An intercooler addition or
upgrade is a sensational way to
get more reliable power out of a
vehicle. We spoke with Dave
Mitchell from High
Performance Diesel to get the
low-down. HPD make some of
the best-quality intercoolers in
the country, and are a
renowned name in the game.
WHY THE NEED FOR
AN INTERCOOLER?
“Turbo-diesel vehicles in the
past would typically come from
the factory non-intercooled,”
says Dave. “This left much to be
desired. A non-intercooled
turbo diesel was only capable of
running very limited boost due
to the high charge air
temperatures produced from
compressing the air. An
intercooler is essentially a heat
exchanger which cools hot
compressed air from the
turbocharger. When a turbo
compresses the air, it becomes
very hot and starts losing
oxygen content. By intercooling
the hot charge air, a cooler
oxygen-enriched air is provided
to the engine for improved
combustion and allows more
fuel to be burned. An
intercooler also increases
reliability of the engine by
providing a constant cooler
temperature of air that allows
the air fuel mixture to stay at
a safe level.”‘TOP MOUNT’ V
‘FRONT MOUNT’- WHAT’S THE
DIFFERENCE?
“A front mount intercooler or
top mount intercooler are for
different setups for different
uses,” Dave continues.
“When it comes down to
performance, a correctly-
designed intercooler
system, whether it be a top
mount or front mount, can give
great results. We find the
people who lean towards the
top mount intercooler upgrades
tend to be the guys that have
older model vehicles which had
a factory top mount intercooler
already installed. Should the
customer be using the vehicle
for towing and touring then we
would recommend a front
mounted intercooler. In this
situation, there is a lot of air
movement being forced through
a front mounted intercooler
keeping the intercooler’s core
cold. This in turn reduces EGTs,we see intake temps as low as
15-30 degrees above ambient
air temperature under full load.
Most modern turbo diesel
vehicles have a front mount
intercooler fitted from factory
and a front mount intercooler
upgrade is the easy option. The
exception here being when a
customer has aftermarket
parts installed. For example, if
a customer is running a large
high mount winch, spotlights,
large bulbar and light bars then
it can be far too tight to fit a
front mount intercooler, in this
case we will opt for a large top
mount intercooler.
Alternatively, if a customer is
running a high mount turbo and
manifold there may not be
enough room to fit a top mount
intercooler in this case the
customer will need to fit a front
mount intercooler.”WATER-TO-AIR
INTERCOOLERS
“Water-to-air intercoolers can
be designed and built to be very
efficient and in most cases, are
designed for a specific task,”
Dave says. “Due to thecomplexities and components
needed they are by far the
hardest to engineer and are the
most expensive to build to
achieve the best results. These
systems also require ongoing
maintenance and inspection to
ensure reliability over the life of
system.”SHOULD YOU
UPGRADE YOUR
FACTORY
INTERCOOLER?“A factory top mounted
intercooler is usually too small
and would create a high
pressure drop across the core
making it inefficient in most
cases,” says Dave. “The reason
for this is that the air will be
travelling through the core too
fast to give a reduction in air
temperature. We have also
observed over time that most
factory style crimped
intercoolers will develop leaks
at the tank crimp joints
resulting in boost leaks which
can cause over fuelling and
other associated problems.”Radiator temperatures aren’t the only thing you should be aware of
Non-intercooled^ vehicles^
will^ benefit^ hugely^ from^ the^
fitment^ of^ an^ intercoolerFactory (^) intercooler v aftermarket
replacement – (^) there are substantial
power and reliability gains to be had her
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