Top Mount Vs Front Mount intercoolers Trade-off vs Benefits

[darkwolf]

It came up in conversation the other day:

Why do a lot of car manufacturers release Turbo Aspirated cars with interwarmers (a.k.a a top mount intercooler)?

In traffic they suffer heat soak, they make the car mildly less aeo-dynamic and they make the engine bay *REALLY* difficult to work in IMO.

So what are the benefits and drawbacks to an interwarmer vs a front mount?

Theoretically you can go larger with a front. But is there more piping hence more lag? Does the turbo need to be redesigned to make it more efficient i.e. turned 90 degrees etc? Less heat dissipation from radiatior.

Any thoughts appreciated.

[postfach]

front mount intercoolers suffer from heatsoak in traffic too, obviously not to the same extent because the engine isn't sitting directly underneath but you still get heat from the turbo(s) warming the cooler up

[Mr Revhead]

cost, performance (lag), style,ease of assembly etc etc etc

[Stealer Of Souls]

Packaging <-- Goes with ease of assembly
Interwarmers are notoriously easy to package. Less piping to design the layout for. Less piping to consider for efficiency of operation (debatable depending on the side of the fence you're from).

[sergei]

And if top mount is W/A it does not suffer same problems as A/A.

[darkwolf]

Not to nit pick but can you explain each statement. I.E. cost, which is more costly the interwarmer or the intercooler?

[strap-on]

And if top mount is W/A it does not suffer same problems as A/A.

w/a ftw, best of both worlds really, though i suppose having a pump etc is more wieght and more paralytic loss

[AJz]

if you think about it, they mass produce these vehicle right. So the less they spend on making them. well you can work that one out.

Also space in the front is mainly and issue im guessing, especially if the car has a trans cooler, oil cooler, air con, radiator, thats alot of things to fit. Top mount just seems easier for them. this is just my opinion so dont take it as gospel

[Stealer Of Souls]

I think AJz got the price and packaging pretty much buttoned. Top mount is cheaper. Smaller core, less piping, less time to route piping.

Performance.
Top mount has smaller core, and less piping. So less "lag", but also doesn't perform as well as a massive front mount (i.e. charge temperature reduction not as great).
Front mount will weigh more, and will place the weight further forward (relatively insignificant really, but is part of the "disavantages" of a front mount).
In real terms, the differences will be less in normal street driving since you aren't on boost a lot of the time, so both cores will get a chance to cool down during movement. And their heat sinking abilities for short bursts of boost probably aren't t-o-o-o different.


IMO W/A is the preferrable road car setup.

[sergei]

Yeah W/A is the great but it is more expensive than A/A, that is why (in my opinion) they ditched it in Caldinas in favour of top mount. (speaking of caldinas, I saw other day their turbo manfild/exhaust housing and the design looked very horrrible, and it is not even twin entry).

[Stealer Of Souls]

Can't disagree with that at all...
W/A is expensive in comparison. It's a pity really, why are all the most appropriate technologies usually the most expensive options.

[sergei]

Can't disagree with that at all...
W/A is expensive in comparison. It's a pity really, why are all the most appropriate technologies usually the most expensive options.

No matter what the cost if I get other turbo vehicle (be it even diesel hilux), I will defently convert it to W/A intercooling, just becuase it is very consistent in temperatures, especially at low speed/high load conditions.
Think about it, why car makers ditch aircooled engines in first place (although porsche and volkswagen have some sort of fetish about it)...

[Stealer Of Souls]

Surely the water cooled engine debate would be as much about reliability as anything else.

But yeah. I'm a big W/A person. If I ever get my turbo then I'll be going W/A too.

[Prymal]

Ill be swaping from WTA or FMIC in the near future ..

they still heatsoak , they have performance limitations for Gt4's , and to be honest - My FMIC setup on the 185 , worked much much better than a WTA on the 205 .. Mind you - the gt4 wont be staying all that stock for much longer