More intercooler testing

[Dave@ddmworks]

Another project we are back at is the intercooler development. We started back at it last weekend and wanted to get some baseline numbers on our test car. The test car has a DDMWorks intake, DDMworks prototype exhaust and tune on it while doing this testing along with a ported intake manifold.

We tested 2 cores and had some unexpected results.

The 2 cores that we tested were -

22" x 7" x 2.5"
24" x 6" x 2.5"

Both of them had cast end tanks, bar and plate design with aluminum charge tubes 2.25" in diameter used on both intercoolers for testing from the turbo outlet to the throttle body.

The dyno below shows the stock intercooler in blue
The 22 x 7 x 2.5 in green
The 24 x 6 x 2.5 in purple

We were a little amazed that the stock intercooler was holding up so well against the larger aluminum ones. So we tested how the different intercoolers flowed and found that the 22 x 7 x 2.5 flowed better then the stock intercooler, the 24 x 6 x 2.5 actually flowed worse then the stock intercooler. So we are going to do some more testing to see what is actually causing the loss of power we are seeing with those intercoollers. We are also having a custom intercooler made right now by the same company that makes the intercooler we use on the Solstice/Sky and will test that with the next batch of testing also.

 

[sx sonic]

That's a bit suprising, guess the factory really did their homework on the stock IC.

How'd the aftermarket ICs compare to stock after several runs, did they gain an advantage after heat soaking?

 

[Dave@ddmworks]

That's a bit suprising, guess the factory really did their homework on the stock IC.

How'd the aftermarket ICs compare to stock after several runs, did they gain an advantage after heat soaking?

When we were doing the testing on the intercoolers we would make a run, wait for the coolant temp to come back to our start point of 200 degrees, then do another run, coolant temp would go to 208 usually, then it would take about 15 seconds to get back to 200 and we would do another run. We usually ran about 5-6 runs on each setup to make sure we would get consistent numbers. During all of that testing we didn't see any problems with heatsoak on the stock intercooler.

 

[Kegsandeggs]

When we tested the cx racing kit, the shop air and fan were at 55* and the iat's were at 70*... Any problems with this?

 

[cndctrdj]

Have you tested any competitors intercooler? Not looking for results just asking

 

[Dave@ddmworks]

When we tested the cx racing kit, the shop air and fan were at 55* and the iat's were at 70*... Any problems with this?

Which IAT? The post intercooler temp or the IAT right after the filter?

 

[Dave@ddmworks]

Have you tested any competitors intercooler? Not looking for results just asking

I believe that the intercooler that we tested which has the same exact dimensions as the CX racing intercooler, is made by the same manufacturer, however we do not have proof of that. That intercooler had the same core dimensions, end tanks and mounting locations as the CX racing, however it was not purchased directly from CX racing.

The other intercooler we tested was bought from siliconeintakes.

The intercooler we have being made for us now is being made locally by the same manufacturer that makes all of our other intercoolers and have proven to be the best intercoolers we have tested on other cars, although definitely more expensive then the chinese built intercoolers.

 

[Preloader]

 

[SONIC1.4]

I'd rather have a more expensive high quality intercooler than Chinese made crap

 

[Kegsandeggs]

Which IAT? The post intercooler temp or the IAT right after the filter?

After cooled, but I think I fixed the issue... When you guys mounted yours, how close to the ac fins did you guy get? Also how much boost did you guys run on your tests? At 18lbs we lost 6hp and 30+tqu, but at 21/22lbs I got +9hp and 219tqu... So seems these are hight boost coolers

 

[Larrymer]

That's awesome that you're actually testing the product before selling something that performs worse. Big thumbs up for that.

After cooled,

This sounds more like pre IC and not post.

 

[Dave@ddmworks]

After cooled, but I think I fixed the issue... When you guys mounted yours, how close to the ac fins did you guy get? Also how much boost did you guys run on your tests? At 18lbs we lost 6hp and 30+tqu, but at 21/22lbs I got +9hp and 219tqu... So seems these are hight boost coolers

We are going to be testing another intercooler along with the other 2 this weekend and gather some more information on pressure loss across all of them, intake temps, etc to see what is going on with all of them.

Did you run those runs on another day and get the gain, also did you do back to back runs pre and post? Or was that just another day that you ran the intercooler on the dyno? The reason I am asking is that with a lot of dyno's it is very easy to see gains or losses when not doing back to back testing the same day with mods, especially on forced induction cars like the 1.4L.

 

[Kegsandeggs]

UPDATE! On testing the cx racing kit, so I finally did a boost leak test and it turns put on this particular kit, the hole for the boost leak sensor was drilled too big, so I swapped out the stock o-ring for a new fatter one and no more leaks. I do still have the 2/1 psi drop but that is expected. I will be kicking it to higher boost and re running for numbers soon.

 

[Preloader]

Your boost leak sensor was leaking boost?

 

[Kegsandeggs]

No, the hole the sensor goes in is slightly bigger than stock, so it needed a bigger o-ring. So I guess yes my boost sensor was leaking boost.

 

[Kegsandeggs]

We are going to be testing another intercooler along with the other 2 this weekend and gather some more information on pressure loss across all of them, intake temps, etc to see what is going on with all of them.

Did you run those runs on another day and get the gain, also did you do back to back runs pre and post? Or was that just another day that you ran the intercooler on the dyno? The reason I am asking is that with a lot of dyno's it is very easy to see gains or losses when not doing back to back testing the same day with mods, especially on forced induction cars like the 1.4L.

Our original line was done on oct. 15th, our new line was done 3 weeks ago... So a 65* difference. So with the boost leak fixed, we are re running to trifecta and seeing where I'm at now.

 

[wasteoffilm]

Your boost leak sensor was leaking boost?

That's called job security...