Most liked posts in thread: New R53 A2A Intercooler from DoS

Ugh! This morning is packed for me, but I have some answers.

The third graph is indeed fair. It was one of the later sessions of the day, the track temps were as warm or warmer than when the GP testing was done, and I was not able to go as balls out as I would have liked due to more traffic as the day progressed. = not a lot of open straightaway in "clean" air. It's the best we could do based on the run group. Be as critical as you like, but we stand by the graph.

No sir. The IC unit is painted.

Thanks for the additional selling point. It is appreciated.

I had a separate hood mounted OEM duct w/foam seal with the different foam layout than the stock for the DoS unit. I used the same duct for the stock & GP, I just tore out and moved the foam for the GP testing.

I wish that I had detailed pics of all this, but with only 30 minutes between sessions (including a driver meeting after each session), time was at a premium.

The starting intake temp is good to note, but it's not as important as noting that all of the IC's initially cool as the to similar levels as the sessions begin and then develop prominent variances as the session progresses.

I have RPM overlays, but:

1) They make a multi-variable dataset even more heavy.
2) The line I'm using for the RPM signal still has some "noise", so the RPM curves have a tendency to dominate the graphs due to some point scatter.

Business is hectic right now, but shoot me an email and I'll try to get the same graphs with RPM curves off to you next week.

-Clint

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mini'mon
The third graph is indeed fair. It was one of the later sessions of the day, the track temps were as warm or warmer than when the GP testing was done, and I was not able to go as balls out as I would have liked due to more traffic as the day progressed. = not a lot of open straightaway in "clean" air. It's the best we could do based on the run group. Be as critical as you like, but we stand by the graph.
Not trying to bust anyone's balls, I just like controlled experiments where the only variable is the item under study. I certainly understand your constraints testing at an HPDE.

No sir. The IC unit is painted.
So, what is your expectation of any thermal performance delta with the dispersant ?

Thanks for the additional selling point. It is appreciated.
Sure, Happy to help! I believe you have a good product, I like performance parts that actually have value and function.

I had a separate hood mounted OEM duct w/foam seal with the different foam layout than the stock for the DoS unit. I used the same duct for the stock & GP, I just tore out and moved the foam for the GP testing.

I wish that I had detailed pics of all this, but with only 30 minutes between sessions (including a driver meeting after each session), time was at a premium.A picture is worth a bazillion words or something like that......again, I realize your constraints, 'time' this go round.

-Clint

Besides being a great protective coating, thermal dispersant (TD) mainly spreads (or "disperses") heat more equally over surfaces. Those that want this option should see lower drops due to:
1) The coating's ability to help equalize hot spots generated from the charge air output from the supercharger.
2) The coating's ability to spread out the hot spots generated on the underside of the IC from the intake manifold.

We have not had time to do logs for TD coated vs. painted, but the use of this coating on stock & GP IC's are excellent case studies in TD effectiveness. Expect to see 2 to 7 degrees in drop from the thermal dispersant dependent upon ambient temps.

Here's a pic of the IC installed.


I can get some pics of the foam strip layout on the inner bonnet posted next week. . . wrote myself a note, but PM me if I forget. :arf:

-Clint

 

Up until the early 70's, copper and brass radiators were very common. As the need for fuel efficiency reared its head during the gas crisis. Although it is not as durable or as thermally efficient, the auto industry turned to aluminum as their new standard for radiators because it was both lighter and cheaper. Many radiator manufacturers also make intercooler cores, so it's logical that aluminum remained the material of choice for this application.

That being said, the main obstacles to using copper are cost and availability. Cost is king most of the time. You can get larger, cheaper, aluminum cores made in Asia to create low charge air temps (not as low as copper, but low) at the cost of 2 to 3 psi pressure drop. Tuners can get these larger cores made very easily and make more $$$ per part after markup.

Due to the dominance of aluminum IC cores, the development of DoS's copper core was very time consuming (read slow). We needed to locate a manufacturer that was willing to work with us at all and willing to make custom, higher tolerance tooling to match our custom plastic endtank mounting details. We also needed this manufacturer to be willing to make our cores in small runs to minimize our up front cost/risk (which still ended up being higher than expected due to the current cost of copper). Doing the cores in small runs allows us to focus on making sure that each unit is built with care at the shop in SF and allows DoS "try out" this new type of A2A-IC with the R53 community to see how it sells.

Making big margins on some of our higher ticket performance parts (like our A2A-IC) is not and will never be DoS's focus. That's probably because if we marked-up these intercoolers based on common retail "rule of thumb," they'd never sell. :lol:

Best,

-Clint

 

Under Bonnet Foam Layout

mini_racer, thanks for the reminder. Here you go!



Best,

-Clint

 

Hi All,

The two colors that I've found are black & a dull gray. The thermal dispersant is about function and not at all about flash.

We can do a red painted IC for you that would be coated in an intercooler/radiator appropriate paint, so there's hope for you yet!

The interior fins are not coated. The copper and brass alloys that we're using are more corrosion resistant than the aluminum alloys used on most IC's and radiators. If left uncoated, they will get a light oxidation on the outer surfaces. (Aluminum does this as well.)

As for the heat transfer question (raw -vs.- painted), we've never tested an unpainted IC. There's not much sense in doing so because we'd never sell an unpainted or uncoated unit to a customer. We apply a protective coating to every IC ensure that each one keeps looking great for years to come.

Best,

-Clint