You make the assumption that:

"The hair dryer puts out a reasonably consistent volume and temperature of air, two desirable qualities in a test that looks at performance under steady state conditions."

I've designed at least 5 products using small centrifugal blowers such as used in blow dryers so I actually know something about it. The air flow is HUGELY dependent on the pressure it must operate against. It might be consistent blowing into ambient air, but blowing into a restriction changes everything.

In this case, the more the restriction, the slower the air flow, and higher the output temperature of the blow dryer due to the heating coils.

On the other hand, the more restricted IC will have the slower air flow, and more heat will transfer out of the intercooler so there is some trade-off here.

I have no idea of the pressure drop comparison between the 2 items, but I assume the stock intercooler would be the higher restriction of the two, giving it a disadvantage since it would be fed higher temp air from the dryer. It would have been nice to have had an input temp measurement.

That being said, I think it's a great experiment with the other variables being reasonably consistent. The experiment can't be repeated elsewhere, but it proves the point, which we all knew anyway. Bigger is always better for intercoolers.

It's a mistake to think that this is a simulation of real-world operation and I applaud Mike for doing and sharing these tests. It's just an experiment, and the first of its kind to be published.

I agree with pretty much everything you said.

The temp difference percentages which are the crux of the analysis MUST be changed. You must have led Mike astray on this point.

Craig