intercooler

[plopper]

gday, just wandering if intercooling your suzuki sierra helps the peformance of your car, like more torque or wateva, from what ive researched water to air intercoolers are the way to go.

[ofr57]

water to air inter coolers are great for forced induction motor's, i dont know how beneficial it would be for a sierra motor though

[Gwagensteve]

I assume you already have a turbo/supercharger then plopper?

Intercooling isn't actually intercooling at all, it's really aftercooling. Aftercoling refers to cooling air after it's been through a compressor and before it is used.

(intercooling acutally refers to cooling air between stages in a compressor or between two compressors, but everyne just uses the term intercooling now)

basically, when you compress air, it gets hotter. (put your finger over the end of a bicycle pump and pump it - you'll feel the air get hot)

Hotter air is less dense than cooler air. Less dense air carries less oxygen for the same volume, so it generates less power when it is burnt in the engine.

However, even very good intercoolers tend to leave the air entering the engine a bit warmer than ambient air, - maybe 10˚C - that's because the turbo/supercharger tends to make the air VERY hot, and it's nearly impossible to chill the air below ambient for any period of time.

If you don't already have a turbo/supercharger heating the incoming air, you don't need an intercooler as your inlet air will already be very close to ambient temperature.

Steve.

[11_evl]

And if you don't already have a turbo or supercharger, putting an intercooler in will make things worse, as the restriction of drawing in air thru the cooler will heat air and drop power