Oh, and it looks like coolant temps are significantly cooler. On a certain mountain run, temps remained barely above my t-stat cracking temperature, while with the AVO ic it would go about 5°C hotter.

Nice work! Always nice to see actual numbers (even if ecu estimates) vs. "it felt faster."

On a completely different note, did ya get the coils I sent yet?

jason- how is it positioned relative to the AVO? fore/aft? up/down?

was the avo bar and plate?

:inout:

thanks timmy.

so basically the generalizations about how bar and plate vs tube and fin compare is supported.

a thick-wall square-cornered extrusion behaves like a big heatsink and a smooth tube lets air flow around it better.

I remember when "bar-n-plate" was cool

Starion baby!

It's not just that the tubes are smoother, the opening area of the tdr is much greater. Look at the closeups.

The AVO is a very good i/c; just needs a BEGI scoop. 8-p

"opening area" - as in the area between the tubes- right? The area where the air passes through looks to be twice the thickness of the tube on the TDR, whereas it's the same thickness on the bar and plate. (I think that's your point) Same number of tubes on both ICs?

I wished I liked the wizdom front end, because it looks like it would dramatically increase the front end air flow - the scooper just looks too "form follows function". It would be nice to resolve it in a spoiler.
http://www.wickedbodies.net/90-98-Mi...izdom%20fb.jpg

Exactly. However that would suggest a higher pressure loss for the intake airflow. Given that it's not the case, plus the poorer intake air heat shedding, it's possible the TDR has fewer internal turbulators for the intake airflow.

hmmm that wizdom front end isn't that bad on a white miata

Wished I could log the boost levels and air temps pre and post IC with my ecu.

I like the wizdom the best of the "typical" miata aftermarket fronts, just like the OE nose with the OE spoiler better.

It leans into the mouth at the top. The AVO was vertical.
I noticed that with the TDR, there was a much bigger gap for air to go above the i/c into the radiator. The gap is between the i/c and the bumper horizontal steel box section. In the AVO the gap could barely pass a finger.

Today in 85°F weather, 80 mph on the freeway for 20 mins, the a/c, coolant, and oil temps were noticeably cooler. Coolant was ~ 85°C, oil was 87°C max. Small oil cooler in foglight hole. Normally things would be at least 5°C hotter. I'm pleased.

Similar to the barNplate vs. tubeNfin argument - is the spacing between heat exchangers. I followed the the thinking that they should all be sandwiched together (I'm assuming your AVO was this way) so that the oncoming wouldn't create a path around the IC. Of course given you're results, it doesn't seem to matter since the coolant temp has improved and your air temps are too.

I guess you'd really need to put the AVO cooler back in their at the same position/angle to make this a legitimate comparison. ;)

So it was a bit hot today and I took the car to my 2 steep cooling system torture test hills. Talked my way out of a 62 in a 40 ticket on the way there. ;) Road was really wide and really deserted with 6 stinkin' lanes. Rich people complaining...

Result: the coolant is at LEAST 5°C cooler than before in similar conditions. That would mean my car can do track days in at least 10°F hotter weather than before.

Wonder if the gap between the two is also cutting back on any IC heat soak from the rad...

So today it was 98°F out, and I took the car to my torture test hill again.
Result: coolant 107°C, oil 108°C at the top of the hill.
During freeway cruise, coolant was barely 94°C and oil barely 100°C.

With my old i/c, I would get about 114°C coolant and ~115°C oil at the top of the hill under these conditions, and maybe 103°C coolant and 110°C oil during cruise.

A/C was also very comfy on '3', and I'm an a/c fiend.

Peak intake air temps were 55°C; at the bottom of the hill it was 45°C. The highest rise was 6°C, from 8 seconds of partial boost.

So now we need to find an equivalent of this core on ebay. :)

Frank