IC question 4 More power was Drag times

[JShadzi at aol.com]

>Gent(s):
>I noticed in Javad's runs and work, the gains made from a large IC.
>In reviewing these mentioned sites:
> this "controversial" S4:
> http://www.awe-tuning.com/pages/gallery/slvrbullet/index.cfm
>especially,
>http://www.awe-tuning.com/pages/gallery/slvrbullet/pages/engine_front.htm
>AND
>MTM's home page via Jo Hoppen in FLA.
>http://www.hoppenmotorsport.com/420hp.htm $17.,700 PLUS car..........

Scott, as Marc S. mentioned, the AWE car uses air to water IC's, so water cools them, not ambient air.

>I noticed the IC's are sideways, which must have air ducted to them.

These IC's mount in the stock S4 location and recieve ducted air through the bumper, but the face the incoming air.

>My question(s) are:
>
>Straight ram air best to have IC function at optimum?

Yes, generally, just like you see most radiators mounted.  The easier you can get air to hit the core, the better.  Next time you have your IC and a hair dryer in the same room, blow it on one side of the core and put your hand on the other side, surprisingly little air comes out the other side, so the best scenario in mounting the IC is to create some kind of pressure in front of it when the car is moving to ensure air is forced through it.

>Is there a General rule regarding IC size and piping size?

Yes, generally up to 200hp, 1.5-2", up to 400 2.25-2.5", and over 400 its safe to use 3", and if you need bigger than 3" you're probably shooting for over 800hp.  As Marc mentioned, its always best to use the smallest you can get away with, I'm using 2.5 right now as I'm anticipating 400+hp, and my last dyno graph shows I'm making more power sooner than I was with my last IC and 2.25" tubing, so I'm not worried about the pressure drop in my application.

>Would two IC's in parallel, (Duct outflow from first IC into second IC then
>to intake.
>be a budget way to further cool the intake charge?  I can see space an
>issue.
>Curious.

Yes, this works, but remember that this is really series, not parallel, in series you're now doubling the restiriction, making all the air flow through 2 cores, a better way is to make all the air flow through 1/2 the core or in paralell, so you direct half the air to one IC, and the other half to another, this make more sense but creates a little more plumbing to deal with.  Also an issue is the IC's flow capacity, for example the MC IC is relatively poor in this area, simply making it a single pass greatly increases the flow (remember, single pass is parallel, not series).  Also, generally, an IC with twice the rows that are 1/2 the length will always flow better and be more efficient than an IC with half the rows but twice the length.  A general rule is to try to keep the core square.

HTH,
Javad