1999-04 Mustang Saleen Supercharger Intercooler Upgrade

• Below is a brief description of an intercooler and why we felt at Chicane Sport Tuning, it was necessary to upgrade the factory Saleen unit. It’s a long but informative read.

• The purpose of an intercooler in a supercharged car is to remove the heat generated by the supercharger from the supercharged air. This is done with either an "air to air" intercooler or an "air to water" intercooler system.

• Both are extremely effective but “air to air” systems largely take up space due the plumbing necessary to move the air to the front of the vehicle where “air to air” intercoolers are typically located. These units are largely found on turbo applications, and with supercharger manufacturers such as Paxton and ProCharger.

• “Air to Water” intercooler systems have become increasingly more popular over the years. They are compact and extremely efficient. The intercooler in this system is typically located directly under the supercharger. Ken Belle, Whipple, Magnuson and Saleen use this type of cooling process.

• This process involves an intercooler that receives the air directly from the supercharger. Ambient air is naturally superheated inside the supercharger during the compression process. It’s then forced into and through the intercooler. As hot air travels through the intercooler, the intercooler becomes very warm.

• To combat this warm temperature, water is passed through the tubes or plates of the intercooler. (There is the “tube and fin” design or “bar and plate” design. Both are widely used but the “bar and plate" design is more costly and higher quality) As the water travels through, the intercooler it quenches the intercooler and removes the heat. The hot water is then pumped to the front of the vehicle were it is cooled in the heat exchanger by the rush of oncoming air. (The heat exchanger is the smaller radiator unit located at the lower extremity of the Saleen air dam)The water continually cycles through the system attempting to lower the intercooler to the waters own temperature. Supercharged Saleen Mustangs from 1998 to 2004 utilized "air to water" intercoolers on all of their Series 1,2, 4 and Extreme models.

• The factory Saleen intercooler has inherent design flaws that involve perimeter gaps which allowed hot air to escape the cooling process. A large percentage of the hot air which should be harnessed into the intercooler travels down around the front, rear and sides of the intercooler. This hot air rejoins the intercooled air and reheats the air charge. In essence, the factory Saleen intercooler removes only a portion of the heat from the air charge which is why the needle on the intercooler water temp gauge barely moves. The air charge is constantly monitored by the vehicles computer and has a direct impact on the engine timing which is essential in making horsepower.

*The Chicane Intercooler features benefits that that are two fold: 1.It seals the entire air passage which forces all compressed air through the intercooler. 2. The bar and plate design (versus factory tube and fin) filter the air charge more efficiently for increased heat extraction. The water now captures more heat from the intercooler and moves it off to the heat exchanger. You will know by the increased activity of the intercooler water temp gauge that more heat is being extracted.
*You will feel more power with this unit and see the results on the dyno. A cooler, more dense air charger allows more air and fuel molecules into the combustion chamber. Additionally, this cooler air charge, triggers the vehicles computer to automatically add more timing. This means more horsepower for each pound of boost. Chicane's custom intercooler increases blower efficiency & gains up to 50 horsepower. Available for the Saleen series 1&2, Series 4 and Saleen extreme (through 2004)