After reading loads of threads about intercoolers, their prices and you get what you pay for thought it would be good to put some to a rolling road test. Ive got a Ktec fitted to my 225 Trophy which I will happily use if anyone local to Nottingham has a Forge, Airtec, Chinese or anything else they would like to add. Never seen any tests on the Meganes and most info is from sellers which arent always accurate so will be nice to see which gives best results and which doesn't.
if they're not tested on the same car and dyno, it will be impossible to compare (unless you get so many measurements, you can take advantage of statistics).
Thought that was obvious so didn't mention it.All will be on the same day too. Hopefully if anyone is interested to see which intercooler is best we could run them on a higher powered Megane but I'm more than happy to run them on mine.
*We've been intercooler testing - 225/R26. Ok, one of the most common questions we get asked is which is the best intercooler for the 225/R26. Having thoroughly tested our intercoolers inthe past*I thought it time to do some back to back testing today. For these tests we used 3 intercoolers, our uprated alloy intercooler with 50mm core, the Forge alloy intercooler and our larger alloy intercooler with its 80mm core. We wanted to carry out a series of tests and these included wieght, inlet temperature (measured at the inlet manifold) at cruise, inlet temperature at*full throttle*run, core temperature after full throttle run and air flow through the core of the intercooler (to the radiator). The figures below are taken from an average of 3 runs. The tests were conducted this morning on our rolling road where the ambient air temperature was a steady 20 degrees C. The car remained in a fixed position on the rollers and the*cooling fan*remained in the same position throughout testing. We also used an animomiter to measure the air flow through the core to what sort of restriction the intercooler would cause to air getting to the radiator. First up was our 50mm intercooler, this weighs in at just 3.5kg. At a 60mph cruise the inlet temp measured by the Renault diagnostic CLIP was 23 C and at wide open throttle the inlet temps peaked at 39 C. As soon as the WOT run was complete the core temperature was measured at 44 C. Air flow through the core was measured at 560 fpm. Next up was the Forge intercooler, this weighs in at 7.3kg. At a 60mph cruise the inlet temp measured by the Renault diagnostic CLIP was 25 C and at wide open throttle the inlet temps peaked at 46 C. Where our 50mm intercooler peaked at 39 C, the Forge inlet temps were still climbing at the red line with each additional run. As soon as the WOT run was complete the core temperature was measured at 54 C. Air flow through the core was measured at 460 fpm. Finally we tested our*new*80mm intercooler, this weighs in at 6.3kg. At a 60mph cruise the inlet temp measured by the Renault diagnostic CLIP was 25 C and at wide open throttle the inlet temps peaked at 31 C. As soon as the WOT run was complete the core temperature was measured at 38 C. Air flow through the core was measured at 430 fpm. I hope this goes some way to answering the question and we hope to have our 80mm intercooler available in the next couple of months. David. Guess thats Forge off my list seeing as it wasn't as good as the old 50mm ktec core and a lot heavier.
Yeah i've read that too, tbh it was k-tecs own test though wasnt it? If so i'd take it with a pinch of salt, their not going to say their products are worse than the competition!
You'll find Ktech like to blow their own trumpet. Not saying the products are naff just have to use your common sense with the marketing BS.
Ive found nearly all like to blow their own trumpets about their products not just ktec which is why I would like to do, see an independent forum test to see which intercooler really is best for our cars, 260-310bhp mark should cover most of them so no need for the 80mm ktec one just the 60mm as that is rated upto 350bhp iirc. At least they supplied some figures which as far as I can see Forge haven't disputed.
Perhaps thats because forge don't need to slag off other companies products? The heavier weight could be construed as better build quality (not that i'm saying it is) also you don't know if they had the bonnets open for their intercooler tests while the forge was closed or the fan was turned down / angled differently etc etc. I wouldn't personally trust figures off a company that wants to sell you their product as its not independent unbiased testing. I'd be very interested in any testing that you can do as that would be more independant, have you tried contacting steve as i think he's around nottingham, not sure if its r26rsteve? The only testing i know of where someone RR their car before and after with a k-tec intercooler vs standard lost 10bhp instead of gaining the 10+bhp that k-tec state http://www.meganesport.net/communit...0-Intercooler-on-Standard-R26-10bhp-different!! TBH though most companies will state theirs is better, i remember reading about the airtec intercooler development and if you read that, that's allegedly the best intercooler available - although its bar and plate not tube and fin so i don't buy into that. I did some personal tests on my chinese intercooler off ebay and that provides 29-30% better cooling than the OEM cooler, exactly what it says in the ebay ad which is good enough for me, I think the k-tec 50mm cooler was rated to 350bhp whereas the forge one was rated for 400bhp
I would love to get a test going( doubt it will happen though) as I need an uprated intercooler and obviously want to buy the best one. Would be nice if Forge, ktec and Airtec got together and put their product to the test against each others so we could all see which one is best. They could make the loser pay for the day.
Or if we can get three owners (of each different intercooler) to come together and put each intercooler on the same car and then same dyno... ... its a big ask......
Heavier weight will be due to a different style intercooler. I bet one is bar and plate the other tube and fin.
Yeah R26R steve is from Nottingham too i think, not sure if he's on here but may be worth dropping him a pm to see if he would be up for a test, although i'm unsure what intercooler if any (apart from standard) he has!? http://www.meganesport.net/community/member.php?7391-R26.R-Steve
If this goes ahead all Intercoolers will be weighed. Bar and plate tend to be around twice the weight of tube and fin like for like. Weight might not matter to some people but the info will be there for anyone who is.
Im also looking into fitting a boost gauge pre intercooler to get a pressure drop measurement too. Its not perfect but will give a decent enough figure.
Thats very nice but way too big for my needs. If I forge and big turbo the Trophy I would be very tempted by that.
Mark why did you post that? I know I'm going to end up buying that 95mm ktec intercooler and putting the 60mm one on the diesel now. For that money I cant resist.
None. No one offered any other to test. Im just going to buy another 60mm ktec as i dont want bar and plate.
ktec only sell the 95mm rebranded airtec intercooler on their site, looks like they stopped selling smaller ones. :/
Bugger. If I cant get one i will buy an evo 7-9 intercooler and make my own pipe kit. Good enough for an FQ400 so easily good enough for my Megane. Done this on a previous car with good results and they can be brought very cheap.
Yes for me. Too big and too heavy. Im only using my car as a road car and Its never going to go any where the power that a 60mm intercooler cant cope with.
I'm thinking a winner racing ebay jobby as its 60mm, if it will fit in the clio... The std megane one does so don't see why not .
I'm thinkin of gettin airtec one after xmas I have a 60 mm one on just now pm me after xmas if u want
I'm not bothering with this now. I've already decided on what I'm going to do and its doesn't involve any of these intercoolers.
