[Presidio335xi]

Dinan says they reduce pressure drop by .7psi, the new ETS intercooler says 1psi , Helix says .5psi.

what is the end result?

[Ilma]

Originally Posted by Presidio335xi

Dinan says they reduce pressure drop by .7psi, the new ETS intercooler says 1psi , Helix says .5psi.

what is the end result?

In the end, your turbos spin a little slower to produce the same boost target since there is less restriction to airflow coming from the intercooler itself.

The heated air has to spend a little time in the intercooler tin order o tranfer it's heat. With a more efficient intercooler, less time is required to do so.

At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[335iheLLraiseR]

less boost, same power, last i heard.

[Proper Motion LLC]

The less pressure drop the better, (so long as it still cools the air efficiently)

You want the air velocity to stay as consistent as possible exiting the intercooler as it does entering the intercooler.

The higher the pressure drop, the more the air velocity has decreased.

[Presidio335xi]

Is the difference between .5 and 1psi then small enough to assume that cooling effect might be greater for the 1psi drop, so it makes up for the extra .5psi lost in the transition? therefore either system really nets the same gain (or close enough that a common man wound't know the difference).

I guess I am wondering if this ETS intercooler is 'as good' as say the AA, AMS or Helix. It is cheaper but obviously has good supporting evidence that it works, but it has the largest psi reduction.

[Kelvin1000]

All intercoolers have some pressure drops but I believe the better aftermarket ones have LESS than the stock unit... Plus all the other positives mentioned above.

[ryan@ActiveAutowerke]

The Active Autowerke Front Mount Intercooler has an 88% larger core than the stock intercooler. All incoming air is directed by the side air scoops so no air can escape from the side. Our tests show an air temp drop of close to 30° F in the intake manifold, with a gain of 12 usable rear wheel HP on a Mustang MD250 dynamometer. By the way, the ambient temperature in our shop measured a scorching 92°F during the session.



PM me if you have any questions.

[MarkE92]

Do you need a tune if you mount a aftermarket FMIC or can you also mount it on a standard 335i ?

Thanks in advance for the info

Mark

[ETS Michael]

eBay style core - less pressure drop / not very efficient. This intercooler will heat soak quickly. The fin design is straight through which results in the less pressure drop, but the charged air is not cooling/not getting constant fin contact.



ETS core - slightly higher pressure drop, very efficient. This intercooler has more internal fins and the fins are offset and staggered for better heat dissipation.

This is why you will see slightly higher pressure drop with our core, but a much more efficient design

You will also notice on the external side of the eBay style core, they use a silver paint / epoxy coating to prevent leaks. We offer an anodized core which means we have no coating on cores. We also pressure check each intercooler at 35psi+ before it leaves our facility.

Thanks!

Michael

[GTR-Dad]

The turbo compressor adds energy to the intake air stream which results in higher pressure and higher temperature. The primary purpose of an intercooler is to reduce the temperature of the intake charge. The end result is a cool, pressurized airstream. You can imagine that if the intercooler works, the air contracts as it passes through and therefore will have a lower velocity on the discharge side. You don't want leaks or flow disturbances.

Pressure drop is the price you need to pay to get air through the intercooler and the currency is exhaust back pressure. (It takes more work for the turbine to drive the compressor incrementally harder to make the pressure needed to push the air through the intercooler.) Increasing exhaust backpressure reduces power a bit, but 1/2 psi is not that big a deal IMO.

Evaluation of intercooler options should include the following, in order of importance.
1 - Efficiency. This tells you how much heat you can remove from the intake charge. Higher numbers are better and result in a cooler charge, more air molecules in the cylinder, ability to burn more fuel, more power.
2 - Pressure drop. For a given efficiency, less pressure drop is better. It demonstrates that the designer paid attention to the flow path and avoided sharp bends and transitions that result in distrubances.
As pointed out above, you can easily get a low pressure drop if you don't care too much about removing heat. (Imagine an 'intercooler' with no fins at all. Very little pressure drop, but....)
3 - Weight. For a given efficiency, lighter is better for obvious reasons.
4 - Volume. For a given efficiency, smaller is better because it takes less time to pressurize = less lag. For typical flow rates, this is a small issue, but you don't want a huge volume.

Hope this helps.

Dan