[urq] Interest in larger ur quattro intercoolers and and carbon fiber "Sport" type hoods?

[Steve Eiche]

Brady,
I haven't seen anyone post any real number as to flow area, efficiency, etc., so this is a really hard question to answer.  As they say, "One good test is worth more than 100 expert opinions."  The 2bennett intercooler (http://www.2bennett.com/body_intercoolers.html) looks OK, but the endtanks look a kind of ugly, and I doubt that it would fit with the stock ducting due to the height.  I had a Dialynx IC, which fits almost like the stock IC, and is a little bigger. The endtank construction looked identical to the 2bennett IC.  While the performance seems a bit better than stock, it wasn't adequate on a tuned 20Vt by any means.  

While it would be nice to have some sort of front mount intercooler, there is NO WAY to get anything worthwhile in the front of a type 85 chassis without some significant cutting on the chassis (remove hood latch, cut away structure between the frame rails, etc.).  I haven't seen one ur quattro with a front mount intercooler that I would consider a clean installation, and IMO, it cannot be done.  You could put something in front of the radiator, but then plumbing becomes a nightmare and A/C is pretty much out of the picture.  To me, it is unacceptable to lose the hood latch or cut away any of the front structure.  I also don't care for a huge IC sticking out of the grill (YMMV).  My goal to keep the chassis stock and have everything be bolt-on.  If I were building a no-holds barred monster, it would get the lengthened Sport front end with a huge intercooler, but that is not what I am after.  People forget that the Sports have a much longer front end to make room for that intercooler. I am looking for the best possible performance in a totally stock appearing car.  I am not convinced that there is anything inherently wrong with the stock position of the IC on ur quattros, although the intake in the valance definitely isn't ideal for a bigger, wider IC. 

A modified 944T intercooler will fit with no chassis modifications, and there are 944Ts out there with close to 700hp using that same core, but different end tanks.  This doesn't mean you could use one up to 700hp on a quattro (you couldn't I would say, as those big hp 944T cars have a lot more displacement and would run lower boost), but I think that it does show that you don't need a huge IC to do the job, especially for say 400hp.   My thinking is that the 944T solution is good, but if you have to cut it up anyway and deal with non-optimal endtanks, why not just start with an ideally sized core, along with custom cast ends.  Cast tanks are the way to go as long as there can be enough made to offset the cost of engineering and getting the patterns made.  Piece price for a cast part is relatively cheap.  An IC with cast tanks will cost much less than fabricated tanks in quantity, and likely flow better as well (compare the stock tank design to the fabricated 2bennett or Dialynx ICs).  The $1k figure that I mentioned is just a SWAG.  A real production IC would likely cost much less, especially if more than 20 or so would be made.

As for moving the alternator, I fully plan on keeping A/C, and am looking at a modern smaller sized A/C compressors and alternators to fit on the driver's side.   Yes, I want my cake and to eat it too.

Steve




Where does the 944Turbo intercooler fit in here? Stock, 944T, Dialynx,
2Bennett in order of increasing efficiency?

Is your current setup very well shrouded? I'm told that can make quite a
difference. It does with radiators.

What turbo and how much boost are you running? Could be that changing turbos
might bring down the intake temps with no other changes. Sounds strange, but
that might be cheaper and easier than another intercooler mod.

But if you do open your bank vault and go the FMIC route, you could always
try one of Javad's fancy intakes that would take care of the cross-over
issue.

Oops. Forgot sig in last post. Not trying to be rude!

Cheers, Brady
83 urq,       [][] oooo [][]
86 4kq,        O O oooo O O
91 200qa20v, [  ]  oooo  [  ]
72 240Z

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Rich Letsinger [mailto:rletsinger at gmail.com]

That is a good question.  I'm currently running the 2Bennett intercooler for
the urq which is pretty much exactly what Steve describes for this Apikol
project.  I've ditched the A/C and moved the alternator to the driver's
side.  This thing has a longer and thicker core which completely fills that
lower opening on the passenger side.

My experience with it, however, has been mixed.  It is better than the stock
intercooler and the dialynx upgrade, watching my temps with one of those
fancy digital gauges.  But even with this decently sized core I still reach
the magic 140 degrees of intake temp where the 3B computer gives up and
pulls timing all the way back.  I think airflow down under the bumper just
isn't good enough.

My plan is to move the intercooler behind the grille above the bumper.  I'll
need some kind of puffed out grille, like the SportQ or the rally cars.
There is also the difficulty of the cross-over pipe from the turbo to the
intercooler inlet on the driver's side.

Rich


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