Intercooler: Air vs. Water

[Mighty Thor]

Which one has more advantages when it comes to:

1. Efficiency (mo' flo')

2. HP gain

3. Track

I've looked at air to air and now, air to water. It seems to have more benefit than air to air and less restrictive too.

A guy who installed a custom spearco's air to water on a PD Mustang gained 80 more hp (so I wasn't wrong about Vortech's aftercooler when I mentioned this in the past and I got flagged). He recommends it to me.

It is very pricey though and more stuff goes into it that just bolting on an air to air intercooler.

But what do you guys think. You guys can really influence my thinking. If I don't make up my mind, I'll probably just put my car on booze (alcohol/water spray.) ;)

[GN-T66]

Air to water is very effective at the track. You can put ice water in the reservoir and get substantial gains over just the regular water. You can also remove any heat soak in the system by replacing the ice as often as necessary. Air to water is, however, somewhat complex. You would need the reservoir, and an independent pump system to move water from the box to it's own radiator. And as you said, it isnt cheap. You will see good results either way, but for a street car, I would probably run an air to air unit, and methanol injection if you feel any further cooling is necessary.

[T-Punk]

If you want a decent air to water kit i would look into the PWR intercooler kit sold here http://www.absoluteradiator.com/Inte...s.asp?idDept=7 . go down to the section called PWR Barrel Liquid-to-Air InterCooler Kit and choose the size you feel would fit your app. Its not cheap but its gor everything you need other than a resevoir but that is an easy add on.