AIR 2 WATER OR AIR 2 AIR !?!

[5timesturbo]

So I'm planning out my turbo project want to start at the start of the year. I'm building a daily driver that I occasionally want to track...occasionally. I've always been a fan of air to water...I ran it in my xr4ti. I think it allows for a shorter distance between turbo and intake resulting less lag AND it keeps better intake temps when driving around town?? However, the fact that I've never turboed a e28 or any normally NA car... I'm just wanna see if anybody has some advice important concerning intercooler selection...

[Mark 88/M5 Houston]

Everything you need to know about turbocharging M20 & M30 BMW motors can be found here:
http://turbochargingdynamics.com/

[5timesturbo]

Everything you need to know about turbocharging M20 & M30 BMW motors can be found here:
http://turbochargingdynamics.com/

I see....air 2 water it is.lol

[Cupholder Zealot]

I initially wanted to go with an Air to Air so that the system would be foolproof, no water pumps, wiring, etc, but the space needed for the tubing and the heat exchanged were prohibitive on this car without cutting serious sheetmetal, so I did a DIY Water to Air.

Between my intercooler, water injection, and TCD turbo chip, I have been reliably running ~10 PSI without detonation. But, I don't race my car, its daily driver only.

[5timesturbo]

I initially wanted to go with an Air to Air so that the system would be foolproof, no water pumps, wiring, etc, but the space needed for the tubing and the heat exchanged were prohibitive on this car without cutting serious sheetmetal, so I did a DIY Water to Air.

Between my intercooler, water injection, and TCD turbo chip, I have been reliably running ~10 PSI without detonation. But, I don't race my car, its daily driver only.

Thanks for the info...real informative because I plan to stay around the same boost level for now. If my car was gonna be strictly a track car I wouldn't bother with the air 2 water set up...but I'm sure once I get the initial bugs out if the system whatever they might be...she should do good on a track... I'm only hpde2 right now...nothing too serious...lol

[Brad D.]

I have been running an A2A cooler for the better part of 6 years with no issues. A W2A may package with slightly shorter piping and it may mitigate some heat soak issues, I did my system on a budget and a bespoke W2A cooler and hardware didn't fit. Below is a quick plot of IAT temp vs MAP while running my car on the dyno. Take it with a grain of salt as there are many factors at play, and that data set is less than scientific, but it shows that an A2A cooler can keep intake temps at a reasonable level during short bursts of power.