...I have the stock intercooler still and have added apexi pod filters

But for some reason i'm not sure if the cooler is working effectively or not.

The reason I ask is because I cannot hear much spooling.

Is there a way of checking if the cooler is working right or get it cleaned or something...

Cheers

[EXXCOP]

What has spool sound got to do with intake temperatures?

[sh@un]

if you want to hear your turbos spooling, all you need to do if fit some big front pipes- then you almost can't hear anything else

p.s- yes, your intercooler is 'working'

[GeeTR]

Ha - vote #1 best question of "08!!

A IC is a glorified radiator, used to move temp energy out of a less viscous medium... intake charge air.

Gets some thermo couples and stick em pre and post IC to check yours is working ok.

I can assure you, it has no effect on spool noise

Edited January 13, 2008 by GeeTR

[Lil_Bobby_260]

go for a drive, fairly spirited. Then jump out and put a hand on each end tank. If your inlet side is a whole bunch colder than your turbo side, its working. As long as youre not loosing boost pressure, its fine.

[R31Nismoid]

Great start to '08

Cooler has nothing to do with spool/noise.

Its to do with cooling the intake charge, thats it.

[R33Turbo]

go for a drive, fairly spirited. Then jump out and put a hand on each end tank. If your inlet side is a whole bunch colder than your turbo side, its working. As long as youre not loosing boost pressure, its fine.

Doesn't do that for me on my GTT R34 side mount, its bloody hot on both sides...wats the go? mines broken aye?

[FATAZZ]

Doesn't do that for me on my GTT R34 side mount, its bloody hot on both sides...wats the go? mines broken aye?

probly,as i have done the same experiment on my car several times and can feel the difference dramaticly.

r32 with 34smic.

[paulr33]

youll probably find the issue with the SMIC is its location, not the core itself

if you can setup some good ducting to force air into the car (not just the hope for the best strategy) it might work better and drop temperature more

[R33Turbo]

oh alright...yer btw mine is a gtt r34 with a stock side mount...so where do i actually touch to be precise and compare? which 2 areas do i examine?

[Simon-S14]

a cooler has an Inlet and an Outlet... the inlet will always be hotter then the outlet, howevre with a SIMIC there is only so much core before heat satuaratio0n becomes an issue! meaning the core cannot lose anymore heat.

[FATAZZ]

touch both end tanks,thats what i do.

if you follow your pipes from the engine bay you see see which side is the hot side and which side should be the cool side.

[EXXCOP]

Sounds remarkably like checking tyre pressure by the tried and tested kick method ...

[Levi_]

If your intercooler is working, it should be hot. It's there to dissipate heat, so if the whole thing is warm, it's doing its job.

[skylinekid]

go for a drive, fairly spirited. Then jump out and put a hand on each end tank. If your inlet side is a whole bunch colder than your turbo side, its working. As long as youre not loosing boost pressure, its fine.

or even better if ur lucky enough to have one of those laser pointed surface temperature readers that would b handy to get an actual degree difference from the 2 end tanks

[GeeTR]

^^ Always wanted one of them.

Im still v.keen on learning where Loc got the impression IC's affected spool, not having a go, just interested

Edited January 13, 2008 by GeeTR

[locoloc]

Thanks for your responses...

I;m actually not fussed about the spoooling noise....I just assumed that that noise was being

generated through the air intake. And seeing as though I could not hear much I was worried that

the cooler was not working optimally...

The reason I was under the assumption that the spooling noise was generated from the cooler

is because it sounds like air being sucked in....so apologies for my silly asssumption.

cheers.

[Jmaac]

That is the induction noise going through your pod (yes air being sucked in) (noise is created by the restriction of filter, adding the two will half the restriction of the intake and thus noise)

There are heaps of ways to measure the efficiency of your cooler, start by measuring inlet and outlet temperatures as discussed above using a thermocouple or a pyrometer (that laser thingy:)

1 - (%final - initial)/initial = cooler efficiency

And yes they can be cleaned, do a search on here but im assuming you just pour some particular type of evaporative alcohol inside, swirl and poor out i.e. kero (heaps of black road grime should come out)

Actually if you think about it, the denser air charge (long story short) will cause the turbo to spin faster, air is inducted through the impellor at a faster rate so the pitch will change

Edited January 14, 2008 by Jmaac

[R338OY]

Clean the intercooler with carbie cleaner.

I did it to an R33 smic and got an extra 2psi. I was surprised.

Removing and cleaning the cooler is extra necessary if you haven't got a catch can- oil buildup inside the cooler reduces it's ability to transfer heat from the charge.

Get the gloves out!