Just wondering if there's a benefit to using an intercooler without a turbo or supercharger installed. Does the cooling benefit get negated by the restriction of flow? I'm just looking for ways to increase my car's hot weather performance, summer-time bogging really bugs me.
No.
Cooling ambient air with ambient air is not going to gain you anything.
Correct and you will probably make things worse by choking down the air
If you’re looking to cool your air there’s a product called MR.FREEZE I don’t know much about it other then its new. It might not even be for you.
build more power.... ?
Uh..what?
Basically, the purpose of the intercooler is to cool the air that has, essentially been heated up by the turbo. It tries to bring it back down to a lower temp. A fenderwell mounted intake (which these cars have stock) will achieve the same goal on a naturally aspirated car.
You need a CAI. Think about it. That same air you are trying to use to cool your intake charge could just be drawn into the system instead. Like Ifixyawata said, the turbo/supercharger heats up the air when it compresses it, hince the need for an intercooler to bring the temps back down to wart off detonation.
Furthermore there is a pressure drop due to the restriction of the intercooler. And it adds weight.
Get a CAI kit and maybe even a Ram-air kit or something. :)
I'd love to get a cold air kit but I don't think there's one made for my car. The intake duct goes from a round hole in the fender to a rectangular hole in the air cleaner. I'd probably need an aftermarket air cleaner.