Lol, Just to be clear, my suggestion was not to run the stock IC without the diverter, my suggestion was for the guys that track their cars to remove them between sessions on the track to allow the heat to escape the end tanks. When it time to hit the track again, put the diverter back on and see if the heat soak recovery time quickens.
He wanted you to read his thoughts on IC's in general. Knows a lot about them, you could learn a thing or tow.
Tow what? Now, I completely agree with you, but there is a certain amount of irony there when there is a misspelling in a sentence about someone learning something...
Why would someone bother to waste their efforts in removing a diverter to increase an inefficient radiant heat transfer scenario, when they would be much better off at turning it into a convection transfer by simply propping a $10 box fan under the hood to draw a lot more heat out of the plumbing? It's going to be far more effective for the weekend warrior track rat. :idea: Anyone who is really serious about it, would be replumbing the intercooler into a front mount anyway, or go the way of a W2A to simply get to a steady state for their IATs.
I did read it and did learn a thing or "tow" (LOL) but I don't have an R56 and the front mount IC and top mount IC are two different animals in the way that they operate. I was hoping he had an apples to apples comparison of the different top mount systems that they tested. At this point, I'm trying to understand why the Forge IC seems to cool just as effectively as the stock one, even though the mounting is not optimal and doesn't have an air diverter other than the rubber seal around the edge. No matter how you look at it, it seems to go against the norm of what's been stated as the most important part of effective cooling and still does as good of a job as the stock unit with all of the OEM diverters.
Because not everyone who tracks their car can afford or even want to spend that type of money on a W2A system, especially if it's a daily driver. And using a box fan is a good idea, but wouldn't it be more effective if there wasn't a cover holding the heat in?
It'd be a bit better. But if you placed the fan right, the "better"-ness would simply be mental. You should consider taking some legit thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, and heat transfer courses... or at least taking a peek into some collegiate textbooks on those subjects.
Theres a better way to cool it down after running some laps on the track...Park it in the paddock and slap a bag of ice on the I/C... Done!
Good, then maybe you can explain to me what I'm missing concerning my previous question. Is it ONLY the fact that it has more surface area or is there more at play here? This is an honest question, not an attempt to be a smart a§§.
After talking with a bunch of people, and reading way too much on it, IMHO the FMIC is the best option for the track. W2A is better than a TMIC, but the FMIC maintains stable IAT's all day and recovers faster, there's no need to ice it (Or a TMIC for that matter) provided you have time between sessions. Just pop the hood, it'll recover fast. The W2A on the other hand, does great--for awhile, after which temps begin to climb, depending on the day. And it takes a long time to recover, unless you're exchanging the fluid--many people do this with ice/ice water, but it's something I don't really want to mess with. That, and the added complexity and potential things that can go wrong with it push me away from W2A. The FMIC is relatively simple, the only issue is finding space for it (and potential loss of boost). But the FMIC costs me my air conditioner, a sacrifice I'm willing to make, but many understandably aren't. I don't see people icing their TMIC after a session; they usually have enough time to recover. I do see people ice them BEFORE a session frequently.
Not sure what question you are referring to... but yes, heat transfer is a function of surface area and temperature differences. Wrt radiators and fins there is always a point at which you no longer get your money's worth in heat expenditure by increasing the surface area. Which is why most radiators are built to the dimensions they are.
FMIC is the best solution with the minimum amount of complexity like CCT says. However with the M45, the charger doesn't flow enough CFM to take advantage of one without killing boost pressure. The TVS-900 should be adequate at supplying the CFM, but SHOULD is a pretty big word especially when you figure altitude into the mix. Up here in Denver (5280 ft) my car (M45 + 15% pulley) sees around 12psi of peak boost, but at the Dragon (2000 ft) I was seeing 17psi... Add to that a FMIC setup thats going to eat @ 4psi that isn't dependent on altitude, and you can see the concern... At low altitude boost pressure would still be good, but when you start to climb in elevation and the boost pressure goes into the single digits? However, the intake air will be cooler and more dense than you can achieve with a top mount... With the TVS-900, the blower itself is capable of supplying over 20psi, so you are still going to be making power even at high altitude. With a bigger TVS like the 1320, it really opens up the CFM game, and you wouldn't need to rely on pressure as much, but it would still be there.
At high altitude, I'd go turbo. Thankfully I'm at sea level. Two more pieces for the intake and we'll see how the TVS 900 does with the FMIC. I'm hoping for 300WHP (may be too optimistic) with reasonable temps (shouldn't be a problem).
To answer some earlier questions, our work on the R53 FMIC was done at various times over a decade, and are not collated into one nice, neat report. The link I posted was for the R53 coolers as an example of the kind of tests and results we conduct on intercoolers. Oh, and cct1 is onto something with the W2A setup for the 53. We did some work on a car with the MINI Madness W2A cooler kit and the intake temps were very impressive. The car performed well (yes, you are seeing correctly, those are flying pigs: I've just spoken about a MINI Madness part that actually works and wasn't stolen from another vendor).
As usual, Eric is spot-on. The people that immediately dismiss stock as inherently bad are not doing themselves any favors.