Charge cooler
 

Hi All

On my Vx220 Turbo I have a charge cooler fitted to keep induction temps down and to allow higher boost, is there a charge cooler available for Scoobies and would it be effective.

i think tsl have plans
martin

Unless I'm missing something very obvious here - yes! It's fitted as standard and is the reason there's a scoop on the bonnet. There are various upgraded ones available too if you feel the need.

A charge cooler is fitted to late legacys, it is possible to fit one to an impreza but I dont know if the results would warrant it.

AndyC - I think your refering to the INTERcooler ;)

Mike

front mount is better than charge cooler?

does a FMIC not cause a lot of lag?

Sorry Mike, guess maybe I've made a prat of myself, then. Oops :rolleyes:

Does the VX220 turbo (nice car btw :cool: ) not have either?

The VX comes with an intercooler but as the engine is in the back it is hard to get enough airflow (the intercooler is side mounted), mine has been upgraded to 250bhp and 280 lbs torque so i had a charge cooler fitted so the ECU didn't keep backing off.

An FMIC on the VX220 would likely cause a bit of lag, for sure the pipe run lengths wouldn't be 'optimal' :) I know nothing of the chargecooler fitted to the VX - have you measured exit temps from it?

On an Impreza it is a very elegant solution for short WOT periods, but would require a fair bit of engineering to keeps temps down on extended track work.

Richard

My main reason for asking is that i have a quite heavily modded WRX and I am looking for ways to push the power even higher (I don't know that much about scoobies you see)


Here is the spec of mine and any suggestions of how to get more power would be appreciated as I bought the car in this state of tune


Engine: Fully rebulit and rebored +0.5 ,closed deck block,cosworth forged pistons, New oe crank,550 innjectors,fuel pressure regulator set to 3bar, mocal 25 row oil cooler, remote oil filter housing with cosworth filter,HKS mushroom filter,Turbo dynamics ND270 roller bearing turbo, full mongoose decat system, stainless steel manifolds,NGK7 plat plugs, swirl pot and secondary pump. Custom remap by Pavlo

Drivetrain:P1 5 speed gbox,sti 4.4 plated rear diff,P1 driveshafts, AP Organics clutch less than 2000 miles, cusco coilovers,cusco adjustable top mounts, AP racing four pots on the front, AP 304mm 6 groove vents on the front, EBC yellow pads, goodridge hoses, powerflex bushes and mounts, anti lift kit, bump steer mod.

On my VX the charge cooler doesn't seem to cause any additional lag and the radiator for it is front mounted, as I said in my previous post the reason I am asking is that I also have a modded scooby that i want more power from

think the accepted best charge cooling is a front mount.

if you want to stick to the top mount then you could fit intercooler spray to help reduce temps.

Do you have any recommendations about what is a very good FMIC for a 1995 WRX import and where i could get it from.

and Thanks to all for the help so far:)

Sean

Bletch - I assume the VX cooler is water-to-air. The radiator at the front is not a problem. In a normal Impreza cooler, it's air-to-air (meaning the actual air from the turbo must pass through the front mounted device) - fitting this at the front of a rear engined car (even as short as the VX :)) would introduce some form of performance reduction.

Andy.F achieved very impressive quarter mile results a year or so back running a home made water-to-air chargecooler on his Impreza. For sure though, you're probably better off with an FMIC on an Impreza.

Richard

A charge cooler tends to be a better option for road use, and certainly does not suffer from heat soak in the same way as a TMIC, and indeed has a better "cool resevoir" than a FMIC. Dragster boys tend to prefer Chargecoolers (despite the extra weight) as they tend to provide more consistant results (they are less subject to air temps etc). However, a chargecooler DOES add a lot of extra weight, and although water cooling is more efficient, ideally you still need a fairly large pair of radiators at the front to cool the water. In theory, a chargecooler is a better option as long as the cooling radiator is effective enough, and you can flow enough coolant, however the real problem is finding an efficient heat exchange that will fit the impreza. The legacy item is adequate for mild modification, but if you're going for big BHP you're going to need a much larger surface area within the exchanger. Which means you'll be looking at getting something fabricated. Which means ££££.
On an impreza, the FMIC runs really aren't long enough to represent much lag, and a good intercooler won't have much of a pressure drop, so it will most likely work out cheaper than devising and fabricating the entire chargecooler setup.

Saying that......it has been done :D