tube/fin vs bar/plate

[Sydneykid]

Hi Gson, you can get the air going through only a part of the core, regardless of where the inlet and outlet are. The better desinged end tanks stop this, or some fabricators fit a deflector in the inlet air stream to make sure all the core is used.

Hi markr34gtr, you will only notice the difference in response with a back to back test of the intercoolers. You would have to do this on the road, the dyno would be no help. The 2530's have such great response themselves, you may well be satisfied with what you end up with anyway.

Hope that helps

[Steve]

Interesting thing about theory and the real world.

You can make generalisations such as x type intercooler will have a larger pressure drop than y type intercooler.

In theory a tube and fin shoud have a higher pressure drop than a bar an plate, this is because the tubes extend past the end of the core (only slightly) which in turn means more turbulance (something you need in an intercooler to a degree, as it prevents skin effect), but better cooling.

Then all the variables come along such as core size, end tank design (much overlooked as sydneykid pointed out) and even the number of turbulators inside the tube or bar - these prevent skin effect. Too many and your cooler has too large a pressure drop to work well, too few and it wont cool efficiently.

What I am getting at is, I have seen some very good bar and plate coolers, and some very good tube and fin coolers - I have also seen poor example of both.

I think the trick is to get the right combination of airflow, cooling and pressure drop to suit your application - whether it be bar and plate or tube and fin

And remeber, if you spend a bit more on a good cooler, you get a good product, if you spend less and save a few hundred dollars you may find you are only wasting money. I have seen one guy on this forum who got a custom made cooler, the core size was right, they seemed to know what they were doing. He then tried a Jap cooler, and low and behold, fried his clutch.

I strongly agree with Ronin 09, if it looks too good to be true....

[Ronin 09]

Steve! Hey! whats wrong with custom coolers?!?!! kidding

My ARE cooler is one of the best constructed / fit coolers i have seen, local, jap or otherwise... dammit it cost enough!

[benm]

Did anyone notice (on the www.are.com.au page) the custom oil coolers designed for the R33 GTS-T in place of the grill?

I wonder how badly that would effect the radiator cooling as by the time you put a fmic in the only real way that a radiator can be cooled is thru the grill.

Looks guite snazzy anyhow...

[JimX]

The radiator is cooled through the intercooler. It's just not cooled as effeciently than if there was no intercooler.

[DJ984]

Ok, now you guys are really confusing me.... I wanna put a FMIC on my R32 GTS-t... I wanna get to about 200rwkw so i don't need a top of the line super dooper cooler.... i was simply wondering if a GTR cooler will do the trick.... or would i be better with an aftermarket?... what do i look for in a cooler?... cheers.

[nitemare5]

a GTR cooler will be ample for your application.

[Ronin 09]

DJ984, a GTR cooler will be fine for your application - they will flow up to 300rwkW happily. Hope that simply answers your question.

Money wise, you will have to make the decision whether a second hand $600 GTR cooler vs a new (say) $700 cooler (remembering that you will have to pipe both to fit the GTS-t) is worth it - would you want to spend $100 more for a new cooler?

But yeah, a GTR cooler will be fine for your application.

[Cubes]

So what do you want?

A cooler that fits behind the stock bar or a cooler that requires you to fit an aftermarket/GTR bar.

Then make your decision based on size's available.

[markr34gtr]

a gtr cooler is good for 250 to 300rwks i have been told.

try to get an r34 gtr intercooler as they are silver and have that after market affect...

[rsx84]

Another thought...

How about the new Hybrid intercoolers that are starting to appear around the place?

I bought one of the 600x300x75 hybrid bar/plate and fin supercoolers through e-bay and its surpost to surport up to 800hp with a 0.5psi drop, im running it with the rb20det from a r32 and have had nothing but good things said, as yet i havent driven the car with it cooling the air but will be running 12 psi for now and am just waiting for the pipe work to be finished.

all up for $1100 fitted custom piping thats not a bad deal!

[Steve]

GTR cooler should be more than ample for 200rwkw.

[markr34gtr]

gtr cooler between 600 and 800 bucks...

[JimX]

For the extra $100, I'd rather get a brand new cooler. A GTR cooler might be up to 10 years old and have pinhole leaks, or headed towards getting some. Although if you could get a good deal on a near-new '97 GTR cooler, maybe that'd be ok.

[Cubes]

Thats what I weighed up JimX.

The price difference was not much by the time you get the piping etc made up for the GTR cooler.

I guess it all comes down to what resources are available to the purchaser.