[ciomas]

I've been plannig an intercooler upgrade since I fitted
the AR catless downpipe. It was crucial for me to have
this done before I proceed with a remap. I have
spoken to a couple of compaties who do them on
n55 engines here in Europe but it will need to wait
until early next year. Meanwhile I decided to give the
n55 JB Stage 2 a try (thanks Mike for anwsering all
my questions prior to purchase).

As some of you might have seen me mention,
the guys at Forge Motorsport UK recently took
my car in for a little development. They were
willing work on an N55 intercooler application
and I was more than happy to supply the car.

It was with them for two weeks. During this time
they managed to perfect the fitment for the 335.
It is a bar and plate core. Very clean installation
that requires no trmming whatsoever. I must say
I quite like the oem look of the unit (impossible to
notice from the outside). You can also see Forge
recreated the intercooler couplers so it fits with
the oem piping.

This is one of the early progress shots:




further shots show the finished product in place.
I have been a sucker for good welds ever since
I first tried welding something on my own
...and lets just say it isn't one of my many talents





couplers in action



With the intercooler in place Chris and the guys begun
dyno testing and temperature logging:





Tests have been performed on:


-map 0 (stock) + stock intercooler

-map 1 + stock intercooler

-map 0 + forge intercooler

-map 1 + forge intercooler

On map 0 the differences between intercoolers
were negligible - 355bhp and 355lb/ft stock and virtually
the same with the new intercooler in place.

On map 1 the car made 374bhp and 439 lb/ft
with the stock core so quite a jump in torque over
map 0, however this really tested the intercooler and
the inlet temp peaked at 60 deg C. You can see a dip
in the graph as this temp is reached and the ECU pull
timing or fuel (or both) to compensate. You probably
wouldn’t notice it on the road but it’s there.

On map 1 with upgraded intercooler on the
car made 389.6bhp (so +15bhp) and 440lb/ft .
The peak torque figure is the same but it holds
the torque much higher for much longer, look at
the differences between the solid and faint orange
lines on the graph – for instance with new core on
it makes 25lb/ft more torque at 4500rpm than with
the stock core. Peak inlet temp with new core was
39 deg C ( 21 less then stock). This is where you
can see the benefit of the cooler intake - new core
keeps making power and torque, where the stock
one starts to drop away.

*** Edit ***

I just received the temperature log from Chris @ Forge
The results are slightly better than I initialy thought.
The stock intercooler peaked at 66.2 deg C and Forge
Intercooler peaked at 36.6 deg C so a difference of 30 deg C.
Ambient temp was 12 deg C. As testing has been carried
out on a dyno, I'm expecting for these results to be even
better with more airflow when the vehicle is moving.

******


Dyno sheets:

Map 0 + stock intercooler



Map 1 + stock intercooler vs Map 1 + upgraded intercooler



I must say I'm very pleased with the new improved
curves. Unfortunately we didnt get a chance to run
any tests on Map 2 and Map 7 and I can immagine
the numbers could be quite impressive. Also there
wasn't a single dry day since I got the JB Stage 2
around 3 weeks so I couldnt really test the power
(I tend to break traction in 3rd)...I will be going
home for christmas so I'm planning to hit the same
dyno where I took my stock car prior to installing
any mods in order to see what the delta is.

Again many thanks for Chris and the Forge team
in Gloucester. Brilliant guys, amazing workshop
and incredible craftsmanship. Hope we will still
have a chance to work on something in the
future.

Michal


oh, and just a little sneak peek of what the guys have
been up to these days

[eyim1988]

very cool!

[Slops]

Nice write up!

Keep the good stuff coming. Turbo upgrade is next please

[mashimarho]

Oooooooo

[turugara]

Looks good!

Perhaps some IAT logs would help?

[eyim1988]

Originally Posted by turugara

Looks good!

Perhaps some IAT logs would help?

+1

[MJR63]

Nice setup. Looks like quality workmanship!

[FrankiE90]

very clean -
nice plug and play option.
ciomas.

[datbimmerdoe]

solid! nice n thorough write up

[ciomas]

Originally Posted by eyim1988

+1

I will ask the guys if they have any graphs to support the temperature logs.

Originally Posted by FrankiE90

very clean -
nice plug and play option.
ciomas.

Frankie, thanks for updating the sticky

[ciomas]

Originally Posted by eyim1988

+1

The results are slightly better than I initialy thought. The stock intercooler peaked at 66.2 deg C and Forge Intercooler peaked at 36.6 deg C so a difference of 30 deg C. Ambient temp was 12 deg C. Testing has been carried out on a dyno. Im expecting for these results to be even better with more airflow when the vehicle is moving.

[IancoleTX]

Originally Posted by ciomas

The results are slightly better than I initialy thought. The stock intercooler peaked at 66.2 deg C and Forge Intercooler peaked at 36.6 deg C so a difference of 30 deg C. Ambient temp was 12 deg C. Testing has been carried out on a dyno. Im expecting for these results to be even better with more airflow when the vehicle is moving.

Wowza, nice chart. Afraid to hear what it will cost though!