Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Forced Induction intercooler vs. more boost

This is getting rediculous! To get 50psi, why don't you just get a 20mm throttle body?

How about twin turbos? Just hook the turbines up to the wheels. that way your speed would be dependent on rmps and you could get rid of the tranny all together. That would reduce weight too.

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.

More boost=more heat, more chance of it detonating and blowing up your engine. Exactly how much boost depends on your engine's compression ratio, gas octane, timing, etc...

Allows you to run more power cause the cooler air charge allows you to cram more air into a given volume at the same psi vs hot air. More air+more fuel=more power.

Too much boost = blown head gasket

I was toying with a Honda on my way to work last Friday...it sounded something like this:
squeel, vroom, whoosh, shift, squeel, vroom, whoosh, POP!, sputter, shake, puke, silence.

Good thing is I've gotten good at changing head gaskets. Took me about 4 hours to do the whole job .

Running at 21psi, I was just asking for trouble. It was way out of the stock turbo's effiency and was just super-heating the air. Turned it down to 18psi after the head gasket and it feels just as fast if not faster.

There really isn't a more effective way.

What do you think really?

Water injection? Its a bandaid mostly and the water takes up room in the combustion chamber that could be filled with air and fuel. Combustion temps are also down and that helps to a large degree for detonation but less temp means less power. It still doesn't really increase the density of the air charge that much either. Less power, but safer than stock.

Well I can always pull more timing...
well yes you can but that causes exhaust temps to go up which heat the compressor side more which causes you to pull more timing...etc. Vicious little circle and it LOSES power everytime you pull it. Whats the gain there? Better to run less boost and more timing for a more responsive, powerful and fuel efficient motor.


Here's the secret to power -> MAX air and FUEL!!!
That leaves you with only two options:
1.) raise the boost to force more in -> Good if you intercool it to keep charge density up and detonation down.
2.) raise the amount of air going in at the same pressure -> this basically means to open up the size of the intake passages and exhaust; raise displacement or a combination of all three.

#2 is the best way but costs the most. Much more than an $800+ intecooler system.

#1 is good if the efficiency range of the turbo is observed.

#1 and #2 is great if you observe all factors.

So how is $800 too expensive? With a turbo it can net you anywhere from 20 to 50 more HP! That is the best bang for the buck mod if you are already turbocharged. Hell, a good set of headers and exhaust on our cars MIGHT make 20-30HP or so... For about the same price if not more, + labor is more for the headers.

Ok, I've said my piece.

Tom