Non-Intercooled has more chance of detonation since the air going into the engine is hotter than on a intercooled setup. We're talking over 200F air temps going into your engine. Intercooled the air temps could be as low a 20F over ambient air temps.
So just upping the boost would be cheaper than getting an intercooler, you could only up it a few psi and dyno tune it to get the proper A/F and timing retard so the engine would survive.
On a stock Zetec you could only run around 8 psi non-interooled and even do that only with a properly tuned fuel and timing. Intercooled you could run up to 15 psi,I'm hoping anyway, and the air temps would be the same at 8psi all the way to 15. And you'll see more power at the same boost intercooled vs non intercooled.
Soon as I go to Streetflight, I'll let you know just how much a stock Zetec can take.
2000 Rio Red I4 Cougar
200whp & 210wtq at 9psi
254whp & 276wtq with NX 35shot
WRX TD04 Turbo, Cut Short Shifter, Strut Tower Bar, 17" ZN Wheels, Roush Springs, Starion Intercooler, NX 35 shot, HKS SS BOV, Full 3" exhaust,StreetFlight Chip
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