Intercooler versus Radiator Efficiency

[Patrick]

I have attached a couple of photos of my turbo'd 240z. I used a Spearco Intercooler and a custom Aluminum Radiator. If you notice in the picture without the hood, the Intercooler and Oil Cooler almost completely block the Radiator. With the hood and spoiler on, the radiator has almost no directly exposed surface. I used a good electric fan with a custom shroud. The gap between the Intercooler and Rad was about 4 inches. This allowed the fan to pull cool air around the Intercooler at low speeds. This car was driven daily (and very hard -23lbs of boost) in the hot Florida sun and I never had any overheating problems.

I have a book on Turbo Charging (cant remember the name) that discusses surfaces areas for both the Intercooler and Radiators. I will try to find it and let you know. As far as the type of intercooler, let a pro help you choose the right one for your application: flow, pressure drop, and efficiency are all extremely important in choosing the correct intercooler.