I ran a search and didn't find an answer for my question so if you guys will humor me here, do any of you know if using a Mopar winterfront has any ill effects on the intercooler? I havent noticed any differance in performance but can't help but wonder if that air is supposed to be cooled from the turbo before it goes into the cylinder to help things work properly are we robbing Peter to pay Paul somehow? Or does the cooler outside air offset it all? Just courious and I'm sure someone here has already figured this out. LCH

 

Actually, that is a great question. I think the cardboard thing is much worse, but the cold air front end allows enough air to circulate to cool the innercooler, oil, auto trans, and power steering cooler.

 

You reach a point in winter, when air is so dense and cold, that pressurizing it with a turbo is not really necessary. I'm not sure where that threshhold is but I know it's there. Using winter covers is a good idea in extrreme cold just to keep combustion temps up a bit, which in turn, keeps everything else a bit warmer.

I'd wager that a CTD that breathes sub-zero dry air, can dispense with the IC completely with relatively little (if any) loss of charge density, and it would likely perform better.

 

The density increase from ambient air being cold is not even remotely close to what is gained through the turbocharger pressurizing the intake. Without working the math out, I'd give a wild guess that it's a factor of 2x to 3x difference.

 

I wouldn't argue that.... I was more illustrating the need (or lack thereof) to cool the charge.

 

With 20 degree temps around here the past couple daysI have noticed faster spoolup with the winter cover on with one flap open. What is causing this?

 

Thicker air.

 

thats what I figured, warmer air with more molecules.

 

Cold air the molecules are condensed. Warm air less molecules in the same area. Thats why they used water injection on the old jet engines to produce more thrust, it cooled the air during compresion alowing more air in the combustion process. Yes I'm getting off topic.

 

Sooo, am I understanding that in the cooler temps that the turbo doesn't heat the air as much because the air is so much cooler already that it's not that big of deal that the intercooler is mostly blocked? LCH

 

Exactly. There is not ill effect on the intercooler.
Power might be down a bit but either way it is negligible.

 

Pretty good wild guess. Standard atmopshperic pressure is 14.7 psi (which is zero on your boost gauge). At 15 psi boost you're close to double the air density, less heat effects. At 30 psi boost you're close to triple the density.

The difference between 32 degree F (273K) air and 100 deg F (310K) air is 310/273= 14%. That's about the same as 2 psi boost.

 

2psi isn't much with that much temp differance so I guess you couldn't tell much differance in performance with less of a differance in air temp?
Seems like it would be more important to keep the engine up to opperating temp than to worry about that small a differance. That makes me feel better about using the winter front. This is a good discussion. LCH

 

I also pondered this exact question myself when installing the winter front. And after seeing the exhaust temps stay about the same as without the winter front on I don't worry about it. I haven't noticed a huge difference in power loss but I pull around a 10k trailer all day so a few horses won't be missed but a warmer cab in the morning is much appreciated!!