air to air vs air to water, I've been reading mixed reviews Options

[enderswift]

the addition of pumps resevoirs and maintanance aside, why do alot of people say that air to air is better than air to water? I'd imagine that with air to water you can run ALOT less piping like the 3sgte. This is good because it means the tubo has to pressurize less piping before it gets to the engine. I.E less lag. Some people say water intercoolers run warmer but I dont see how. If you run the intercooler the way the gt4 has it, then route a radiator to the snout the heat exchange should be the same no? or is that the benefit of less piping is offset by a loss of efficiency?

[bccentaur3]

I'm running a 3rd gen w2a ic on my 2nd gen 3s swap. I am using a non oem pump and I have it running all the time, unlike oem. Even after a hard run you can put your hand on the ic and it will be cool. I wanted to go w2a just for less lag and for an oem look.

[lagos]

I noticed a pattern.
If you have a swap, you will love your water to air.
If you have a GT-4, you will upgrade to a front mount.

Swappers love them and GT-4 guys claim they heat soak. Who's right? Who knows.

[bccentaur3]

My w2a hasn't heat soaked on me one bit. Maybe its because I'm only running 10 psi.

[enderswift]

yay more of the same.
the subaru wrx has a similar intercooler layout as a 3sgte yet I cant find anyone who slapped one on. Im trying to see if theres a reason for that

[Cuts_the_Pilot]

you could get one, but after changing a set of plugs (ie have to unbolt the core and move it out of the way) you will realise you can get the same or better performance by going fmic.

if whoever builds your pipe work does a quality job then you will see that there is 2/10ths of fnck all in throttle responce (which is more what you loose in fmic applications) when changing from wta to fmic ata.

i should know ive had both on numerous occasions.

clock the turbo, use 2" hot piping (ie turbo to cooler), and 2.5" cold side (cooler to tb).

top mounts are good because they give the sleeper look, if you decide on going wta get a 205 unit as they are the biggest and most efficient unit.

but for me fmic is the better way to go.

[enderswift]

a definite answer. thank you sir

For those who dont want their front end to scream TURBO the wta cooler would be awesome. im one of those people. no bov, no fat ass intercooler up front. just a dump tube and a wta. sleeper to the max

[bccentaur3]

Thats what I've got.

dump valve ftw.

[darthripley]

i was always under the impression that WTA was better for someone who did a lot of track days, auto-x things of that nature, but i'm finding that a good FMIC can be just as effective especially if you have some sort of sprayer system on it to help cool things down a little.
in some ways i can see where a WTA will still get some heatsoaking issues, but i prefer WTA over a FMIC for the "sleeper" look myself.

both lagos & cuts the pilot bring up good points.