Bigger Intercooler.

[TonyGoose]

I find myself pondering the benefits or otherwise of a larger intercooler.

Larger area should mean a cooler air charge so benefit there.

That's about the only pro i can think of.

As a cynic ( moi? ) i can think of a few down sides (theoretical at least).

Fitting problems - additional height, width and / or depth.

What's best - larger frontal area or thicker? The former at a guess.

Presumably there's an increase in volume between s/c or turbo + throttle body.

So that's more work for a blower to do to build pressure in the system.

Is some kind of 'lag' likely as a result + would s/c suffer from this like a turbo ?

D'ya ever have the feeling you're thinking a bit too hard about something?

Let me go and find some chocolate - that'll help i'm sure

[ColinBarber]

I guess you need to know how well the air is currently being cooled. If say it was being cooled nearly all the way down to ambient temperature then a bigger cooler cannot do anymore. If you are planning on increasing the boost pressure, and therefore raising the temp of the compressed air, then your current IC may not be able to cope and therefore an upgrade would be of benefit.

Remember that bigger doesn't always mean better, it's the efficiency of the IC that matters. The same thing with exhausts, a badly designed one could make things worse not better.