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Originally Posted by twistedmosaic
And I'm sure by 'before' what you really mean is 'after'  Before it gets compressed, it is at ambient temp--running it through an intercooler would just make it, er, more ambient? |
We're getting closer. The intercooler does indeed come after the turbo. Although the air going into a turbo is already hot, by virtue of it being heated by the engine and expelled as exhaust, the intercooler is really meant to cool the air prior to going into the intake. As a byproduct of the turbo compressing the air, the air is also heated (I am not a biophysist, but think of a conferance room full of people being forced to squish into an elevator, except on a cellular level). Engines perform better when they take in cooler air (think of race cars looking for "clean air" in which to run) and thus the need for an intercooler. (Now someone will come along and correct me and thus the education begins.)