So, I decided to be all engineer- like and scientific and to do an experiment before installing new parts on my car. I figured I'd also share what I found!
I took a page out of Gus's wisdom and did a backpressure test on intercoolers I had laying around to see what the differences were and if I was actually going to see a net gain from the proposed part I wanted to install.
Here are the results!
My homemade manometer read 22" of water at atmospheric pressure. I was reading on the pressure side, so the lower the number, the more backpressure there is.
The pipe alone (2.5") on the "hi" setting read 21.5", on the "low" setting read 21.75"
The stock intercooler read 15.5 on "hi" and 17.5 on "low".
The CX Racing intercooler I had on the car read 16 on "hi" and 18 on "low".
Finally the fake "Spearco" intercooler I am going to run read 18.5 on "hi" and 19.75 on "low"
The core measurements were taken like this: Length was ALONG the tubes, Width is how thick the core is, Height is perpendicular to the tubes, and then of course the tube count.
Stock: L=11.5, W=3, H=6.75, #of tubes = 10
CX Racing: L=19, W=2.75, H=6.25, #of tubes = 8
"Spearco": L=8, W=3, H=18.25, #of tubes = 27
The blower being used is an electric leaf blower rated at 165mph and 125mph on the hi and low settings respectively out of a 3" pipe.
This is the overall set-up, minus the yard stick I was using to measure the manometer.
This is the stock intercooler I used.
This is the CX Racing intercooler I have been running for a few years.
This is the "Spearco intercooler I'm swapping to:
This is a close-up of the connection to my Manomoeter set-up.
This is the chart I made in Excel to show the results visually. I'm VERY happy with what I've found and it makes me feel even better that the fake "Spearco" I'm going to install flows as well as it does.
Again, I'd like to thank Gus for the inspiration to do this! Your spirit lives on, my friend!
Later I'll detail the manometer set-up so anybody who wants to build one, can!