OK, like 46pages? i'm soooo too lazy to read all that...
SOO... Is this kit easy to fit?, (i'm technically minded, all be it lazy...) Would one be able to do it one's self?
On Topic... Intercoolers.
There is no Easy, right/wrong answer to do i need to/which Intercooler app is best. they all have pros and cons
Soo, here's a break down?
Air-to-Air -
Downside - LAG, or should i say decrease throttle responce. All the air, in all the pipes that connect your big shiny cooler to the system needs to be displaced with compressed air. Obviously, in this low-boost, high comp app the "LAG" wouldn't be any more pronouced then no more that the equivilent to stock full throttle, but if you lowered to comp for more boost, it'd be more pronouced.
There is also the fact that more pipe/metal in the engine bay may equal more heatsoaking, negating you're intercooler.
My last car was a Corolla AE92 sedan, with a 4AGZE Blacktop engine, (for those unfamiliar, Roots type S/C), were we mounted the cooler in the engine bay, making a ver short inlet path. For airflow, we mounted an air damn/"scoop" that ran from the bottom of the cooler, down to a cutout in the bumper. Looked like a HUGE cold air intake for an airpod. No cut outs in bonnet, air spilled back into engine bay. Heatsoak was only a consern until you were moving, were the temps dropped quickly
Upside - It's the simplest, most common, least expensive setup, and it's funky looking and shiny.
Water-to-Air -
Downside - Weight. You need pumps, pipes, heat exchanger, radiators, and water. Water's almost 1kg per litre of liquid. Complexity. More can go wrong, more issues with possible Heat soak, especially if the pump fails.
Upside - you can place the Heat exchange anywhere, so it wont upset you're intake path, so shouldn't effect throttle responce, (Depending on size/restriction of Heat exchange used)
Water injection -
Downside - Idiot factor. You build a system that relies on the cooling of the sprayed water/ethanol, and you forget to fill it up, BOOM.
Upside - Oldest form of charged air cooling. Making it easy to setup, and not expensive at all.
It works, not REALLY by cooling the air, but making it denser. Denser air is less likely to detinate, meaning more air/fuel mixture, (eg boost), or more advanced timing.
It will also, if you set it up to do so, cool, via evaporation, your charger, AND fill in the gaps between the lobes in a roots type s/c, increasing boost slightly. Not sure if this will work on the Vortex type "1/2 turbo" s/c that the KW kit uses.
Which kinda leads to another
Downside - water/ethanol sprayed before the compress MAY lead to pitting on the coating on the loobs/blades, depending on how good said coating it. The Teflon coating on the SC on the above corolla wouldn't like it, but a ceramic coated version would be ok.
WHEN the wife gives me the go ahead, planning to wrap the pipes in Horse Power Tape, (ummm... a fabric heat sheilding wrap), then a water injection, (setup after the compressor), connected to a basic switch, so @ 85-90% throttle, it activates. run some extra timing, aim for a cheap extra 10bhp or so.
Setup's easy, you could use basic low pressure irrigation gear, hell, i've seen someone heat and pinch close some fuel line, then punch holes in the pipe with a pin. each pin hole adds so much water. need more, add another hole. and you'd run it off a windscreen wiper tank and pump, with a cheap switch on-off switch on the throttle, or a reed switch on the accelerator peddle or something.
Again, i guess, not perfect, but VERY DIY, if you feel that way inclined.
and before you start ear bashing me, I know it's not a REALLY GOOD sollution. If the setup goes pear shapped, BOOM. But that's can happen regardless what you do. remember i'm not running more boost, i'm only using to add a bit more timing, and cool the charged air slightly. Worst case, it knocks, engine managment should either, retard the timeing, or cut the engine. Shouldn't do anything to the engine as such.
ANNND the only outlay to me, if it cocks up, would be the KW S/c kit. If the engine blows, i'll sell the kit here, (there's nothing in OZ like it, should sell easy), and it'll give me excuse to buy a drift car
Intercooler Ideas
Linear Mode
