Technically no form of forced induction needs one, but that's not the point.
I dunno where people get this crazy idea, but it's complete crap. Any time you compress air, you add heat to it. It doesn't matter how you do it, the air will get hotter. When you compress it very fast (i.e. supercharger or turbo) you get a lot of heat.

Of course it's possible to run without an intercooler, but that applies equally to turbos. I know, coz I ran a non-intercooled 12AT for 5 years. The lack of intercooler limited it's potential and was probably at least partially responsible for its demise.

You say you're doing this because it's easier than a turbo, but if you took the intercooler out of the equation you'd make the turbo conversion a lot easier too. That doesn't make it the smart way to go, particularly if you ever want to go any further.

 

i get this idea from building race cars my entire life. I have supercharged a dozen cars, and never used an intercooler because it is needless. The air is heated, but not to any real extensive amount as to where its going to be that helpful adding an intercooler.

 

Yeah, that's why many factory supercharged cars come with intercoolers...

 

intercool that sucker!!!

 

well, if you use the eaton M90, it really wont fit , well, it might if you reloacate a few things or cut stuff, but that seemed too troublesome.
Thanks for the posts all

 

Hmm hmm, ill look at the car and measure some stuff and post later concerning the intercooler

 

I was considering supercharging mine...


But with a Paxton or Vortech supercharger (one that is belt driven from behind the supercharger itself). When using an appropriate e-fan you should not have a whole lot of clearance issues on the driver's side, and this leads to the idea I have.
You could use an FMIC with the Vortech/Paxton mounted on the driver's side, because you would have to cross the front end anyway.

And NZ, I don't want to be the one to say this, but most factory supercharged cars are not intercooled. The Thunderbird Supercoupe, the Bonneville SSEi, the Grand Prix GTP, the Riviera S/C, and most American supercharged cars are not intercooled. Most supercharged cars intended for drag racing are not intercooled, as the supercharger tends to be bolted directly to the intake manifold.

 

It looks a lot better then the last one, but how about smoothing the transition from the mounting flange to the pipe? Air smashing into a flat mounting flange then having to find it's way to an outlet pipe is what we call "turbulance".

 

I am considering this project too. I was going to mount it on the drivers side where the ps and ac compressors go... I removed mine. I am going to use the mounting points for my bracket....If it will fit there. I just have to figure out the best way to pipe it..

 

Superchargers don't need an intercooler as they don't really add extra heat to the compressed air like a turbocharger does, but to pipe a supercharger without a possibility of an intercooler is seriously limiting its potential.

 

Ok, enough non-sense about intercooling. If you think it would be TOO much trouble to install and properly pipe an intercooler to the front of the vehicle than run methanol injection instead. It's cheap and easy to find. You can purchase a purge silonoid for the injector and have it pump directly into your TB elbow. I've seen it and it works. With my application i can use the LT-8's aux. output to control such a silinoid.

THe LT-8 would detect change in manifold pressure and activate the methanol injector, thus allowing you to run substantial amounts of boost without an intercooler being adapted.


I am only going to say one thing : If your gunna do it, DO IT RIGHT.

-Markus

 

Exactly.

 

In wouldn't you want to run an intercooler. It would cool the intake charge after it was heated up. Don't forget a cooler intake charge makes more power.

I really like the SC idea, I just think that you guys could all benifit from intercoolering you set-ups.

 

The last one had a square cut out in the middle of the pipe (i dont know why), this one is heavier duty, and its a complete circle when you look down on top of it.

I know what ur saying by smoothing the transition from the mount to pipe, but i dont see how that would be done

 

if youre using the eaton m90, it wont fit there.

 

This also crossed my mind, which throws another coin into the Vortech/Paxton till, as they use something similar to the cold side of a turbo as the compressing blades...

 

I don't want to be the one to say this, but I wouldn't necessarily use American automotive engineering as a shining example of the right way to do things. Cheap and easy maybe...

Take a look at Japanese and European supercharged engines and you'll find intercooling is more common. Someone even posted a pic of an American intercooled supercharged engine the other day.
Most of those cars also run methanol or other fuels burns so much cooler than petrol that an intercooler limits power instead of increasing it. Besides, I've seen quite a few drag engines with water-air intercoolers sandwiched between the supercharger and the intake manifold.

Instead of arguing about it, why doesn't someone with a supercharged 13B post some measured intake air temps.

 

They are also all mom-and-pop sedans running low boost and producing low power levels. Why not use a definite performance engine as an example? IE: Ford Lightning supercharged 5.4L engines run intercoolers.

 

And consindering these m90's came stock on the car with an intercooler (the later ones).... But who cares for logic?

 

NZConvertible, scathcart, and sonicrat have got their **** straight!

 

I think the idea of an air-water IC is solid in this application, if somewhat complex. Intake length is short, space utilization good and cooling ok, particularly for a street car.

The thing is not just on there for safety -- the safety it provides allows for more radical tuning, and the cooler, denser air charge allows for more power.

According to Corky Bell:
"IC... slow to come into use in SC applications... reasons must be traditional and economic, since the fundamental value of the IC is both large and beyond dispute..."

 

Thunderbird Supercoupe is intercooled.
03+ Cobra is intercooled.
Supercharged F-150 (Lightning, H-D) are intercooled.
Mercedez Benz "compressor" models, intercooled.
VW Corrado G60, intercooled.

Hmmm, the single shared powertrain in the GM cars seems to be the exception, NOT the rule.

 

a quick question, if say i was going to a junkyard owned by my friend and wanted to find one of these m90 sc's you all speak of what cars might i expect to find them in?

 

what would be a cool way of intercooling is to throw on the T2 upper and lower intake manafolds and the T2 TB with its little adapter on it.. Hook up the SC liek i first saw (the first port where the guy did it) and throw the stock IC up there.. get a T2 hood and that would be pretty cool

 

bah, the pics are gone!