seattle951

If he is driving in stop and go traffic, there is no turbo boost and the only difference the intercooler is making is not taking away from the efficiency of the radiator, right?

The particular SFR unit has been on my list of things to add. I was looking for a good recommendation before making the investment. I would be interested in more feedback.

ehall

Nope.

What Tom is saying is that he is not seeing an increase in radiator cooling temps, as a result of the placement of the IC. No more and no less.
At speed he is seeing an increase in power, due to the efficiency of the IC, however he is not seeing this increase at the cost of additional coolant temps.

PERIOD.

No more and no less.

It's a common perception, sometimes accurate and sometimes not, that the placement of a vastly larger IC, in front of other cooling devices, such as oil coolers, radiators and A/C condensors, blocks the air flow to the other components, compromising their respective functions and efficiencies.
In Tom's case, the IC, in it's current position, creates more power without any measurable loss of function or efficiency, of the other three components.


There is no more to his point.

V2Rocket

ohhh.

so the sfr unit is efficient enough to bring IAT down bigtime (yay power) yet does not provide a significant restriction to the radiator which keeps everything nice and chilly.


sounds like a well-designed product.

ehall

Exactly.

V2Rocket

Chris White

Whoa...a stock oil cooler? In a build like yours?

Please reconsider that - especailly it you ever track it! The stock oil cooler is not really good enough for a stock engine on the track - your beast would really cook the oil!

fast951

Stop and go traffic is a good test. However, you are not under boost to heat up the IC and you are not loading the cooling system by the extra heat generated by high engine load. A second good test will be a test with logged data under track conditions.

Tom M'Guinn

To clarify, I was only reporting that the car did not heat up in normal (harsh) street driving -- did not mean to suggest the car was running cooler as a result of the intercooler, just not hotter. I logged temps with the stock intercooler, and it did a pretty good job of bringing the boosted temps down, at least on the street with cruising time between WOT to overcome heat soak. Once I get sensor ports in the new pipes, I'll do some comparisons. I was not able to measure the pressure drop on the stock intercooler, but if the SFR is contributing to more power, I suspect that's the more likely source on my car.

SamGrant951

Im surprised that you still have a stock oil cooler as well. What are you seeing for oil temps currently?

Tom M'Guinn

No oil temp gauge for me yet. I have a drain plug sender somewhere -- maybe I'll hook it up...

V2Rocket

whats so wrong with it? or does the oil just get too hot under heavy load going through the turbo?

SamGrant951

I guess nothing if its doing its job and the car is just driven on the street. I know my 300hp turbo would hit 230ish in stop and go traffic, 190ish on the highway and 270+ on track. I put a front mount Setrab in it earlier this year and Im not sure if its even cracked 200 in traffic on a hot day, it sits much lower on the highway. Havent tracked it yet but am looking forward to seeing the difference. I have my sender in the return line banjo fitting in the pan.

V2Rocket

i wonder what kind of temps ill be seeing on my NA once i get the 951 cooler on there, it really needs it up here in the desert. even just cruising the highway in moderate traffic the coolant temp gets super hot which makes my oil pressure drop to like 3bar at 3000RPM which is scary...

333pg333

Also the size, depth, and coarseness of the i/c has a lot to do with it's efficiency and it's ability to flow through. I would guess that my temps in day to day driving have gone from on the first line to a mm over it with my fmic. The guy that did my one out here was very clear on the difference in quality / design of the core and how much of an effect that can have.
Tom, do you still run your a/c as well?

Tom M'Guinn

Yes, in fact on Friday during the long ugly drive, I actually used the a/c most of the time. I understand from Tim the core is Spearco.