Air temps, what should they be?
 

Im wanting to know what my air temp range should be around if i am getting decent cooling from the intercooler. My setup right now is ok but my commander says around 55C (130F) and it was about 80-85F outside. engine temp was 88C (190F).

also has anyone ran anything like this http://www.designengineering.com/pro...sp?m=sp&pid=72

Depends on your driving. Is that cruising?? If so it's pretty high, if it's in the city and it's getting heat soaked, or you are driving really hard that's pretty normal.

Also depends on your setup. Take a pic and show us.

appears to be a smic

here is the only pic i have, from what i can tell its a ebay type intercooler, but i do have the pettit intake for it but it does not cover it all as you can see. i may do a front mount or get another intercooler.

http://www.rotarycarclub.com/attachm...1&d=1210279865

My car is around the same numbers but with a top-mount. What are the conditions when these numbers are observed?

this was just the other day, on back roads spirited driving. about 80-85F temps outside so road temp im shure was around 100 or more.

I'd like to see a closer pic of the IC setup. Can't see too much from that pic.

What I do see doesn't look good. It looks to me like there is a huge gap between the duct and the IC. The duct should be flush with the IC. If the duct isn't flush, when air comes up into the duct instead of going through the IC it will go over and around it.

Does the duct have a bottom to it?

The IC looks pretty good but this looks like a typical case where someone tried to install a part but didn't do it right. In my experience, a FMIC won't be much better. The air might be cooler but the engine bay was generally hotter b/c there wasn't a lot of air flow past the FMIC. Coolant temps also ran 10 C hotter which sucked. My turbos spool up much faster with a SMIC and now a VMIC.

Also, that is a highly desirable M2 intake. Not a Pettit.

albertomg, you have just made me realize something. Let me get this straight is the air temp that the commander is giving me the air coming in from the M2 intake or is it the IC temps. the IC temps are what i am after. I have confused myself and in return everyone else. lol sorry about this if so. as far as the Pettit IC duct it is flush its just that the IC is bigger than the duct. and i know that is not good. I plan on Changing the IC with somthing better and re-piping everything.

the intake temp are from after the intercooler, the stock location of the air temp sensor is under the UIM. some people move it to the throttle body Elbow or after intercooler piping to reduce heat soak numbers, but then require recalibrating in the ECU because of lower intake temp being recorded.

The air intake temp is measured after the intercooler. Unless you have relocated the sensor, it is located on the bottom of the upper intake manifold where it gets heat soaked.

It's advisable to relocate the air intake temp sensor somewhere between the throttle body elbow and intercooler end tank (on the discharge side) for more accurate readings.

Jack

Couldn't you also install one before the IC to see how efficiently the IC is/isn't working? Some people might think it's overkill but I'd like to use 4 AITs. One at the intake, one before the IC, one after the IC and one at the TB (i'm on a second gen so that's where mine is). You'd be able to find intake temp issues faster by figuring out where it's not performing (too high of temps).

I will be lurking the 3rd gen section so I can learn more through your experiences (it's only a matter of time before I end up in an FD).

I suppose you could do that, but you should be able to tell how well it is working based on the outside temperature and the temperature you are getting based on the boost you are running. A very efficient intercooler wont have temperatures much higher then ambient outside air. I think having too many sensors would just make a person paranoid and give more room for problems. Like if one sensor goes out and all of a sudden shows a really high temperature or something and you spend all this time trying to figure out whats going on when its not even really that important cause what the engine sees is the main thing.

Supposedly you can cause the Air temp sensor to react faster by shaving back some of the plastic and allowing more of the metal sensor to show.

Like the others have said, the air temp is measured under the UIM and it heat soaks a helluva lot. Mine is still there b/c changing it to a better location should be accompanied with tuning. It doesn't really bother me too much as I'm pretty comfortable the factory and Apexi took that into account in their tuning.

Your AIT temps aren't terrible. They match the temps that my Greddy FMIC used to give me except my coolant temps were always in the 90 C range.

My friend is using an ebay IC similar to yours on his/our custom Vmount setup and it works very well.

I think your temps are pretty normal for that kind of setup. Its hard to get low AIT with a SMIC but its harder dealing with the ramifications of most FMICs. Been there done that...

yeah i have decided that i prob wont do a FMIC.

Has anyone tried using Purple ice in the coolant? i have used it in the bike i had and it worked well. dropped temps by 10 to 15 deg. http://www.royalpurple.com/radiator-additive.html