Is an intercooler required for a turbo system?
No. For low boost applications you can get away with running charge pipes right out of the turbo up into the throttle body (also gives great throttle responce since there is very little volume of air to fill before boost kicks in). Most people can run up to around 10psi of boost, after that the air begins to get too hot and you run the risk of pre-ignition, at that point you would want to switch over to an intercooler. An intercooler will always add performance to a turbo system though so keep it in mind.
