[Phast SVX]

I was running about 60 C or 140 F intake temps with very high ambient temps, around 95 F. I'm sure this was knocked down a bit by the water injection. This was using my tec 2 intake temp sensor.

I am more concerned with when you were running before the TEC. You ran the car on 5lbs of boost with zero timing and only a RR. I have seen it myself, their is no timing for positive manifold pressure deinsity on the stock If i recall correctly, the car did not run correctly and detonated, or knocked( or maybe it was kastles kit). There was no doubt damage done at that point to the piston. Also, the Head gasket issue is consisnt with a hot spot situation, which occurs most often in relation to detonation or pre-det on one or more cylinders. I am not trying to be a poop, just saying what I have read.


I don't think anyone will get intake temps down to 100 degrees with 95 degree ambient temps no matter what your boost level. With an intercooler the boost the turbo sees is higher due to the backpressure caused by the intercooler. This must be considered in the equasion. So if you have 1 or 2 psi of loss across the intercooler this will need to be added to the turbo boost when calculating the temperture from its rated efficiency. That is why pressure drop across the intercooler, as well as heat transfer efficiency are both important factors to consider when picking an intercooler/turbo combination. Thus there is a break even boost level below which an intercooler is not really helping all that much.

You have the intercooler theory backwards. Yes, their is a pressure drop. The drop in pressure is due to the cooling of the air. Cooler air is more dense. Therefore. this is by no means a backpressure. You make power by having high density, not simply high pressure. 5psi of dense air will produce far more power then 7 psi of hotter air. If you have an internal gate you can turn your boost up to compensate for the pressure drop if it worries you that much, but you will have more power unless the turbo is large and on low boost pressures. We have small turbo’s, running ridiculous shaft rems. If you have an external gate, you can feed your pressure line to the intake manifold and not worry further.

You do not get a negative pressure field prior to the intercooler, and therefore cannot have backpressure against the impeller unless you have a 90 degree crush bent pipe directly after the impeller, or far too small of piping. The only time your intercooler is a restriction is if you have not properly measured and fitted to your application. Notice my intercooler core is thick, 3 ½ inches if I recall correctly with 2 ½ inch end tanks and ic piping. This is not an admirable trait, as the front 25% of the intercooler face does 75% of the cooling. However, I have a low boost pressure and am not worried about a large cross section, as long as I get a reasonable density increase and proper flow.