Fastestdan

I am custom making my own single turbo kit for my '87. I have owned many turbo cars in the past and I have used both air to air and air to water. I have had great success with both. I think that an air to water would be nice with the cramped space, but I don't see anyone else going with that intercooler. I was just looking for some opinions.

Thanks

mn_vette

I think the air/air seems to be a bit cheaper and smaller so that's what most people go with. Routing the piping is a bit difficult, but do-able.

The Air/water would work just as nicely, but you will need to find a place to put the water tank. You then have to find a place to put the unit in the intake tract. These things tend to be around 8x6x12" to flow some decent horsepower. So that's not a small box to put on the front of the engine somewhere.

Your other option is to go with just a meth injection if you are only gonig to go with 8psi or so. Once you get much higher you'll want an actual intercooler.


So where are you planning to place your turbo at? That will be a big determining factor as to what you can do next.

Fastestdan

I am building an all forged 383 with 8.5to1 comp. I plan on about 18 pounds of boost. I am mounting the turbo in the same area as the stock battery location. I have an air to water intercooler that I could mount fairly easily. I am building it with all 3.5 in tubing. The set-up I am going to be running is a ported lt1 intake, 58mm throttle body, the heads are aluminum 2.05 int and 1.6 exh. I am also in the process of choosing a cam. I am using the entire winter to build it up.

Thanks

lead foot 85 vet

Having tried the in front of the radiator intercooler for 5 years and dealing with the cooling problems, it blocks the radiator..............no way around it, the corvette has a poor cooling system at best...........I would go for the meth injection or the twin intercoolers under the head lights and then still meth injection..............I removed the intercooler and installed meth and haven't looked back...........but I'm not boosting 18 psi......I think you'll need both

Fastestdan

It doesn't take a very big air to water to cool the charge. I am going to go with methanol injection. I haven't seen any c4s with the air to water at all. I am trying to make one of the fastest street vettes in Colorado.

AKS Racing

The size of the A2W is mainly dictated by the flow volume through the air side, the efficiency of the cooler, and the delta T between the hot air charge and the cooling medium. If you are only trying to cool 600CFM of air with water that is available at 40°F (i.e. iced system), and a somewhat efficient cooler, then I would agree with your statement above.

However, the flow through the cooler is what is going to deliver the HP, so I think it will be significantly more than 600CFM, which will require a considerably larger A2W. One of the fastest street vettes I would think would require in the 1500+ CFM range.

The A2W that I have for my car is 7"W x 12"H x 6"D (84 in2 surface area), but the overall unit is ~9.5"W x 12"H x 10"D with 4" inlet and outlet and 3/4" wet side feed/discharge, which makes it difficult to package in the confines of the C4s engine bay.

Aaron

AKS Racing

And a side comment, it is extremely difficult to control 18 psi boost on the street with only MeOH injection. The vendors will tell you it can be done, but the people who have tried highly recommend both MeOH and IC for higher boost levels.
Aaron

Blown Vette

Unless someone else steps up I am the only one here to have a working air to water intercooler. I sold the intercooler a while back but still have the tank, pump, lines and connectors avalable. I will take $350.00 for everything and let you know how to run everything. I had a long learning curve to get it right.

A lot of people with no real world experience will try and give advice. Be careful or you will be going down a long lonely road. This post is reminding me of all the bad information I received when I made my system.

Fastestdan

I would love to see a picture of everything you would include with the intercooler. I would be interested in purchasing.

Blown Vette

I don't have the intercooler. It would be everything but the intercooler and heat exchanger. I will give you the information you need to get the right parts to finish your intercooler. The best thing that comes with the sale is the real world information you need to make it work the first time.

Bruce

I used to have a turbocharged 383LT1 vette with air to water and chilled by a/c system. It works really well. During street test/tune back to back run the IAT never exceed 130 degree at 17psi. Street cruising it show 98-103 degree. It is all custom fab. The water tank placed in the passenger back seat, required to cut a hole in there.


Bruce