I'm just north of you in Toledo. My car is stock aside from a stratified e30 flash tune(and an optional 93 map in slot 1 I've yet to use)- I do not have an upgraded intercooler, and although it would be great to have, I don't think it's really needed day-to-day. My input/question for you:
Question:
How often do you do back to back or multiple gear(1-2-3-4 gears) pulls?
Why:
I find myself doing a LOT of 2nd-3rd gear pulls. I only really get into 4th if I'm really feeling froggy. Within that "pull" time, I see about a 25-30 degree rise in charge air temps,not terrible if you're just looking at temps. When I go to the track(1/4 mile) I see roughly a 50 degree rise in charge air temps. That's a LOT in 13-14 seconds. It still feels really good right now considering it hasn't been over 45 degrees outside in a few weeks. That being said, there is a BIG loss in power with a back to back or extended "pull." I've logged this on the dyno with back to back to back pulls within 5 minutes of total time. Link immediately following. You can see, 100% stock, the car doesn't really care what the intake temps are, it's going to just make about the same power. Once you start increasing the pressure ratios(moar boost), charge temps go up FAST beacuse you're getting out of the efficiency range of the factory turbo, and they will only increase with the amount of time during the "pull."
See this post:
http://www.fiestastforum.com/forum/threads/1201-Official-Fiesta-ST-Dyno-Thread?p=258782#post258782
In regards to e30/intercooler:
Honestly, with e30, since I've installed the stratified tune, charge temps rise the same. Direct Injection cannot take advantage of the cooling effect on charge temps that ethanol provides as it does with port injection. Knowing that, the ethanol does do something that pump gas simply cannot: basically eliminate detonation/knock/preignition. With the 93 octane off the shelf Cobb tune, the car would have some knock count and would pull ignition timing every now and again. With the e30 tune, I have NEVER seen anything on the knock counter, but even better yet, I regularly see ignition timing being advanced up to 4 degrees. Both the Cobb 93 tune and the Stratified e30 tune run similar timing advance, not considering the advance in timing that running e30 allows.
In regards to running e30 in the winter:
If overall % of ethanol content of e85 drops, just add an extra gallon or whatever into the tank. I don't test ethanol content at the pump, and I get annoyed enough having to run my card twice/pump twice just to fill up. I just dump about 5 gallons of e85 into the car, fill the rest up with 93, and party on. The car doesn't care. I'm not gonna log the car every time I drive it, and I've never logged the car. I do "daily" the car, beat the snot out of it, and don't care.
Will I get an intercooler?:
Maybe. I'm cheap/lazy. The $650-ish I've spent on the Cobb and then the Stratified tune are enough at this point, not to mention whatever it cost for the CP-e rear mount. If I run across a Treadstone intercooler(TR6/8) for cheap and can scrounge up the couplers for it, I may do it myself, but spending over $300 on it for an intercooler at this point.... I just can't bring myself to do it. I get in the car, drive it, and go beat up on a lot of other "faster" cars with it. I put about a tank through the car a week and still get 280-300 miles a tank, mostly city driving, me beating the the crap out of it a lot of the time.
Here's my best 1/4 mile to date:
http://www.fiestastforum.com/forum/...read-Post-Here?p=256250&viewfull=1#post256250
tldr: get one if you want to do more than one "money pull" on the dyno, street, or track and care about consistent performance, run to run, everytime. Not paranoid/don't care, or don't drive the car hard often, no need to spend the extra $