intercooler

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Jan 1, 2008 | 03:17 AM

raceman351W

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intercooler

okay so i have a 74 f-100 4x4, with a hi pro 390, T-18 trans, dana 20 transfer , dana 60 axles front and rear with lockers and 4.56 gears. now my question is has anyone ran the incoming air threw a intercooler before it enters the carb besides a boosted application. threw my school i can get all that tubing and sheet metal to form the "hat" for the carb and i can get a intercooler no problem. my only question is what would it do for me? yeah i know it will give me a cooler air charge but how much more power would it give me...i live up in oregon where it is really cold and in the summer gets hot (like 100+) and i love to go flog my truck. also does anyone have any custom made heavy duty bumpers..i am making my own and i would like to see some other peoples. thanks

Jan 1, 2008 | 05:16 AM

tjc transport

i ain't rite

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From: Marlboro Mental Hospital.

it will do nothing on a naturally aspirated engine.

just put a cold air intake on it.
by that i mean to plumb the air intake so it pulls air from in front of the the grill instead from under the hood.

Jan 1, 2008 | 01:45 PM

raceman351W

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yeah i was already going to make a cold air intake for it but just thought what a intercooler would. but thanks for the info.

Jan 1, 2008 | 02:34 PM

Talltruck

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From: SW Florida

An intercooler is designed to cool air that has been compressed, usually in a turbocharged application. Compressed air is heated due to the friction involved in the compression, and running it through an intercooler lowers the temperature considerably although rarely back to the ambient air temp. Normally aspirated motors don't compress the air, so the best you can do with a normally aspirated engine as TJC indicated is to provide a source of air to the motor from outside the under hood area.

One exception to this is if you were to run an intercooler on a normally aspirated motor and cool it to lower the temperature below the ambient air temperature by means of spraying it with nitrous or cooling it in ice water. Not sure how much of a gain you'd see, the main problem would be that the tuneup would have to be optomized to take advantage of the cooler inlet temp to see any benefit so you'd have to cool it all the time.

If I were going to involve nitrous I'd definetely spray the motor before I'd spray an intercooler, basically nitrous works like it does by cooling the charge.

Jan 1, 2008 | 02:41 PM

Drac

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From: Boyne Mich

An Intercooler is just a heat exchanger ( Radiator). If the the cold air kit draws in ambient Air Temperature at 70*F, this is also the same air that would be cooling the intercooler. The intercooler is not going to make the air passing through it colder than what is cooling it - 70*F.

When in a boost situation, the compressed air gets hotter from being compressed (maybe 100*F not really sure). Just feel the outlet pipe from an air compressor pump - hot. As air gets hotter it expands, so cooling it down to get more Air (oxygen) molecules in a given volume of air is the porpose of the intercooler.
I Think Chemistry books call it Ideal Gas Law ~ PV=nrt - Been awhile

I agree with TJC - It is not going to help. "Infact, it may hinder/ restrict the air flow as the air is not being pushed through it with increased pressure.

Shawn

Jan 1, 2008 | 04:48 PM

psquare7575

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From: MA

Do you know this guy?

No, just kidding.

Seriously, it won't do anything, except make one large restriction for air flow. . A *ram air* setup would be the best you could create, and even then they only do anything above 60-70MPH.

Jan 1, 2008 | 08:25 PM

jimlj

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From: where the deer and antelo

Like the others have said, it won't help. Unless you push the air through it, you will actually create restrictions that you don't wan't. Send me the intercooler and I can put it to good use.