Is an intercooler worth it for my type of driving? (CVT)

[Hondaruu]

I use my car mostly as my daily, I hit traffic almost everyday as well on my way home after work. I do long road trips here and there but not racing of any sort. Some spirited driving but nothing that's pushing the limits of the car IMO. I have Ktuner w/ TSP 1 and a mishimoto intake. The reason I'm looking towards a intercooler next is because of the California heat and heat soak issues that make the car feel sluggish/jerky at times. So a few questions.

-Is an intercooler worth it if I can get a used one for cheap?
-Should I be looking to other mods instead first?

NOTE: I care more for the longevity of the car rather than pushing it to the limits as it is my daily.

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[jayy_swish]

In stop and go traffic it won’t do much. You need to be traveling forward for air to run through the intercooler fins to cool the air. The only time you’ll see a difference is spirited driving and on highways/freeways with no traffic. Normal day driving the difference is minimal. I have the PRL intercooler with charge pipes (the 1st version)

 

[FLOPPER]

Get a honeycomb grille for your heat issues.

Other mods for heat that are cheap are gold wrapping the turbo inlet pipe and maybe even your MAF.

Up to 70% distilled water in your radiator is another cheap and (obviously) very easy mod.

I've seen great results from Water Wetter as well.

Turbo blanket helps also, but that's a little more money and a lot more work.

 

[hobby-man]

Get a honeycomb grille for your heat issues.

Other mods for heat that are cheap are gold wrapping the turbo inlet pipe and maybe even your MAF.

Up to 70% distilled water in your radiator is another cheap and (obviously) very easy mod.

I've seen great results from Water Wetter as well.

Turbo blanket helps also, but that's a little more money and a lot more work.

How do you feel the turbo blanket is performing? I was considering it but after reading some pretty heated (pun intended) threads, it seems like it can reduce the longevity of the turbo by trapping so much excess heat inside of it.

 

[FLOPPER]

How do you feel the turbo blanket is performing? I was considering it but after reading some pretty heated (pun intended) threads, it seems like it can reduce the longevity of the turbo by trapping so much excess heat inside of it.

Well there's the rub--I guess I should've put a disclaimer that it's the one thing I recommended that could possibly shorten the life of a component of your car, but the jury still seems to be out on if it actually hurts the turbo in any real way.

Here's the way I look at it: yes, you MIGHT be shortening the life of the turbo, but you'll actually be protecting other components in the engine bay from excess heat. I guess it depends on what you want to protect more. . .

Personally I don't plan on having this turbo forever--I'm going to upgrade to at least an SI turbo, but more likely the MHI-TDO3 or 27Won W2, so I really don't care if this turbo's theoretical life gets shortened by 10k miles or whatever.

To answer your original question: yes, it helps.

 

[hobby-man]

Well there's the rub--I guess I should've put a disclaimer that it's the one thing I recommended that could possibly shorten the life of a component of your car, but the jury still seems to be out on if it actually hurts the turbo in any real way.

Here's the way I look at it: yes, you MIGHT be shortening the life of the turbo, but you'll actually be protecting other components in the engine bay from excess heat. I guess it depends on what you want to protect more. . .

Personally I don't plan on having this turbo forever--I'm going to upgrade to at least an SI turbo, but more likely the MHI-TDO3 or 27Won W2, so I really don't care if this turbo's theoretical life gets shortened by 10k miles or whatever.

To answer your original question: yes, it helps.

We're kind of in the same boat then. I was waffling on whether the turbo blanket was worth it for the longevity of the OEM part, and also work the risk trying to get the f'ing downpipe off again if I'm going to upgrade to a W2 in the future lol.

 

[Hondaruu]

Try 91 octane before an intercooler.

I've been running 91 since the tune

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