intercooler question on non-turbo

[SRV BOY]

I am deciding not to get a turbo for my car until next year, now keeping that in mind I know it would be pointless in the minds of many to buy an intercooler. I have a 95 prelude h22a, when the weather is hot the car lags pretty bad. I have a K&N intake, I know some would suggest to buy a cold air intake system to have the air intake right at the bumper. But remember i live in canada (rain & snow) i dont want to get a heat shield.
Would an intercooler somewhat help my car run better in the hot weather, and would i get some performance gains out of this? Has anyone ever installed an intercooler on a non-turbo/supercharged motor?

[GWInquisitor14]

I dont think it would help because u would loose a lot of the intake pressure. When you run a turbo with an intercooler, they recomend that u increase the boost just a little bit to compensate for this loose in pressure. You dont want to drop anywhere below your normal 14.7 psi atmospheric pressure

[Polygon]

On turbo-charged and super-charged cars the intercooler is more for reducing the risk of detonation than increasing power output. Increased power output is just a side benefit, and even then the gains are small. I think an intercooler would be useless on an N/A engine.

[Tranzlogic]

agreed ! GW and polygon pretty much covered what i would have said..... Why dont you just get an AEM CAI with the water by-pass ?? that will prevent you from injecting rain...and as far as snow..usually the filtration unit sits above youe undercovers anyways..in which case that would not be a problom

[SRV BOY]

ok thanks guys

[Drifter To Be]

hey curious...
but wouldn't a intercooler lessen ur power in a NA car??
since u got all that tubing the air has to go through before it gets to the engine... since i kno thats one of the benefits of TMI vs. FMI because TMI has less tubing so less lag... so does that mean it might actually screw up ur a/f mix if u run on NA?

[civickiller]

yes putting an IC on yoru car when its NA will hurt power and should not be done at all

[duplox]

So, you want to suck air in... then cool it with the same air? Won't work at all. The reason intercoolers work on turbo'd/super'd cars is because the compressor heats the air when it compresses it, so an intercooler is an attempt to reduce its temp back to normal temps. The only intercooler system that would work on a naturally aspirated car is either an air-air with CO2 sprayed onto the fins, or an air-cold water intercooler. Neither of which will give you more than 10hp. If you want more power, supercharge, turbocharge, or nitrous.