There absolutely is a point where an IC cant keep up and the "step function manner" manner does apply. The stock intercooler is a fine example of this, it works acceptably on the stock tune and recovers enough to make due. Throw a stage 1 tune on and it struggles a bit more to recover when you get constant load or repetitive pulls. Once the intercooler cant reject heat enough to keep up, the ECU will start doing its thing and pull back timing and such to protect the engine. I have absolutely seen this with my stage1 tune and the stock intercooler, repeated pulls just keep compounding the issue of heat soak causing performance degradation.
So saying X intercooler cant keep up with hybrids but can with an IS38 is absolutely plausible. Just depends where the tipping point is and that can vary drastically due to environment, tune, how well the car is running. Its not a black and white thing but you can generalize saying in most situations this IC cant handle a hybrid. Like we have seen many times, certain cars are unicorns and can do something others cant, its very hard to compare cars against one another because of this but there are always outlyers and we most of the time throw that data away when making generalizations.
I appreshiate all the data Jeff creates and really urge him to continue doing so. But this specific article doesn't hold its own due to the information he is using is not complete nor his own. He doesn't know all the variables around the data so digging into it is a moot point. I would love to see Jeff get his hands on a AMS and put it right up with the IEv1 with his own testing.
