Custom intercooler sizes

[Corona]

I was wondering, is there any technical benifit to having a intercooler a square/rectangular shape?
If a intercooler has the same internal volume and external surface area, regardless of the sape, would they operate at the same efficancy?

Neil

[evil_si]

no they woulnt be the same.

there are 2 main types,. plate and bar, and tube and fin

the internal specs are all different and control the heat dissipation / cooloing

even from brand to brand there are differences

[rxtoy]

i think they mean like circles and oddball shapes???

wouldn't be as efficient because some of your air would be travelling a short distance through the top and bottom (with a circle or oval anyway) with not much cooling and some would go through the middle with more.

would be a complete and utter mare to weld up as well.

if you want something different for show purposes you could always have your end tanks obscuring part of the core to get the desired shape, you'd lose some efficiency but if its for show then efficiency isn't a major anyway.

[Malcolm]

Theoretically, shape (assuming you mean 2 dimensionally, ie viewed from in front), will have no effect on the properties of an intercooler, so long as the frontal area and cross sectional area are not changed, so yes they will be the same, assuming, as mentioned, that the two intercoolers being compared are the same type and similar design.

[Corona]

I was thinking more along the lines of a long thin one, but I thought that I would make the question a bit more general for other people.
What I am looking at is to have one going most of the way along the front bumper, trying to make it blend in with the rest of the car.
So that when ppl see it they dont go Ohh look at the flash intercooler, must have done a Turbo conversion, but insted Oh I never noticed that there how very suttle

[Chickenman]

If you wanna go true sleeper styles suss out a water to air i/c off a gen 3? engine. A small front mount painted black would be sweet though.

[Stealer Of Souls]

My opinion... For stealth can go past W/A IC...

As for the long thin idea... I reckon that it wouldn't flow quite as well as a more square shaped IC... The air would have to travel from on side to the other through a whole mesh of fins/tubes etc... Probably wrong...

Oh well....

[matt dunn]

I was thinking more along the lines of a long thin one, but I thought that I would make the question a bit more general for other people.
What I am looking at is to have one going most of the way along the front bumper, trying to make it blend in with the rest of the car.
So that when ppl see it they dont go Ohh look at the flash intercooler, must have done a Turbo conversion, but insted Oh I never noticed that there how very suttle

From what I understand.
The longer they are across the colder the air becomes and the more restriction.

The higher they are the greater the number of tubes you can have to reduce the restriction.

Matt

[Corona]

From what I understand.
The longer they are across the colder the air becomes and the more restriction.

The higher they are the greater the number of tubes you can have to reduce the restriction.

Matt

That makes sence

[Corona]

Oops Double post

[matt dunn]

But you also have to remember that a bigger i/c will create more lag and more weight if that worries you.

[Corona]

But you also have to remember that a bigger i/c will create more lag and more weight if that worries you.

Yea, but as the origional question said, "With the Internal Volume & Extrenal surface area the same"

How efficient are Water / Air intercoolers?

[Stealer Of Souls]

W/A better for start stop traffic style driving...
I guess their efficiency is dependant on their size, just like a A/A...

???

[blitza]

So that when ppl see it they dont go Ohh look at the flash intercooler, must have done a Turbo conversion, but insted Oh I never noticed that there how very suttle

paint it black, duhrrrr

[Stealer Of Souls]

paint it black, duhrrrr

Apparently not as effective as you'd think... for the way an intercooler functions (conduction versus radiation???) colour isn't very important...