Neil Smalley

Just fitted the DIY intercooler splitter
as per this website

Stef

3-4%????????
You obviously have an acute mental gauge of your cars performance!

Stef.

Neil Smalley

Yeah I do. That's the difference in my car between yesterday(before splitter) and today(afterwards) It's similar weather and pressure today so it's a fair comparison. Suffice to say it's about the same difference you feel on a cold day and a normal day.

Either that or now there's SUL around I can drive faster not watching the fuel gauge all the time

Stef

Question:
Would this splitter interfere with or enhance the STi i/c water spray I've just fitted to CK1?
I know the chap in the tests mentions he has i/c spray but it doesn't say whether it's the standard one or a home-made jobbie.

Stef.

[This message has been edited by Stef (edited 17 September 2000).]

Neil Smalley

Dunno. They fit flush inside the scoop so they should be ok. Not sure about the screws though but they only stick out 2-3mm above the rubber ring that goes around the scoop cover. Mail the address on the above website and ask.

It seems to improve the overall urge throughout the rev range. This(to me) is noticable in 2nd and 3rd gears. As I say it's not much but I do notice a difference.

Hoppy

What a sweet mod! Less is more, and all that. I've mailed to get one.

On the link, I couldn't help notice the front brake ducting. I want some of that, too.

Hoppy

Alberick

Intercooler splitter availbe at :

GavinP

If you want to cool the intercooler even more, put three 120mm fans (£15 each from Maplin) on the underside of the unit.

This pulls cool air in at low speed and slows the "heat sink" effect when sitting in traffic.

Zerosports sell a fancy unit (see "Hard parts") but the Maplin gear will work very well.

Each fans uses less than 0.5amps so they can be wired to the cigarette lighter so they run whenever the ignition is on.

Not quite as cheap as the splitter but effective and complementary - imagine having both....

Thanks

Gavin

Stef

Surely the fans would block more air than they could pull through, at least when you need the air-flow the most? Any warm air build-up due to heat sink disappears as soon as you pull off again anyway.
Also, can someone explain how this splitter actually works?
I know it's supposed to direct some of the air to the front, but surely there's only a certain amount of air that can be 'scooped' by the scoop. The splitter doesn't increase this airflow does it? Also, the air has to leave through a single pipe anyway which doesn't differentiate whether the air comes from the front or rear of the i/c.
So, if there's a maximum airflow into the scoop, which isn't increased, and all the air leaves through the same hole anyway, what difference would putting a splitter on make?

Stef.

GavinP

Stef,

You're reasoning on the fans causing an obstruction is common but having tested it with a thermometer on the inlet temperature, I feel happy in saying that it is a misconception (for road use at least)

On a track, your theory would possibly be more likely - but I haven't tested it so I can't say either way.

The charge temp doesn't cool down drastically as soon as you start moving (it takes a little while) although heat rising through the fins obviously stops.

I would recommend to anyone fitting a thermometer at the intercooler outlet - it can be quite an eye-opener!

Thanks

Gavin

[This message has been edited by GavinP (edited 29 September 2000).]

Stef

Gavin.
At low speeds, heat sink doesn't hinder performance as you are going slowly anyway!
Therefore, what are the gains of fitting fans which surely don't help when travelling at speed as they can't pull the air through fast enough, and must resrict the airflow?
I can't believe that the temp is cooler at speed with the fans fitted than without them, and would be interested to see how this idea fares during hard driving.
Any techies know any definitive answers?

Stef.

GavinP

Stef,

The fans will reduce the heat build-up in the I/C so when in slow-moving traffic which then clears, the inlet temperature will be lower.

A factor in the inlet temperature is the parts under the bonnet retaining heat due to soak.

At high speed the fans do cause an obstruction but the effect is much lower than you would imagine...

As I said, I have tried this (I had the fans fitted for 8 weeks+) and the three fans pull 6600 litres of air per minute in almost static air. This will increase until you are moving fast enough to flow more air than the fans can handle - in my car, 80mph+. Another benefit is that air is spread evenly over the entire surface of the intercooler.

Depending on how you connect them, it should be fairly easy to fit/remove the fans to see the difference they make.

As I said before, if you get a chance, put a thermometer in to check the inlet temperature - all is not how it necessarily appears!

Thanks

Gavin

BladeRnnr

Cheers Neil,

Stef.......If you want to use water spray with a 'splitter' you would need to aquire a couple of extra nozzles to provide water to the rear of the unit.

As for myself , No i'm not using water spray.........YET . (But as you can see i have given the subject much thought...As Always!)

Alberick , the japanese unit looks good but i think i would stand by my design ......

regards
m.

Alberick

Hi Blade Runner,

It's easier to go in a shop and buy one. :-)
Anyway, I'm not very good at doing one by myself.
Anyway, did you also check the Zerosports Intercooler fan kit?

