Intake and turbo

[s14tilo]

Is there still an intake on a turbo applied car? I know there is an intake for the turbo, but can you have....a turbo and a cold air intake, or does the turbo take the place of the intake completely?

[534BC]

A turbo is an added component, It will not really eliminate any components.

An intake can be a manifold, pipe, filter, pipe before filter, opening, cold air, ect.

[Polygon]

Unless you want nasty crap destroying your turbo you had better have some sort of filter before the turbo. Here is how it is setup.

Filter - Turbo - Intercooler - Throttle Body - Intake Manifold - Combustion Chamber

If you don't have a intercooler then just remove it from the equation. However, you need to have an intake.

[s14tilo]

so the filter for the turbo is the only intake?

[Black Lotus]

Originally Posted by s14tilo

so the filter for the turbo is the only intake?

Yes, the only air drawn into the engine has to go thru the turbo, if that was your question. Turbos love to suck in cool air taken from the outside of the car. They also like low restriction filters and clever inlet ducting. It's very important to spend some design effort upstream of the turbo as they only like pushing air.

[s14tilo]

Ok, yeah, that answers my question. I am not around a lot of turbo applied cars. Thanks

[SaabJohan]

Air intake on the turbocharged Audi R8, this intake force air through the filter boxes


One of the two filter boxes which feed the turbos


Engine and one of the two turbochargers

[NewyorkKopter]

yea you need the intake because then where's the turbo gonna get the air to force into the engine. As for filtering that air, its a good idea because as Polygon said, you don't want any garbage in your turbo.

Here's a pic of the F40's engine, see how the black air boxes pull air from the outside air intake? the incoming air goes through the filter, then into the turbo where it is spun upward into the intercooler, and then into the engine

[s14tilo]

I know the turbo has an intake, I was just wondering if there was another one. The one that is on N/A cars, but there is not.

[LoJo]

that is correct case solved lol and with most cars that are daily drivers like the eclipse gsx or gst will usually have an intake within a foot from the actual turbo but as far as an intercooler i thought it was necessary if you had a turbo?

[2.2 Straight six]

no, you often get non-intercooled turbo engines, some of the RB series nissan engines weren't intercooled. lots of industrial/commercial/marine diesel engines run without an intercooler.

[UncleBob]

you don't "need" an intercooler....its just a question of tuning. Many SC don't have intercoolers either. But due to it, you have to lower the boost more than you would otherwise to compensate.

Engine tuning is a very complex issue, and intercoolers are just one aspect of it. Do you HAVE to have an intercooler? Definitely no. Does the turbo HAVE to be close to the intake? Not at all. Study remote turbo mounting if you want to see the extreme of that.

I have seen people run extremely insane boost numbers on pump gas with no intercooler...but they had very well setup tuning. Its all in the tuning. But if nothing else, intercoolers do increase HP WHEN they are sized properly. A badly sized intercooler, or badly placed intercooler can actually be quite counterproductive

[SaabJohan]

Most diesel engines today uses intercoolers. An intercooler can give lots of "free" power, and in the case of a diesel they also reduce NOx emissions.

To get a fast response and a godd low speed torque, the exhaust manifold design is very important. The volume between the exhaust ports and the turbine should be small.

[NewyorkKopter]

yea you don't absolutley have to have an intercooler. But if you don't have one, then you shouldn't really be using high boost pressures because remember that a turbo spins the air, compressing it and then sending it to the engine. And the more you compress air the hotter it gets, this is where an intercooler comes in, a properly sized one will lower the temperature of the air before it reaches the engine and while maintaining the pressure. Thats why most cars running over or near a bar of boost use intercoolers like the F40, whereas cars like the S7 Twin Turbo don't really need intercolers due to them using a relatively low boost pressure. The thing that never ceases to amaze me is how Saleen simply added two turbos running at 5.5 psi and gained nearly 200 hp.

[CBFryman]

Cold Air Intake pre turbo does little to nothing. a few degrees pre tubo doesnt make much of a difference when you tur nand cram that air into a small space, which it doenst like.