Intercooler size

[clivegto]

How big (or minimum size) does a intercooler for say a oil boiler 1216cc with tdo4L turbo have to be for it to be efficient ? 

[clivegto]

Dear admin I meant to post this in the forced induction page. 

[Gixer1460]

More info required, like what boost, what intake temp desired, what ambient temp, pressure loss across the core, core efficiency? Generally try an fit as big as feasible / possible as it'll never be TOO efficient!

[colinworth79]

Clive I would avoid dual pass ones and  fit as big as possible 

[clivegto]

Reason I ask is I heard you could damage flow by fitting one to big. 

Am assuming even a small intercooler is better than none at all. 

Edited December 16, 2021 by clivegto

[no class]

there is a good read on intercoolers in the “ maximum boost” book from Corky Bell……

[Arttu]

I don't think you can have too big intercooler. There isn't any logical reason why a bigger one would flow or cool worse than a smaller one. One could argue that bigger volume increases lag or makes throttle response worse but I don't buy even that. If we are talking about any reasonable sized cooler (not like a fridge) the volume is pretty small compared to air flow that goes through it per second.

Basically an intercooler has two important performance parameters: cooling capacity and flow restriction / pressure drop. These are interchangeable to some degree meaning that for the same size you can have better cooling at cost of increased restriction or other way around. From cooling standpoint anything is better than nothing. So even a small cooler helps but only if it doesn't cause too much pressure drop.

As real life example here is one cooler setup that I have some data about. This one dropped air temps roughly from 100°C to 50°C at 1 bar boost and 200hp power level. Unfortunately pressure drop wasn't measured.

[clivegto]

Thank you @Arttu