i did and yes they are. Name me one car that comes with a TT stock ? .. TT's are left over from when oils were mineral based and turbo technologies were not as they are today.. when you could actually cook the oil and seize the turbo. With most modern (post about 1990) cars.. and partial or full synthetic oils.. couples with tri action cooling (oil/water/air) .. heat disapates extremely quickly and the oils dont have the same issues tghey used to have.. just driving to park your car.. or checking the mail.. or even stopping to get out and look under the hood allows the temps to reduce enough ... couple that with most cars continue to circulate oil after you stop .. through either convenction .. or an electric motor .. it all adds up to TT's being a HUGE FUCKING WASTE OF MONEY AND A "LOOK AT ME I'M A RICER" end result
ok.. everyone knows that an intercooler is made to SOAK up heat right ?.. as the heated charged air passes through, the heat "exchanges" to the fins of the intercooler.. the metal.. and reduces intake temps.. normally airflow over these fins takes the heat away so it can absorb more. Heat soak is when an IC has soaked as much heat as it can, and not enough is being carried away. It works almost exactly like the heatsink on a computer chip. Now if we were to use a metal with a higher specific heat (specific heat refers to how much heat something can store before it phase changes.. or before it just cannot store anymore.. with a phase change GREATLY increasing the specific heat of something) .. the Ic would be more efficient.. but it so happens that alot of metals with high specific heat are also very dense and heavy (copper and gold for isntance) .. so making an intercooler from copper and gold isnt worth it..
water has a good specific heat.. but on top of that..it changes phases extremely easy..and this phase change is what allows it to carry away so much heat. Its called evaporation. using nitrous doesnt give you this because its already in gas form.. it cant carry away anywhere near the same amount of heat..its already at a low temp.. remember.. its about TRANSFER of heat.. not what temp something is already.. water with a little alcohol mixed (or just water) .. phase changes easily.. and carries with it a ton of heat..
so a good water spray setup is perfect.. just make sure it atomises the water effectively.. the smaller the "bits" of water.. the quicker they phase change and the easier it carries away heat..ie get nozzle that mist... you will use ALOT less water.. not have dripping..
most setups can be tied to boost.. but the real issue is you need it to continue AFTER the boost is off.. for a few seconds at least.. to stop the IC from "heating" up the cooler non boosted air ..
for more detailed info read.
http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_0084/article.html
http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_0527/...popularArticle (i've used that spray controller.. it works ok.. but its not perfect)
also some stuff on water/alcohol injection which when setup right can be just as effective.. or more effective than air/air ICs
http://www.thedodgegarage.com/turbo_cintercool.html
i know of a stock subaru STi Type R Ver 6 that ran mid 11's with just water injection and raising the boost.. nothing else was done. ..its pretty effective.