THS Intercooler for 2.0TFSI Cars

[Hurdy]

Mine has just arrived today

Looks a quality piece of kit

[Poppa Dom]

Mine has just arrived today

Looks a quality piece of kit

It certainly is!

[pat15312]

any comparison logs between APR, Twintercooler, THS and stock S3 available anywhere?

[Poppa Dom]

Be lucky of if you will find all of these aggregated in one place on the web, but the info is out there - I have THS logs if needed. IMHO I would go for either of the two following arrangements: THS or S3 plus twintercooler. There are plenty of threads on here already that discuss the relative merits of each, search is your friend. 

[Mackie1]

I finally managed to convince myself i needed one of these in my life and after much debate i took the plunge and ordered one last week. It arrived this morning promptly by courier and i've gotta agree with Hurdy, this looks like one quality and beautifully engineered bit of kit. Install is happening tomorrow...cant wait...!!

[Teutonic_Tamer]

are there downsides to having such large capacity intercoolers, such as extra lag maybe.

its ok having really cool intake temperatures but if your spool up suffers with lag, it could make sense to stick to the S3 intercooler.

The crucial issue with intercoolers is their internal flow rates.  A highly efficient i/c may actually see a drop in boost pressure, because it can deliver a higher 'CFM'.  And there is now way an intercooler can affect turbo lag.

[vRS Carl]

If you see a drop in boost pressure will this not create lag though as surely the lower pressure means it takes the turbo longer to spool up?

Or is that not how it works?

[KRL]

^^^ Carl, I think what T_T means is that an intercooler with a very efficient flow rate will mean the turbo will not need to boost as much to meet the specified boost.

The measurement for boost with VCDS is taken post the intercooler.  So for example if you are boosting at 20 PSI the turbo may actually be boosting at 25 PSI to make that 20 PSI post the intercooler.  All the stuff between the turbo and intake manifold (intercooler, pipes, tb pipe) will cause a drop in boost pressure.

Therefore if you have an intercooler with a highly efficient flow rate it will mean the turbo is not having to work as hard to meet the specified boost.  For example with an uprated intercooler it may now be boosting at 23 PSI to make that 20 PSI post the intercooler.

These figures are just exmaples so not accurate to any specific intercoolers.

[KRL]

It is actually explained very nicely on THS's website!

Pressure drop
How does reducing pressure drop help?
On the 2.0TFSI engine the boost pressure is measured on the up-pipe after the intercooler. However the boost pressure here, or at the intake manifold will be less than that at the turbo outlet. This is because of the restriction of the intercooler and pipe work.

Example restrictive core
Intake manifold pressure:     25 psi
Restriction / Pressure drop:     6 psi
Turbo outlet the pressure:     31 psi



Reducing the pressure drop by means of a more efficient intercooler and pipe work requires the turbo to produce less boost pressure at its outlet whilst still maintaining the required boost pressure at the intake manifold.

Example free flow core
Intake manifold pressure:     25 psi
Restriction / Pressure drop:     3 psi
Turbo outlet the pressure:     28 psi



This has 2 distinct advantages:
Compressing air causes it to increase in temperature, the less it is compressed the colder it remains.
An intercooler which offers good cooling but with a high pressure drop due to restrictive core and excessive pipe work is less efficient than one with similar cooling but a less restriction.
The turbo is not working as hard to produce the same requested boost at the manifold. Prolonging the life of turbo.

[stealthwolf]

Thanks - a much clearer post.

[vRS Carl]

Cheers KRL

I understand it now 

[Poppa Dom]

Having clocked up some 16k miles with the THS fmic I can vouch for it being a well designed and quality engineered piece of kit.

[GTIforpassion]

Very interesting thread, many thanks !!   

[Teutonic_Tamer]

^^^ Carl, I think what T_T means is that an intercooler with a very efficient flow rate will mean the turbo will not need to boost as much to meet the specified boost.

The measurement for boost with VCDS is taken post the intercooler.  So for example if you are boosting at 20 PSI the turbo may actually be boosting at 25 PSI to make that 20 PSI post the intercooler.  All the stuff between the turbo and intake manifold (intercooler, pipes, tb pipe) will cause a drop in boost pressure.

Therefore if you have an intercooler with a highly efficient flow rate it will mean the turbo is not having to work as hard to meet the specified boost.  For example with an uprated intercooler it may now be boosting at 23 PSI to make that 20 PSI post the intercooler.

These figures are just exmaples so not accurate to any specific intercoolers.

That's exactly what I was trying to say! 

The real test of an intercoolers 'internal' efficiency should be its internal flow rate - in American English, that would be 'cubic feet per minute' (CFM), or in metric 'litres per minute' (L/m).  High CFMs are far more important than high boost pressures - but sadly, most peeps are not aware of CFMs, and get hung up on high boost readings.

[Carrera2RS]

I spoke to Revo and they are THS fans ahead if twintercooler. I like the idea of lower temps, improved efficiency and less soft/flat performance in the summer. Plus more headroom against det

I'd love to see figs for power improvements against the twintercooler