Weeks ago, I posted a thread asking if an intercooler upgrade would be beneficial to everyday driving, as opposed to track (or just dyno) use…
http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...AT-logs-inside...
This involved about 30 min of driving with one 0-60+ WOT acceleration run in the middle. After some of the comments in that thread, I decided to go ahead with the Eurocode unit (during the group buy). Now that I have about a week of log data (in addition to the data logged before the install), I thought I’d share my findings with the group. Warning, though – this is kind of long and I'm bound to have some typos or something cut-paste wrong …
First – a little background – from the write-ups and EC’s description of the unit I was hoping for the following.
1) Better power early in the rev range due to the turbo outlet adapter and overall increased diameter plumbing from the turbo to the intake manifold.
2) Lower IAT during WOT runs – esp at high RPM.
3) Better resistance to “heat soak” or at least what I considered to be heat soak – rising IAT vs. time I’d observed in my logs.
#3 was up there in priority for me as a couple of times being stuck in traffic and/or driving in parking lot traffic jams, I’d finally get a little gap in traffic and want to “shoot the gap”, and then experienced a below normal amount of power. Thought high IAT due to low speed, hot asphalt, and AC use might be the culprit… I considered a water/meth system but it seemed to me that this would need to be spraying constantly to prevent this issue (at a very low level) and that could lead to use of a lot of meth, and one vendor of W/M systems discouraged this type of use.
I've got a ton of detail below, but after typing it it may be too long - so I'll summarize here and invite you to read on for the full story. Did it achieve the 3 goals.
1) Yes - feels a little snappier.
2) Yes - ~17 deg reduction for a 2nd gear pull
3) No
Anyway – let’s get to the install and hardware impressions before the results :
1) Unpacked the unit and was immediately impressed with the quality of the parts. Everything looked top notch, and the machined mounting bracket with the EC name on it is pretty cool, the T-bolt clamps and silicone adapters are high quality. Having the Eurocode name on all the parts is a nice touch.
2) Install instructions were very good. There were a few very minor issues (i.e. some bolts referred to as 10mm during removal were referred to as 13mm during replacement, etc) in the writeup that I gave EC feedback to fix most of these so hopefully the next rev will be better but they really didn't make anything unclear. I’ve never had my bumper off and was able to follow the directions and get everything installed without issue. The only thing I suggested EC to do of any significance was to indicate which end of the intake manifold pipe was which – it's close enough to symmetrical that it fit both ways, but one way is better. I tried both ways just to check before settling on the right config - just would have been nice to not have to try both ways...
3) As several others have said, the T-bolt clamps are very much on the tight side – maybe the 90F+ weather and Houston humidity when I installed them made things worse, but I wasn’t able to keep the clamps assembled and slide them over the silicone adapters. I ended up having to take the nut completely off, wrap the clamp around and place it, put the nut back on and tighten. Sometimes this required use of a set of adjustable jaw pliers (water-pumps) to squeeze the clamp enough to get the nut threaded on – and in a couple of cases I found it was beneficial to bend the T-bolt toward the clamp slightly such that you could get the t-bolt through the other side of the clamp easier. They work and look good – just wish they were maybe 1/8 to ¼” larger and then you could just slide them on… Minor nit.
4) The instructions don’t say anything about re-using the left/right air guides (see images) – if you do want to re-use them, you will need to cut them to allow the EC piping to pass through – I did that – the amount of cutting isn’t large, but getting it located in the right place is a bit difficult – I suggested it would be nice if EC provided a template for where to cut if you were so inclined.
So... obligatory install pics. Should have been more, but I was having a good time looking at things and doing the work and sort of forgot to take pics:
Bumper off, stock unit removed – about to drill the crash bar to install the mounting bracket. Surprised at how little structure (next to none) there is in front of the wheels – the crash bar doesn’t span the width of the car.
Turbo outlet adapter installed
IC mounted and modified left/right air guides.
That EC machined mounting bracket in place…
“Ding… All done”
So – what you have been waiting for – results:
For #1 – I don’t have any logs to prove this, but I feel like the plumbing and turbo outlet, etc. is making the car more snappy – i.e. better torque at lower revs. There also seems to be a little more intake type noise than before – it’s very subtle, but I’m thinking that perhaps the removal of the stock sound box and replacement of rubber hoses with hard aluminum is contributing here. I like both results.
For #2 – I tried to replicate the drive I did before the install and posted about in the thread mentioned at the top of this diatribe and I think I was very sucessful. Below is a plot of the IAT during the WOT 2nd gear pull for both before and after runs – the EC intercooler is keeping temps flat, where the stock one allowed temps to rise as the RPM’s climbed. Similar result to plots posted by the vendors, different values, but same trend... WOT 2nd gear starts at 1234.5 sec and goes to ~1239 where the EC temp starts down, and the stock flattens out. This is about 16.5 deg difference at the end – or about 2.7% in improved air density.
Was the ECU pulling timing? From all of my logs, small timing pulls seems to be kind of random and not all that uncommon – even in situations where I wouldn’t expect it – so take this with a big dash of salt… The ECU pulled timing on cyl 4 2.3 deg right at the very end of the stock WOT run but only on cyl 4 despite Cyl 3 seeming to be the sensitive one on my car. For the EC run – Cyl 3 pulled 0.8 deg right after I went WOT in 2nd, but went back to 0 within about 1.5 sec during the WOT run. From the behavior I’ve seen doing logging, I think if I were to repeat this again several times, I could get some without any timing pull, and some with pull for both units – I don’t think these are statistically meaningful – thus I think the only real difference here was the 16.5 deg IAT difference and thus 2.7% increase in air density.
For #3 – Logged a lot of to/from work commutes as well as this mid-day 95F 30 min drive with the WOT run (see mentioned thread for description) – and unfortunately I saw little to no impact on the steadily increasing IAT vs. time – both of these end up near 130F at the end of the drive and more or less track the same trend except for some minor differences due to stop light timing, etc.
I can't say that the EC unit wouldn't recover quicker if they were even more heat soaked - but the 30 min drive I did do - right before the 0-60 hard acceleration run - both units were virtually identical IAT's and the drop from 125F as I started rolling was very similar.
So… overall thoughts :
It’s a very high quality product – everything about dealing with EC has been first rate. I feel like the turbo outlet/piping is helping the responsiveness of the car, and while the IC does keep temps down during WOT runs and high boost – it’s a slight advantage unless you are doing multiple 0-100 type pulls or perhaps tracking the car. In my daily driving, this unit didn’t really help keep the increase of IAT vs. time down like I hoped it would, i.e. what I called "heat soak".
In terms of bang for buck – I hate to say I’d have a hard time justifying this upgrade. Your mileage may vary if you drive your car harder than I do. In my logging, I was surprised to find that even during my normal daily commutes, I usually get a couple of 1+ sec WOT runs during acceleration from stoplights to my 45 and 55 mph speed limit stretches, but since these are short bursts and the IC doesn't seem to be helping keep the overall IAT down vs. the stock unit vs. time, I’m not really seeing more than a few percent increase in power during those WOT runs.
So a summary :
Top notch quality and the larger piping+turbo outlet adapter help with throttle response, etc. Keeps IAT's down during WOT and high boost. For my daily driving, I'm not seeing very much IAT benefit from the upgraded IC.
Sorry about the length – hope it was worth it to you who took the time to read the whole thing. Be glad to answer any questions anyone has…
Jim
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Originally Posted by fredjones
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