BladeRnnr

Alberick ,
the enemy is weight ........confusious say

" there is no point in having watch with a thousand uses if the batteries fit in a suitcase"

m.

DAZ 4

Neil,

Where did you purchase the splitter from ?

Was it in the UK ?

Neil Smalley

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by DAZ 4:
<B>Neil,

Where did you purchase the splitter from ?

Was it in the UK ?

[/quote]

From BladeRnner(Above). Check the URL at my first posting. I mailed the address and went on from there. Took less than a week to get to me but I may have hit lucky.

Neil

Alberick

Hi Blade,

Uh oh yeah, the enemy is weight........
A watch? weren't we talking about an Intercooler splitter here?
Well, just wanted to point out that there are other Impreza tuners out there than an X version of Scooby bla bla tuning....
Who gave this Supercar that ridiculous name anyway???

See you

Richard Gledhill

Stef

How (or rather why) it works:

At speed, the air flows in through the inlet, straight into the back and gets forced down through the rear 1/2 of the intercooler, just due to the forward compression of the air. The splitter 'grabs' the lower half of the air, forcing it through the front half of the intercooler, and leaving the remaining air to go through the rear half. You know it's working because you suddenly get more guillotined flies on the grille

I've got one too and it works quite nicely.

Cheers
Richard

Sam Elassar

oopz posted it twice

[This message has been edited by Sam Elassar (edited 01 October 2000).]

Sam Elassar

so does any one with water spray fitted have one of these ?

i am in the same position as stef ( ie just installed water spray ) and i would not mind fitting on of these if it would work with water spray. i don't see why it should not but then again may be it won't. so if there is anyone out there can you please come forward .
one of the links at the start of this post showed that for the best results they needed both

sam

RobJenks

Sam,
I am running the spray system with the splitter.
I don't think I am getting 100% coverage of the I/C with the spray as the nozzles 2No are on one side of the scoop - I actually Araldited them to the splitter.But there is an improvement non the less.

Craig H

Anyone noticed how much the bonnet seems to "bend" at v high speed with the splitter on?

Paulie

...i've been waiting for this thread (being lazy)...

i fitted my splitter to my UK MY98 last week (15 mins!) and I can definitely feel a difference (although it could be moving back to SUL after the fuel shenanigans)...

not noticed the bonnet bending yet.. at what speed?

one slight mod I would make is to use a fluoro-luminous devil sticker...

still, 25 ******* well spent...

p

JayDee

I just fitted mine , too, onto MY00 (DBM!).

Something makes a difference - definitely more oomf above 60 mph, and a measurable increase in fuel economy - about 10% on the last tankful, which is hard to believe I know.

Anyway I am well pleased with it

JD

(bleed valve next?)

AndrewC

I have not posted anything about my splitter (fitted about 5-6 weeks now) as I thought I'd just get flamed, however, my MY98 definitely feels more eager at higher revs/speed than prior to fitting.

Thanks again Michael!

Andrew...

Stef, have you posted any details about your experiences/views on the waterspray you've fitted? Is it the Labtronics controller?

Stef

Hmmmmm...nobody has yet given a viable explanation of how it works.
I know WHAT it does, I just want to know how performance is improved when the same amount of air is entering and leaving the i/c?

Regarding my waterspray, I bought a panel from an Sti at a breakers for £7 which fits under the bonnet. At present, it only works if I disconnect my windsreen washer pipe and plumb it into the i/c spray pipe. I also disconnect the wiper motors, so that when I push the washer button the i/c spray works but not the wipers!
I am considering the Labtronics unit, but may not even need the i/c spray soon.

Stef.

TelBoy

Dunno if this is relevant, but Scoobysport reckon the guy (Mr King?) who did most of the development work on the intercooler splitter came to the conclusion that the benefits are minimal. Are we sure there isn't a rash of placebo effects here, or has anybody actually proved that they do work??

Terry

RichS

Stef

I'm not a techie, but surely it's not just the volume of air passing through the i/c that affects it's performance?

The cooling effect of the air must be more important than the quantity.

If you spread the throughput of a fixed volume of air across the entire surface area of the inter-cooler it will have a greater cooling effect than if you blast it through only a section (the back half?) of the i/c.

It's all about the usable surface area of the i/c matrix.

Or am I talking bollox again?

Rich



[This message has been edited by RichS (edited 02 October 2000).]

Sam Elassar

hi Rob
so where did you position your nozzles ? and what splitter do you have ?my water spray is running great now but i have opted for the link water controller module instead. so i take it your labtronic module is working now. how are you getting on with it ?

i have not had time to do any testing yet regarding the water spray but theoretically it should work. all i need is to hook the link ecu to a laptop and then i can compare the data with the water spray on and off to see if it actually makes any difference. same thing could be done of course with the splitter.