Compare: ICs

[Mafdark]

I haven’t had time to post in here so lets back up a bit

starting with this one here. Your close to being accurate but I must point out a few other points.

@1320-20V

I would say neither.

What is an inter cooler anyway? that should be your first question to yourself. An inter cooler is a heat exchanger, a device who’s science is based on fluid mechanics, and heat transfer.

Ideally you would want the intercooler to shed as much heat as possible while maintaining the inlet air temperature and airflow , and via math I will not make your head explode with, the intake charge will approach ambient under ideal conditions.

What makes a core superior to another is two things.

1. Turbulatorsno, the more correct term would be “internal surface area”

2. Pressure drop.

3…

4…

1. Turbulators are the fins INSIDE the intercooler. they create intentional turbulence. This makes sure that all of the charge air is tumbling so that it can make contact with the walls of the intercooler. If there were no turbulators, the air on the walls would remain there, and the air flowing thru the center would shed very little heat making the IC useless. Turbulence is critical.no, no, no, no. contact with the sides is critical, surface area is therefore critical, turbulence is NOT.

2. Pressure drop: the turbulators cause high shear stress in the fluid, so it does take some energy to push that thru the turbulent core. which in return creates more heat both from the turbo having more resistance to it and the turbulence it it self, no? Ok, I maybe its a nearly unnoticeable amount but the point that I am making is that simple physics can show us that your not using the best wording here. With a given cross sectional area, more turbulence causes better cooling, again, your close, but using completely the wrong terms. its surface area and the air’s contact patch with it. turbulance is airflow restriction any way that you look at it. but causes a higher pressure drop.bingo Therefore with dense turbulators you will need a slightly bigger core for the same pressure drop as a “cheapo” core, but your delta-T will be much higher. This is a good thing. A good thing to what extent? there is a point where the balance of temperature vs airflow will tip. Where is this line? in other words if I get 32* air going to my intake manifold but at the cost of having 1/2" charge piping is that beneficial?

I want to clarify before this next part. My core is NOT as efficient at cooling as more expensive cores such as garrett’s. However the recent reconstruction of my IC was to improve its airflow and shorten the charge piping by a matter of feet therefore increasing my spool time.

If i were you, I would spend my money on a high quality core, from Garrett, or Bell, or Precision. Im not sure about what is going on inside the precision, but it looks to be an engineered product.

A good rule of thumb: If the fins on the outside look like they have crappy manufacturing quality, so do the fins on the inside. Your core #1 looks to be of much higher quality than your core #2.
this is a bit curious, I specifically picked the pictures so that you can’t see the cores or fins in order to keep the discussion on the end tanks

And neither endtank design looks very good.
on to part II

Good luck!