I was talking with a friend and we were discussing if an aftercooler (the vortech one) can be simply plugged in and used with a turbo instead of an intercooler.

Would this be possible or even efficient as an intercooler would be? Has anyone seen a set up such as this? What would be the benefits/ downfalls of doing something like this?

 

Yeah, you can make it physically work. The thing is, whereas with a supercharger you are limited in the maximum number of rpm's the snail can do before getting out of it's efficiency range and superheating the compressed air (not mention wear out the bearings prematurely), a turbo has a much broader efficiency range and runs at far higher revolutions. However, because turbos regularly spin at 3 or 4 or even 5 times the velocity of a supercharger, they tend to heat up more.

An intercooler cools the charged air better at the expense of boost pressure. Because the operating range of a turbo is much broader, there's really no disadvantage to running an intercooler. By running an aftercooler, you might pick up a little boost pressure but it will be at the expense of hotter intake air temperatures. I don't believe this is optimal.

A turbo setup should really be intercooled...it's a better way to cool the charged air. Superchargers are largely relegated to using the aftercooler setup only because they can't easily make up for the loss in boost pressure from an intercooler setup. Because I track my car, I am even considering an intercooler setup despite being supercharged because I recognize the benefits of low IAT's at the expense of some horsepower (over the course of a lapping session).

 

this would be a good bit of experiment...I also wondered this at some point in time also ...you can also buy custom aftercooler setups if you search around the net you can get what are called "log" style after coolers they are longer and larger, and might be able to cope with the added temps of the turbo...they even make after coolers the size of small intercoolers...ehhh let me see if I can find the site I was gonna purchase mine off of...hmmmmm....ahh ha! ( 5mins later ) ...heres an example of the log one http://www.siliconeintakes.com/product_inf...abd8b27bd8d079e

that site also has larger "box" style after coolers ...get the right size to fit in the extra space we have up in front of the engine

 

p.s. pretty sure comptech gets their aftercoolers from the same people on that site theres one on there EXACTLY like comptechs

 

I have a Spearco aftercooler radiator. I still don't think it's as efficient as a good intercooler setup. I have a track even next week. I think I am going to try taking a cooler with me and replacing the water after every session with super cold water. I have to think that would do the trick for a 20 minute session (along with the bigger aftercooler radiator.

We'll see...I'll log temps.

 

I have an air to water IC on my setup. It is a PWR unit.



It does well in the winter, however, in the hot Arizona summer I do not think it works as well as an air to air IC. I have an air to air IC that I am thinking of testing out. I just need to get motivated to do it, will likely not be until the temperature in the garage drops below supernova.

 

I believe a set up like this would benefit by having a larger reservoir tank than the one vortech provides for increased coolant capacity, as well as a larger pump to move more fluid.

 

That's more like it! Nice man!

 

Do you guys think that a set up like this would increase the spool time of a turbo?

 

No. The shorter the piping, the better the response.