[454Casull]

Originally posted by YellowMaranello
Just a couple of questions on intercoolers. Answer any of them as you see fit. Also, if anyone has a picture of a cross-sectioned intercooler, it would help me out greatly, as I'm not exactly sure what an intercooler looks like on the inside and it would help me out greatly to understand the airflow through the intercooler itself.

1. Would an intercooler be more/as/less effective if it was like this, as opposed to the longer, traditional way?
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2. An intercooler is placed so the the air goes through it after it goes through the compressor section of the turbo (correct me if I'm wrong, please)? What if you put the intercooler as part of the turbo's intake, so that the air travelling from the compressor would have a more direct route to the cylinders, because it wouldn't having to go through the intercooler (because it already did)? Or, what if you put one before and after the turbo?

3. Not really a question, but looking for oppinons on it. Say we have a rear-engined, turbo'ed car. Now say that we want to use a MASSIVE intercooler, and the only place it will fit, is in the front of the car. The problem with that is, getting the air from the turbo in the back of the car, to the front and through the intercooler, and back to the back of the car. I think that it would tak too long to get the air back to the engine, and there would be WAAYYY too much turbo lag. This is where my #2 question comes into play. What if you used that setup? As is, the intake starts at the front of the car. So the air hits the intercooler before it hits the turbo... Would it work?

4. Intercoolers are generally flat. What about if they were made more cube-like? Would it be more effective? I think the F40 has more boxy intercoolers now that I think about it....

5. What if the 2 pipes that went into the intercooler (technical term?) were closer so the ends of it? like this (requires an intercooler like the one in my first question):
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6. Should question 5 work without too many disadvantages, then on a mid or rear engined car, then why not put a huge intercooler in the roof of the car?

An intercooler won't do anything upstream of the turbo, as the air is at ambient temp. Only after it is compressed does it need to be cooled.

With those setups that you drew, I think there would be way too much pressure drop, and low cooling efficiency.