Intercooler Setup

Type of Intercooling

  • Methanol Injection

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Water to Air

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Front Mount (Air to Air)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Top Mount (Air to Air

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • None Intercooling

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Others

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    0
  • Poll closed .
The 1UZFE EGR Delete Kit is available for sale here.
Personally I have a front mount air to air, I chose this setup dew to several reasons.
Firstly I have enough space for a large core and secondly it does not require any additional pumps or a resovoir to keep filling up. Intercooling choices I think are something that requires a great deal of thought with every project being different.
Packaging is one of the main problems with intercooling, I think we all try to do the best we can with what we have to work with.
 
no vote cast.

all have their merits and pitfalls.

for a street car, i'd pick water-air.
for a race car i' pick NOS / methanol and air-air.
 
i voted for water-air because of how "stable" it is in terms of outlet temps....

and besides high speed driving, a water to air will always have lower outlet temps than an air to air.....

also, you have the option of using ice in your reservoir tank to lower temps further, or use a dry ice setup and have negative temps....

i'll be looking at using an A.R.E water to air core using the hydraulic fan pump to circulate the water through the heat exchanger so there's no need for electrics and such.
 
R-Jay,

What will you use as a lubricant for the pump?

I think it will scour the impeller blades with only water.

Also remember the outlet pressue is 375 oddlbs! You'll need some great hoses and a real strong inercoler core.
 
yeah true about the lube... as for the pressure, i figured there'd be a way to bypass most of the flow and only maintain a little for the actual cooler... sortta wasteful when you think about it....

chances are though, id end up with an electric circulation pump.
 
There's a Site in the States that sells repalcement pumps for Fords etc. It sells 3/4" pumps with great flow rates for around US$130.00.

They aren't bilge pumps they are proper intercooler pumps designed for the task.

I will probably order one in the next few days for my Eaton. With the Aussie dollar/US dollar rate they will never get cheaper. I intend to price a Jaguar pump from one of the Jag specialists to see what they cost for comparison.
 
Not having any actual experience, I was thinking
In the case of an air to air intercooler, if ambient air temp is 30 degrees celsius wouldn't that mean the most efficient core could only bring the charge air temp down to 30 degrees celsius as well.
Now in the case of a water to air intercooler, if the 30 degree celsius ambient air is blowing through the water radiator wouldn't the best water temp you could hope for also be 30 degrees celsius?
The water to air intercooler would have an advantage if the water can be cooled with outside help, (ice will work for short peroids) like using an airconditioner evaporator in the water tank.
Anybodys thoughts?
 
I went with water to air because an air to air will not fit my car.

Having just finished hooking up my water to air PWR kit on my car I can say that for certain, the water to air would be best suited for drags and short bursts of high boost, and an air to air would undoubtably be the best for street, so I it depends on your application.

Keep in mind that the sizes of the cores and radiators are correctly matched to the size of the engine. Too many people undersize their intercoolers, and end up with radiacally high air intake temps.

My system is based on a 400HP 4"x8" PWR intercooler core, with a 10"x11"x1.5" radiator with a 10" thermofan. The radiator is mounted inside a wheel guard to keep it well away from engine heat. I am using pure coolant, not water, and no ice YET.

Off boost, the air temp tops out at 38 degrees, where without the intercooler it used to get as high as 65 degrees, and even 73 when idling after hard driving. On boost has (as mentioned by another person) VERY stable air output temp. It will get to about 40-41 degrees, and not go above that. Even at 16lb boost. The problem is that the heat begins to build up over time. After some hard driving the coolant temp rises faster than the radiator can get rid of the heat. This results in air intake temps peaking around the 47 degree mark, which is still a hell of a lot better than 65-70.

After about 3-5 minutes of normal low speed off boost driving the air temp returns to 38 degrees. This time could be reduced further by reducing my 7lt coolant tank capacity, but that too would increase the rate that the coolant heat soaks as well. The only other option is adding another radiator.

About running ice in these intercoolers, yes it has been done before but ice melts so its just not practical for the street. But it is VERY affective for drags, and you can lower the air intake temp to as low as about 4-8 on boost degrees with the right size water resovour with ice. From what i've read, a bag of party ice is good for about 3-4 1/4 mile runs.

The most extreme water-air i've heard of was a system that pumped alcohol as coolant, which would not freeze when the dry ice was added to the tank. I'd imagine the tank was somethign special however, as it would have had to be able to vent all the CO2 gas the ice was releasing as it melted.

Thats my 2 cents worth on water-air intercooling.

Cheers,

Ian.
 
From your description your radiator's too small to handle the heat produced whilst on boost.

I plan on using the Crown airconditioning condenser from my half cut and mount it in front of the radiator.

What size pipework are you running? I'll be using 3/4 and pumping it around the system with a Bosch intercooler pump. Header tank size is still undecided as it will be whatver I can fit in the space I have.
 
What are peoples thoughts on the type of FMIC. Bar and plate or tube and finn. What is preferable????
 
bar and plate is more efficient hands down... tube and fin has less flow restriction, but doesnt cool as effectively.
 
Also bar and plate is more durable when used as a FMIC.
I voted for FMIC but that is only because I'm into roadracing rather than just drag.
 
The Laminova setup is the best, to that their should be no debate. Unless packaging issues rule. With their system you can use the air cond to cool the charge, this has two advantages, first, very cold charge air and second less weight due to no need for another heat exchanger. They aren't cheap though.



Cheers Greg
 
Run a normal FMIC.
Trigger a water spray by a temperture switch with a timer. That way water consumption won't be insane.

Don't use methanol for anything on an engine that contains aluminum.

Also run water injection.
Simply put, water injection 2 win.
 


Back
Top