Do I need an intercooler?

[ktdw]

If I lived in the desert, it would be an easy answer. But living in relatively cool San Francisco (except for last week), I wonder if adding a bigger intercooler will make much of a difference.

What's the consensus on this?

[fourmicah]

I'm not an expert, and I'm sure not that familiar with SF, but it will drops your temps. By how much I'm not sure. I guess it depends on what you plan on doing with the car? If you are going to mod it, then I would do it later. I would consider doing it after intake, exhaust, and tuning.

[holo777]

IMO you'll see more gains as a result of less pressure drop across a new intercooler than lower temperatures. With your setup I'd bet on seeing some more power, and your turbos won't have to work as hard to hit target boost levels. I think I saw some dynos around with a mild tune and intercooler.

[fourmicah]

Intercoolers don't add power, they decrease charged air temps which gives you the power you have more consistently. It may give you less pressure drop across the core if the intercooler is good. I've actually seen and tested aftermarket intercoolers that were bigger that didn't cool any better and had greater pressure drops, go figure.

[F0Bman]

Intercooler is a great way to protect your engine, for times it super hot consider a water misting system.