The S55 turbo engine from the BMW F87 M2 C, F8x M3 and M4 F8x uses a water cooled intercooler instead of a “normal” air cooled intercooler. The stock top mounted intercooler has a tube & fin core with clamped plastic end tanks. This design has its drawbacks as it is prone to cracking and coolant entering the engine or boost leaking out of the tank seals.
When we started developing a new high performance intercooler, our mission was to eliminate the weaknesses of the OE intercoolers and of course provide a big performance increase. In all the testing we have done during the development of our entire BMW F8X M2C, M3, M4 range, we clearly see how peak performance is directly equated to IAT (Intake Air Temperature).
To get an accurate 3D model of the available space for our intercooler, we performed a detailed 3D scan of our M3 Competition engine bay. In our Solidworks CAD software, we tried out different design concepts for our intercooler based on the 3D scan.
The final design concept was decided after several CFD simulations in our Solidworks Flow Simulation software. In this software we can simulate the airflow and measure the pressure drop and air distribution across the core. We decided not to include internal air ducts as several of our simulations showed that they do more harm than good. The airflow is perfectly distributed across the core in our tank design without internal air ducts, which many claim is good, but in many cases they cause turbulence and interruptions in the airflow.
Our final design resulted in a bar-and-plate core with TIG welded cast aluminum end tanks. This provides a safety net for any high boost tuning. We managed to use a massive core that is 85% larger than the OEM core and reduce the boost pressure drop (16% lower) and maintain a drop-in installation with no modifications. Reducing the boost pressure drop across the intercooler has several benefits such as the turbos having to work less to reach the targeted boost pressure / lower temperature / improved throttle response. We have the equipment to calculate the pressure drop in our CFD calculation software and also do real world testing in our Superflow SF-1020 flow test bench. On the water cooling side, we switched to a dual pass flow structure that allows the coolant to flow across the core twice before leaving the intercooler rather than the OE single pass structure.
We use a high density offset cooling fin on both the air and water sides. Multiple tests were performed to find an optimal balance between the air and water fins to achieve the maximum heat transfer. This gives our intercooler a huge increase in active cooling area compared to OE.
Of course, being a do88 performance product, we have carried out thorough, rigorous and continuous testing in the development of this product to ensure the best performance, with not a single compromise made.
All of this hard work results in a product that, in one way or another, will really increase the performance of your vehicle, whether it's a stock vehicle or a heavily modified monster! On the track, on the street, on the strip, this intercooler will be your faithful companion!
Significant advantages with the do88 Performance intercooler (series comparison figures):
– Power increase of 13 hp at peak! Measured on a vehicle with BootMod3 Stage 1 tuning.
– Highest power increase in the mid-speed range of 25 HP!
– Highest torque gain of 52 Nm!
– Larger core volume: 5657cm3 (3052cm3), 85% larger!
– Air flow at 0.025bar/0.36psi pressure drop: 298 CFM (256 CFM), 16% higher!
– Lower air temperature after the intercooler under the same conditions: 39°C (48°C), 9°C lower!
– Fits all vehicles in the list below!
* Measured at 240km/h during full throttle acceleration from 0-240km/h on the air strip. Both tests were conducted on the same day under the same conditions.
Suitable for the following models:
- BMW F87 M2 Competition
- BMW F8x M3 M4
OEM reference number:
17517846235
