Hot Days makes me feel like my Ctm is slower? Am I the Only One?

I know that turbo engines love cold weather. But why?

The third gear pull, is gone, the car just doesn't pull hard in low-revs in higher gears like before. I have to downshift to overtake all the time.

Or is it placebo? No, the third gear pull around 2000rpm-3000rpm is gone.

I have 35000miles on the clock, 2000miles till oil change.

Am I leaking boost or something or is it just the hot weather? Is there something I can do to get my power back?

 

As a general rule, cold air is more dense than warm air. The more air you can cram into an engine, the more fuel you can burn (the reason for either larger displacement engines or turbochargers/superchargers) and the more power you can make. Using an intercooler keeps the air feeding into the engine cooler, allowing more to be crammed in, burning more fuel, and also making more power. Those of us with non-turbo cars get "natural supercharging" when the weather turns cooler.

 

You're not imagining it. I forgot how much different it is until 2-3 weeks ago when it was about 75 and sunny here. I almost stalled with the AC on. I recently installed a bigger intercooler, which I expect to help a lot in the coming months. Also getting a tune soon.

 

It's just chemistry. Your engine requires oxygen for combustion. The more oxygen there is, the more fuel gets added to the mixture, the more power your car makes. Hot air is less dense than cold air, meaning there is a lower concentration of oxygen molecules for a given volume of air. Less oxygen = less gas = less power.

This is why turbochargers make power, they stuff more oxygen into the combustion chamber, which enables the computer to add more fuel, which makes more power.

 

So are there any bigger intercoolers out there for countrymans yet?

Can we use the same aftermarket r56s intercoolers? Any recommendations?

 

Alta, Helix and Forge for the R56 fit. I have the Alta and it did require a little trimming due to the increased size.

 

The R56 intercoolers fit, but are more blocked by the Countryman bumper so they're not quite as efficient. I have the Helix and it fit without any trimming. Forge made a R60-specific intercooler but unintentionally designed it for Euro bumpers and not US bumpers. They claim to be working on a redesign but no ETA is known. Tyrolsport makes a taller/thinner intercooler that is probably the best option right now, but it's $400 more than the Helix.

 

Couple of pics of the Alta installed.

 

Another aspect is that the air cond doesn't seem to be able to keep up with the heat... especially midday... hhahahah This, we can't help it right?

 

Here is a calculator that looks at [FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, and altitude as it affects power. I'm not sure if it is accurate for turbocharged engines, however.
http://www.csgnetwork.com/relhumhpcalc.html

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