In any turbocharged car, the management of the temperature of the pressurized air is extremely important. Air naturally increases temperature when compressed (remember high school physics?) so the need to reduce the temperature of the intake air increases with the amount of power you are trying to make and the amount of pressurized air you are forcing into the engine (known as "boost", gauged by pounds per square inch or "psi"). Since my turbo is a small Garrett .80 A/R T25G, and my boost levels are planned to be no more than 15psi on this turbo, I didn't want a huge intercooler that would cause a pressure drop because it was too big for my needs, or blocked the radiator causing my motor to run hot. Lots of guys throw on a front mounted intercooler that they do not need for the visual appeal. Here, once again, using parts that are no more than you need is the key. The small core size, more efficient bar and plate design, and light weight and strong aluminum construction is what makes the ARC M700 Super Sidemount intercooler fantastic. Small and out of the air flow of the radiator, the intercooler chills my current 11psi better than I could have ever imagined! I also designed and installed a water spray system to spray cool water from the windshield washer bottle onto the intercooler, chilling the unit further at high speeds. Good luck finding one of these intercoolers in the USA. ARC has no active distributor in the US, and at a cost of ¥88,000 (~$900 US dollars!) they are hard to find! Muwahahahaha!
The turbo: the heart of any big power import. An air compressor linked to an impellor driven off of waste gasses from the motor. No single power adder can be as effective as a well sized turbo. Being that power goals are moderate for now, the stock turbo was given the heave in leiu of a Garrett T25G from a late model SR20DET Nissan 2l motor. Full boost is seen at 2800RPM, and it makes the little 1.8l feel like 5.7l. The best toy I have ever owned!!
The HKS Super Sequential Valve is a dual stage unit, encompassing a main pull type valve whose seal is maintained via the vacuum source from the intake manifold. This means, that if there is any vacuum being generated, the valve is closed. When boost is cut, the valve looses its vacuum and opens. The second stage is the resonated echo box that feeds off of the vented boost. This chamber produces the easily recognizable chirp of an HKS SSQV. This is the older version of the valve, which is operated via a single vac source. The newer version is operated off of 2 sources, making it nearly impossible to leak. Properly setup, this BOV is even ventable on MAF equipped cars.
Another piece of the turbo system is the turbo timer. The turbo timer splices into the ignition system and reads information from the car's computer to see for how long the car was run, as well has how hard (RPM and speed for duration of time). The unit then allows the car to run after the key is removed (but will shut the car off if the emergency brake is released). Why would you want our car to run after you are not around? Simple: the turbo gets hot and it needs to cool down. If you run the car hard, then shut it off with out allowing it to cool slowly and continue to pump oil, then the oil can actually burn inside the turbo, wearing the turbo charger out over time. A must have for any turbo charged car! Mine is an HKS E-01 and works wonders! The E-01 also has features that can display acceleration times, lap times, voltage output, RPM output, as well as displaying preset warnings (RPM, speed, voltage warnings).
Intercooler piping is very important as well in the fact that it is how the compressed air travels from the turbo to the intercooler and then to the throttle body. Stock, these peices are made of thick plastic. The problems with plastic include the fact that it is prone to crack, and it has poor thermal retention qualities. Heat from the engine easily passes through the plastic, heating the air, defeating the point of an intercooler! Because most upgrade to a front mounted intercooler, pipings for a side mounted intercooler have to be custom made.
