Thread: Bell Auto Services Hi-flow Intercooler. Any comments or reviews?

well...... I have an Alisport but it will be the same. I was advised by Dave? at BAS its been a while; before he was doing them for himself that an intercooler would be better than an exhaust. I put it in before the tune and could tell no difference. And after the tune still could tell no difference. Perhaps a dyno can tell the difference but very hard through the seat of your pants.
All I go on is the motor is getting as good as it can. Is it worth $800, I don't think so. Would I do it again, probably not.

But rest assured there will be plenty who disagree, so that all I will say.

I am no "Guru" on this subject, but I'm interested as I may get a tune myself one day.
I've seen the new BAS intercooler article on Def 2, & it looks pretty good, it guarantees O.E. fitting (original brackets/mounting points) capability with A/C & Non A/C vehicles, & also has "cutouts" in the tanks to allow for hoses.
The intercooler will not necessarily provide any increase in performance or power.
What I'm told is that a good intercooler will provide lower inlet air temperatures, which could be particularly important for a hard working tuned Puma engine on a hot Aussie day.
So, IMHO, if ya've got a tune, an intercooler is going to provide a healthier environment for your engine, but not necessarily provide any noticeable increase in power.
Pickles.

Hi

That how I understand it to. It drops intake air temps and so engine combustion temps. You can use this two ways, leave the fuel delivery stock and probably enjoy increased reliability...this can be disappointing from a value for money sense..as it all a bit intangible.

Or you can boost the fuel and benefit from increased horsepower with less or without overheating problems.

I was put off the by the fitting problems with the Spoilsport so interested to see if anyone has fitted this up, and how it all went, etc. Maybe not yet afetr all it's early days for a new product.

Clive

So I bought the BAS 150AB tune first. Write ups and recommendations stated there is no need for an uprated intercooler for this.

The BAS device let's you see live values such as ambient air temp and air temp after intercooler.

With the 150AB tune that seemed fine. Air temp after intercooler was not too far above ambient air temp, maybe 10-20C higher at worst.

Later I bought the upgrade to 170AB tune and ordered the larger (allisport) intercooler as per recommendation. The new tune arrived well before the intercooler. I had to play! Couldn't wait for the intercooler. But was a bit clever about how I played.

Herein lies the difference made by the bigger intercooler:
- with stock tune, or the 150AB tune, the stock intercooler was ok: Engine breathing air about 10-20C above ambient (30C) at the most, and only when really hammering it over extended distances.

- with 170AB tune & stock intercooler: just a few seconds of full throttle (LITERALLY!) would see the temp after intercooler surge high above ambient. Like 60C or more above!

- any tune (stock, 150AB, or 170AB ) with the larger allisport intercooler fitted: Air temp after intercooler is either at, or no more than 1-2C above, ambient temp no matter how hard or how long you are hammering.

So that might bear up what others wrote. Uprating the intercooler on stock or 150AB tunes may not result in any increase in performance detectable by a bum dyno.

Reduced intake temps make for reduced EGT and that's a good thing. Perhaps little difference with stock tune. Perhaps making the difference between a functional engine and a damaged engine at higher states of tune.

I would recomend that if your doing a remap/tune, that a bigger cooler and exhaust are a must. The cooler will provide cooler inlet temps and help reduce egts and provide better power and torque.
No point trying to get more air into the engine if you cant force out the hot exhaust gases quickly enough though so i recomend doing the following to the exhaust:
a decat and straight pipe replacing the centre muffler. The little muffler at the back of the exhaut is up to you, leave it or remove it!

If you check the flow on a 2.2 it doesn't take much to make it breathe (exhaust) - the pipe is well over the diameter needed for the engine...

Just free it up...

Thats what i was implying. Keep the same diameter just do a decat and remove the centre silencer/muffler and rear if you choose leaving a straight through exhaust

Even the Cat isn't a huge restriction given its physical size!



Taking it out did marginally improve spool up.
They are a bastard to get out though!