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intercooler

 Intercooler
 
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I was thinking the other day about turbocharged mid engine cars. I was thinking, why not mount an intercooler towards the bottom of the car instead of towards the side of the car? There is a lot of wasted air flowing underneath the car that just creates turbulance, why not duct that incoming air onto an intercooler infront of the engine, and then have the rest of the air flow over the engine and out a rear diffuser of somesort? -Note, I am 15 years old, I cnt even drive yet. Please respect that.
—craigm1987, Dec 01 2003

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       Lots of other nasty thing under a car. Rocks, water, speed bumps, etc.
—phoenix, Dec 02 2003
   

       I am 3 years old and barely continent, so please post a link that I might learn what an intercooler is.
—bungston, Dec 02 2003
   

       Yes, rocks, and speed bumps may be a hazard, but the intercooler itself would be mounted on the duct, and the duct would be for say, a foot long. Water wouldnt be a problem because it would only cool the intake charge more effectiently, and also rocks would be deflected away with some sort of grate. Anyways if all else fails, why not use this idea on race cars?
—craigm1987, Dec 02 2003
   

       An intercooler is a "radiator" if you will, for a turbocharged intake charge of air, it cools the air down to create more horsepower.
—craigm1987, Dec 02 2003
   

       On the road, there would be no use for this. Most stock cars with turbos in them already are low to the ground. Even if you could make an intercooler that is only an inch think, it would still hit something, fall off, or drag on the street. For Racing, possibly. Potentially, and I say this with the knowledge of doing this, you can pipe the intercooler(s) whereever you have space on your car, be it inside or outside. You also don't need this if you are running low boost. Which is anything <10lbs. When you kick it up to 30lbs., you need a custom(big) intercooler setup. The best place for intercoolers are in front, so that they can catch the air coming directly at the vehicle. Many front mount intercoolers are able to handle engines that produce 500+HP. If you start getting past that on the street when you are 16, then you won't have your license long.
—jdorgan, Jan 20 2004
   

       Craigm, you already mentioned the biggest flaw with the idea. Underneath the car is turbulent air. Turbulent air is made of vortices with part of their flow actually moving toward the front of the car. This kind of air doesn't like to "flow" so directing it into an intercooler would be difficult.   

       To get a good idea of the nature of turbulent air, watch the water spray coming off the back of a fast moving car in the rain. That's where most of the drag comes from.
—mackinaw, Feb 17 2004
   

       How about you weld pipes on the inner side of a panel on the bottom of the car? This gives you less area for heat transfer, but you're sure to gain SOMETHING in one of three ways: cleaner air flow on the bottom of the car, heated air on the bottom of the car (for a heated boundary layer), and cooler intake air.
—kevinthenerd, May 31 2006
   


 

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