intercooler/ air to air sizing?

does anyone know if there is a square inch surface area calculation roughly per hp for an intercooler? i understand there is a pile of other factors to consider also.
thanks

My first though was the bigger the better and that would be true for getting the most heat possible out of the compressed air,...however the bigger you go the longer the turbo lag because the volume of air to compress is larger as well.

There is no real factors to consider as long as you are being reasonable and not mounting an intercooler on the roof thats the size of a sheet of drywall. Use the biggest and most efficient (bar and plate) style intercooler you can shoehorn in there. It is impossible to overcool the aircharge and the lag from too much intercooler area is more academic than anything and probably would apply unless your intercooler absolutely huge. Go big!

First Fox":13ofa9av said:

the lag from too much intercooler area is more academic than anything and probably would apply unless your intercooler absolutely huge

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True, but there is pressure drop to consider. You really want to right-size the intercooler to whatever extent possible. I would consider how much boost you want to run and how much power you expect to make and look at factory turbocharged cars to get a sense of what is appropriate. A good rough start is 3.0l of volume and a cross-section of 50cm2 per 100hp - you'll find most factory cooler are in this vicinity, obviously overlooking packaging constraints.