Having read on IWOC somewhere about a guy who fitted a splitter to his scoop I took a peek at my intercooler.

Sure enough, only the top 3rd is dusty i.e. used !

When you look at the aerodynamics of the scoop it's not hard to see why.

Since a common gimmick is to fit a water spray for the intercooler, wouldn't it make more sense to modify the scoop so that the oncoming air is blasted onto 100% of it's surface ?

Surely this has to be more efficient ?

Anyone tried/failed/no difference ?

 

HI

Yes sir I see what you mean, looked at it
so many times but never gave it a thought
the top THIRD of the inter cooler is clearly
more dusty looking than the rest.

Living in a country in which there is more dust than rain and fog in England ,it does
not take long to get a two tone black & white inter cooler. How ever the question remains as to what can we do about it?

As an owner of a car that is still under
running in mileage I have to give consideration towards voiding my warranty

ANY SUGGESTIONS

THANKS

 

I am going to put some sheet metal (or maybe fibreglass who knows) horizontally and bend it back in a nice curve.

This should give me 2 things..

The smooth curve should be far better than the design of the scoop - have a look at the rear where the air hits - its all lumpy and doesn't look like it directs the air down much.

The incoming air will be split into 2 (or maybe 3 sections if i have time) which will be directed to different parts of the cooler. This means that I'll be using as near to 100% of the cooler as possible.

Thats a good place to start before adding a spray me thinks.

 

Look at http://www.iwoc.freeserve.co.uk/iwocmods.html and find many more tips & tricks (including this one)

Eran.

 

Dukas, thats where I got it from !

The real question that I had though..is it worthwhile ? Has anyone tried and found gains ?

 

Is the change in colour not just due to the heavier dust particles which don't slow down as much on entering the scoop ?

 

Lee, I guess you mean my posts to IWOC about the mods I've made to the Intercooler?

I made mine up from some 1.5mm Alluminium sheet. I started by removing the under bonnet cover, and then making up cardboard templates untill I was happy with the overall size and shape.

When things calm down at work, or when I get to grips with my sister's CAD package (nasty cheap thing) I'll draw up a template, but don't hold your breath!

I'm not really sure if its made any performance difference yet, but air is definately being diverted to the front of the intercooler now, judging by the bent fins!

 

I'd have to agree with 'Westfield' here. All you are probably doing is diverting stones/dust to the front. The air is almost certainly a fairly constant density over the width of the intercooler even as standard. What you are seeing with dust/stone marks at the back only is an effect employed to the good in a Dyson vacuum cleaner That is, if you move air round a corner, particulate material in it tries to go in a straight line and end up on the outside of the bend.
I'd be very surprised if this gives a performance increase, or even a measurable decrease in post-intercooler air temp.

Sorry to be a killjoy

Andrew