by David Gentleman » Sun May 23, 2004 3:30 pm
The intercooler isnt that bad really, but there are a few mods you can do if your daring. I made a while ago a temperature probe system on my GTA which measured the inlet temps before and after the intercooler, so i could get some good reading. I tried two small Kenlowe fans strapped to the intercooler but they didnt make much difference as the GTA has no air flow really going through it, it mainly works on vacuum sucking the heat away at speed from the back of the car, which was more than the capacity of the fans. What I had to do was bin the massive rear exhaust silencer and fit a single exit exhaust and downpipe, low at the base of the car and heatwrapped. The original silencer sits just below the cavity that the intercooler sits it, and even though there is heat sheilding, it still heats it up. I then...cut out the section of the cavity behind the intercooler..so if you look at the back of the car through the intercooler you can see the engine. This now at speed lets lots of air flow up into the engine bay and the only way it can escape is through the intercooler. My tests at 15psi gave over 100 degrees before the intercooler and a max of 33 degrees after the intercooler which is a massive drop in charge temps.
I was thinking of getting this exhaust system produced but some people might not like the look of a single exit (is was a 5" slash cut mirrored silencer)...but it was the best for performance. It got rid of nearly all lag and sounds really good.