Justin Burcham races and JPC...
Justin Burcham races and JPC customers win. This '05 Mustang GT has set nearly every major benchmark in S197 performance. Burcham continues to test, design, and improve products through his racing, and the car currently competes in MM&FF True Street at NMRA events. A JPC air-to-water intercooler was installed and tested on this car before Burcham gave it his seal of approval for sale in the JPC shop.
"Cold air is more dense and carries more oxygen molecules," was the response Justin Burcham of JPC Racing blurted out when we asked about his reasoning for adding the new JPC Racing air-to-water intercooler to many of his high-horsepower, forced-induction customer cars. The modification is a simple solution to an increasing problem that Burcham realized while racing his popular '05 Mustang GT in MM&FF/NMRA True Street competition.
The True Street Challenge is a torture test for an 8-second ride like the one he brings to battle. The 30-mile cruise heat-soaks the engine, supercharger, and transmission before competitors attempt to perform three consecutive runs down the track-without the aid of cooling the car or popping the hood. Factor in the sweltering summer temperatures and you can see why heat from a supercharger can be a problem for all-out performance.
Burcham continually saw his inlet air temperatures climb high as the air-to-air intercooler attempted to bring it down to reasonable levels. "I have seen temps as high as 300 degrees on my car and many big-boost turbo and supercharged customer cars. The intercooler would barely do anything because it is heat-soaked. Often times, we deal with 90-degree weather-not just in True Street but also during local test and tune sessions. Couple the high ambient temperature with even hotter compressed air from a supercharger or turbo and it becomes difficult for a front-mount air-to-air intercooler to keep up," stated Burcham.
The JPC cooler replaces most...
The JPC cooler replaces most air-to-air intercoolers included in many centrifugal and turbocharger kits. We tested the unit on a ProCharger-blown ride. Shown here are the two players in our game of heat exchanging.
"There is no fresh air other than the 90-degree air running through the intercooler at low speeds, usually in the front half of the track. By the time the car really gets moving, the air and the intercooler are already heat-soaked." As the charge temps climb, performance falls off because the hotter air carries fewer oxygen molecules, and the ECU starts to pull timing because the raised inlet temperture and subsequent increased combustion temperature is more likely to cause detonation. Burcham has seen 3-4 degrees being removed in high gear because of the hot air.
Many blower kits come with an air-to-air intercooler or a small air-to-water unit (both of which are fine for most applications), but as the engines get more radical and the blowers get bigger, there comes a need for a more efficient intercooling system. An air-to-air style intercooler refers to air rushing over a heat exchanger to cool the boosted air down, much like a radiator does for engine coolant. An air-to-water intercooler is a heat exchanger that relies on circulating water (often ice water in race applications) to cool the air charge.
The test bullet is a Rich...
The test bullet is a Rich Groh Racing (RGR) 302 stroker engine with ported Three-Valve heads, JPC cams, JPC intake, and a ProCharger D1SC thumping to the tune of 24 psi of boost.
Output with the air-to-air...
Output with the air-to-air intercooler was 627 rwhp and 650 rwtq. Burcham logged air inlet temps of 176 degrees on the chassis dyno. The new intercooler helped drop inlet temps by 101 degrees, bringing it down to 75 degrees, which was below our ambient air temps in the chassis dyno room (82 degrees). The cooler air charge and increased timing brought peak output up by 44 rwhp to 671 rwhp and torque shot up to 720 rwtq. At one point on the dyno pull, the engine was producing as much as 70 rwhp more than it was with the out-of-the-box intercooler.
Here is the ProCharger intercooler,...
Here is the ProCharger intercooler, which is standard in many of its kits. This intercooler is highly effective in lower-boost applications. The air inlet temps only increased on this test car when the company's D1SC blower was cranked up to over 20 psi; then it was time to turn to the JPC intercooler.
There are two JPC intercoolers...
There are two JPC intercoolers available. The first is its standard that is good to 1,250 hp. We elected to run the larger unit, which is rated to 1,500 hp. The standard 'cooler is a direct bolt-on, while the larger unit requires minor fabrication. Both can be used in turbocharged and supercharged applications in S197 Mustangs.
A notch in the framerail to...
A notch in the framerail to clear the 90-degree elbow (as seen here) is the only fabrication required with the 1,500hp intercooler in a ProCharger application.
JPC uses a mix of -16 and...
JPC uses a mix of -16 and -12 fittings for both feed and return water lines. Larger lines allow more ice water to be circulated through the intercooler, leading to lower inlet temperatures. Small lines can hamper the cooling effects.