Like many of us I always complain about inlet temps due to the intercooler being in a some what restricted area (not front mounted).
When speaking to a engine builder he looked through the ear and explain how wind/air travels in straight lines and effectively half the air entering the ear (vent) in is going past the intercooler and certainly not hitting the I/C.
Me and Dave aka MDubs removed the ear, modified a aluminium sheet to direct the air that enters the ear to directly hit and trap all air onto the I/C. No air can pass the IC without going through it.
We also decided to cut a hole and fit a vent behind the I/C to hot allow air to escape
Results: Actually was surprised, not sure which method was most effective but together helps reduce temps by approx 20%
I assume the air flow directly onto the I/C makes the biggest difference
When testing on a morning run was getting approx 8 degrees over ambient when driving around 70-85mph. This was an improvement on what I normally get. Also the temp seems to fall much quicker after the boost comes in and heats the inlet up.
When testing on a hot afternoon I switched on and Inlet read 27C. I drove home on the motorway and the car was cursing around 32C which is normally more like 38-42C in hot weather so a decent enough improvement for little cost. The faster I drove the more temp will come down so arguably proves that directing the air flow directly on the Intercooler (both sides from the ear) seems to make a difference.
I will say that this mod doesn't help peak inlet temps when accelerating hard, I seemed to hit similar peak temps on hard throttle but once lifting off within 2-3 seconds the temp dropped immediately 6-8 degrees which without these mods would take much longer to fall.
Also when cruising on the motorway the inlet temp seem to be around 5-6C above ambient which again used to be around 20% higher.
Edited by scw02102, 08 June 2018 - 04:21 PM.
