The importance of a good Intercooler VS CAI

[amirza786]

As many of you know, I owned a 2018 Civic Si until September, and I kept it as close to stock as possible. Except for a few mods like an Acuity shifter rocker upgrade, an Acuity carbon fiber shift knob (so my hand would stop burning in the summer), and TSP's Stage 1 tune, I pretty much stayed away from other bolt-on's. Most bolt-on's add value only to the individual owner of the car. For example if I was in the market for a used car, I would completely 100 percent stay away from a modified car because I don't know about the quality of the add-on's, if they have caused any damage, or who installed them (the individual or a qualified mechanic) and were they installed properly.

I am one of those who believe OEM parts are the best, but there is one aftermarket add on that I believe adds real value over the stock component, and that is a quality performance intercooler. Earlier this year I wrote a thread on my installation of a Mishimoto Intercooler, so I will be repeating some stuff I wrote earlier. After replacing the stock intercooler with the Mishimoto, I noticed that heat soak was no longer an issue. As most people know, heat soak is the enemy of a turbo charged engine, which depends on compressed air to feed it. The more heat in the compressed air, the less dense it is. That means less air and fuel being crammed in the cylinders, and less power.

To see if the Performance intercooler was actually doing it's job, I logged a run I did on a hot day (103 degrees F), which is below:

As you can see from the log, the charged air coming in from the "hot" side (IAT) was about 145 degrees F, while the air coming thru the "cooled" side (IAT2) was 113 degrees F. That is a 32 degree difference. The cooler air is more dense, so more fuel can mixed in and the ECU doesn't have to throttle back as much. Although this was a hot day, the car ran completely normal.

To me a good quality performance intercooler is a much better way to spend your money than a CAI. I have asked several people who have used cai's and they tell me that they mostly installed them for the look and swoosh sound, and the performance boost they get from them is not much, and doesn't come on until they get moving, as cooler air doesn't get in right away (it's sucking in hot engine air at low speeds). Also, in many states CAI's are not legal unless they are CARB compliant, whereas an Intercooler has no affect on emissions.

So if you are looking for a mod that actually has a benefit, will not cause damage if properly installed, a quality Performance Intercooler will give your stock or tuned car better performance because it will heat soak less

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[laz's SI]

Nice write up , quick question, is there a big difference in name brand intercoolers to a non name brand ? In some cases the difference is a lot in cost

 

[EdwinDrn]

You sure love to provide value on the CivicX forum.. My guess is you'll be back in one soon.. LOL

 

[amirza786]

Nice write up , quick question, is there a big difference in name brand intercoolers to a non name brand ? In some cases the difference is a lot in cost

To answer your question, yes. You want to avoid generic intercoolers, as well as "universal" intercoolers. Mishimoto and PRL are examples of premium quality IC's with lots of R&D that they document

 

[amirza786]

You sure love to provide value on the CivicX forum.. My guess is you'll be back in one soon.. LOL

Ha ha, not in awhile, I may pick up a used CTR in 4 to 5 years from now if prices don't go the way of the S2000. I am also part of a Lexus forum, but the Lexus forum is kind of boring. People are way to polite, no one throws insults at you, they don't have blow engine threads and they are not heavily into modding. I am part of the IS gen 2 forum (2006-2013), and most post questions like "my infotainment system is giving me problems" or my engine has 250K and my check engine light just went on. I am just so board there, I had to come back

 

[Drake]

How much more poorly does the stock intercooler perform compared to your aftermarket one?

 

[NikkoPH]

What intake are you using when you had did the datalog? And you are using Ktuner right?

 

[amirza786]

How much more poorly does the stock intercooler perform compared to your aftermarket one?

The stock Intercooler generally works well, but I have had heat soak a few times on days when the temp exceeded 95 degrees. Once I was driving between Northern and Southern California (360 miles), I was going about 80 mph in about 110 degrees for about 6 or 7 hours. Everything was fine until I hit Los Angeles traffic. I could definitely feel the car was pulling power back. With the Mishimoto Intercooler, I had no issues with power being pulled back doing the same drive

 

[amirza786]

What intake are you using when you had did the datalog? And you are using Ktuner right?

Stock intake. I was using Ktuner, and logging to Ktuner lite on an Android tablet

 

[NikkoPH]

That stock intake i

Stock intake. I was using Ktuner, and logging to Ktuner lite on an Android tablet

That stock intake is really running hot!

 

[amirza786]

That stock intake is really running hot!

It was 103 F or 104 F that day, and I had been doing a few runs with the AC running, so the engine bay was pretty hot. The Mishimoto did a really good job of cooling down the charged air

 

[NikkoPH]

Oh ok, surprisingly your ECT is still 179 with those runs you mentioned.

 

[amirza786]

Oh ok, surprisingly your ECT is still 179 with those runs you mentioned.

I've never really paid attention to ECT, as generally the needle never really moved and stays below the half point, even hard driving, or high speed driving in hot temps

 

[REBELXSi]

CAIs are much cheaper than a quality IC... and they don't woosh

 

[amirza786]

CAIs are much cheaper than a quality IC... and they don't woosh

That is true. Is "sound of air rushing" better? Or maybe this:

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