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1999-2004 Chicane Intercooler for Saleen
Series 2 / 4 |
Saleen Series 2 and 4 Intercooler Upgrade!
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The
purpose of an intercooler in a supercharged car is to remove the heat generated
by the supercharger from the supercharged air. This is done with either an "air
to air" intercooler or an "air to water" intercooler system.
Both
are extremely effective but “air to air” systems largely take up space due the
plumbing necessary to move the air to the front of the vehicle where “air to
air” intercoolers are typically located. These units are largely found on turbo
applications, and with supercharger manufacturers such as Paxton and ProCharger.
“Air
to Water” intercooler systems have become increasingly more popular over the
years. They are compact and extremely efficient. The intercooler in this system
is typically located directly under the supercharger. Ken Belle, Whipple,
Magnuson and Saleen use this type of cooling process.
This
process involves an intercooler that receives the air directly from the
supercharger. Ambient air is naturally superheated inside the supercharger
during the compression process. It’s then forced into and through the
intercooler. As hot air travels through the intercooler, the intercooler becomes
very warm.
To
combat this warm temperature, water is passed through the tubes or plates of the
intercooler. “There is the “tube and fin” design or “bar and plate” design. Both
are widely used but the “bar and plate design is more costly and higher
quality”. As the water travels through, the intercooler is quenches the
intercooler and removes the heat. The hot water is then pumped to the front of
the vehicle were it is cooled in the heat exchanger by the rush of oncoming air.
(The heat exchanger is the smaller radiator unit located at the lower extremity
of the Saleen air dam) The water continually cycles through the system
attempting to lower the intercooler to the waters own temperature. Supercharged
Saleen Mustangs from 1998 to 2004 utilized "air to water" intercoolers on all of
their Series 1,2, 4 and Extreme models.
The
factory Saleen intercooler has inherent design flaws that involve perimeter gaps
which allowed hot air to escape the cooling process. A large percentage of the
hot air which should be harnessed into the intercooler travels down around the
front, rear and sides of the intercooler. This hot air rejoins the intercooled
air and reheats the air charge. In essence, the factory Saleen intercooler
removes only a portion of the heat from the air charge which is why the needle
on the intercooler water temp gauge barely moves around. The air charge is
constantly monitored by the vehicles computer and has a direct impact on the
engine timing which is essential making horsepower.

The
Chicane Intercooler features benefits that that are two fold: 1.It seals the
entire air passage which forces all compressed air through the intercooler. 2.
The bar and plate design (versus factory tube and fin) filter the air charge
more efficiently for increased heat extraction. We remove the more heat from the
supercharged air and send through into the water system which is why you will
see move movement on the intercooler water temp gauge with our system.
You
will feel more power with this unit and see the results on the dyno. A cooler,
more dense air charger allows more air and fuel molecules into the combustion
chamber. Additionally, this cooler air charge, triggers the vehicles computer to
automatically add more timing. This means more horsepower for each pound of
boost. Chicane's custom intercooler increases blower efficiency and gains up to
50 horsepower.
Our
Price: $795.95

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