Quote Originally Posted by Bballjamal
I never really understood why I saw boosted civics (etc) with huge ass intercoolers that took up the entire stock bumper space, yet saw insane cars at the track running smaller, more efficient units....

I thought there was something I might not have known but I haven't gotten a good explination yet on why

All I can really see is;

-bigger cooling 'catch' area
-more air/cooling capacity needed for higher bar


Yet, I see 700+hp cars with a regular sized unit that fits perfectly
alot of that has to do with efficiency. a turbo is basically a compressor. when you compress air it heats up. so if your turbo is not working efficiently its gonna produce more hot air that if it were running efficiently. alot of ppl rather than getting the proper turbo and running in its efficiency range take the cheaper route and get a bigger intercooler. i actually have one of these huge intercoolers on my car but simply becuase the price was right and the intercooler i had heatsoaked way to easy. there is a bunch that goes into choosing your properly sized intercooler but for your typical street car its not usually made into a big deal. i did not notice any power loss or rediculous lag when i hadd a larger intercooler to my set-up....but the cold side of the intercooler is alot cooler now so i know my intake temps are better. thats al that matter to me right now in my street car...cooler intake temps = more power and less chance for detonation