Intercooler, Aftercooler what is the big difference?

96cobra4.6 · Jun 20, 2005

I was just looking at the after cooler setups provided by Vortech for my application and was wondering what is the difference between intercoolers and aftercoolers?

BensCobra · Jun 22, 2005

i was wondering this myself, if anyone can chime in on this it would be greatly appreciated.

calgarycobra · Jun 22, 2005

IIRC, intercooler cools the incoming air BEFORE the supercharger/turbo whereas aftercooler cools AFTER the supercharger/turbo. Both have influence in how dense your incoming air charge is, but I think the intercooler plays a role in keeping temps in your supercharger/turbo down (???).

paul stark · Jun 23, 2005

Intercooler is an aviation term for inlet charge cooling BETWEEN multiple stages of superchargers, turbos, or turbo / supercharger combinations used in high performance, high altitude, aircraft powerplants (piston engines). Almost all production cars have aftercoolers. You usually see true intercoolers only on very special, extremely high output engines, or engines used at very high altitude.

midlifecrisis99cobra · Jun 24, 2005

There is no difference between what you see referred to as an "intercooler" or an "aftercooler". Both cool the intake charge between the time it is compressed by a supercharger or turbo and the point at which it enters the throttle body or intake manifold.

96cobra4.6 · Jun 24, 2005

calgarycobra said:
IIRC, intercooler cools the incoming air BEFORE the supercharger/turbo whereas aftercooler cools AFTER the supercharger/turbo. Both have influence in how dense your incoming air charge is, but I think the intercooler plays a role in keeping temps in your supercharger/turbo down (???).

I thought that the intercooler was installed after the turbo/sc? I may be wrong but isnt the intercooler in between the SC or TURBO and the Intake Manifold? It cant be before because there is no application for the outside air coming straight into an intercooler, the air has to be pressurized first correct? I am still very unclear about all this. I have been looking at definitions, how stuff works and other sites, and I just cant put it all togethor.. Maybe someone has some way they can put it to make me understand.

missouri_guy197 · Jun 24, 2005

calgarycobra said:
IIRC, intercooler cools the incoming air BEFORE the supercharger/turbo whereas aftercooler cools AFTER the supercharger/turbo. Both have influence in how dense your incoming air charge is, but I think the intercooler plays a role in keeping temps in your supercharger/turbo down (???).

Um...no...

Like midlifecrisis said, there's really no difference between an intercooler or an aftercooler as far as what's on a car...There's only really one company that uses an aftercooler and that's Vortech...everything else the pretty much call an intercooler...

chrisbudl1 · Jun 26, 2005

you do have more pipes with an intercooler, have to mount it, run pipes everywhere, vs an aftercooler, sits between the blower, and tb I think, and you just have to mount a water tank some where. I still want a d1sc, or kb, which are too different stories in them selves. basically your incoming air, has to pass through a huge radiator, and then to your blower, which takes up the whole front end of your car. I was just looking at someones awesome mach 1 with a d1sc, pipes everywhere.

V8MstngPwr · Jun 26, 2005

Always heard the two coolers were basically the same in principle.

DoHcHoLlIdAy01 · Jun 30, 2005

They do the exact same thing. The only difference is that an intercooler cools the air before it gets to the head unit of the blower, whereas the aftercooler cools the air after it comes out of the blower instead.

missouri_guy197 · Jun 30, 2005

DoHcHoLlIdAy01 said:
They do the exact same thing. The only difference is that an intercooler cools the air before it gets to the head unit of the blower, whereas the aftercooler cools the air after it comes out of the blower instead.

Not even close...Why would you cool the air before the blower? The blower is just going to heat it back up...Both cool the air after the outlet of the blower...

Uncle Meat · Jul 1, 2005

missouri_guy197 said:
Not even close...Why would you cool the air before the blower? The blower is just going to heat it back up...Both cool the air after the outlet of the blower...

What he said.

U.M.

kystang1889 · Jul 3, 2005

missouri_guy197 said:
Um...no...

Like midlifecrisis said, there's really no difference between an intercooler or an aftercooler as far as what's on a car...There's only really one company that uses an aftercooler and that's Vortech...everything else the pretty much call an intercooler...

BLK_ROUSH · Jul 3, 2005

Good call, mizzo man!

Either way .. the goal is to cool air prior to the intake.

iceking · Jun 17, 2012

There is virtually no difference between an inter cooler and an after cooler, it is the location of the cooler in the system the changes its name. If you have 20 turbos in series, you can put an inter cooler in between each one. Then you will put an after cooler after the last turbo before the air goes into the engine. Inter coolers, between 2 stages of air compression. After coolers, after the last stage of compression.

BlownFiveLiter · Jun 17, 2012

iceking said:
There is virtually no difference between an inter cooler and an after cooler, it is the location of the cooler in the system the changes its name. If you have 20 turbos in series, you can put an inter cooler in between each one. Then you will put an after cooler after the last turbo before the air goes into the engine. Inter coolers, between 2 stages of air compression. After coolers, after the last stage of compression.

Seven year old thread...

fiveohwblow · Jun 18, 2012

iceking said:
There is virtually no difference between an inter cooler and an after cooler, it is the location of the cooler in the system the changes its name. If you have 20 turbos in series, you can put an inter cooler in between each one. Then you will put an after cooler after the last turbo before the air goes into the engine. Inter coolers, between 2 stages of air compression. After coolers, after the last stage of compression.

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Intercooler, Aftercooler what is the big difference?

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