Quote:
Originally Posted by johnung
I've been researching intercooler upgrades for the N55 so I am very curious about your test results. My understanding is that the ATM is a bar & plate design while the Wagner Competition2 is a tube & fin design. I have the impression that the Wagner should have better heat recovery during repeated pulls and, maybe, less pressure drop. Curious what your findings are?
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The Wagner does flow better. This isn't observed on the track (since RPMs are kept high enough that you're never really starting from 0 boost), but is most observable in daily driving (such as accelerating from a stop). Looking at the track data, the boost between the ATM and Wagner was the same, and one didn't seem to really rise/fall significantly faster than the other.
In daily driving though I clearly noticed a difference in how low my mpg meter would drop going from a stop before the system was pressurized. The Wagner drops to about mid to high 8mpg, the ATM low 8mpg, and the CSF would do mid to high 7mpg. This correlated with turbo lag, or how long it felt before the power came on.
From the graphs above, the Wagner tube and fin design doesn't show any benefit with regards to heat recovery, and even if it did, it's baseline level is still as high/higher than the highest ATM reading.