water/air intercoolers
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 4,283
Likes: 0
From: Houston Texas
water/air intercoolers
Anybody ever see or use a water/air intercooler? Thoughts? The way my forward rotation supercharger sits, the blower discharges towards the firewall unlike just about everybodies going towards the front of car and radiator. If I went with intercooler it would sit right above passenger headers. Not ideal. But I have seen Vortechs F-body water/air intercoolers that sits in that position.
Instructor
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 100
Likes: 0
From: broken arrow ok
Re: water/air intercoolers (BAM92)
Not on my corvette but my syclone has a stock water to air system and the intercooler sits halfway above the downpipe & headers and the valve cover and works very efficiently. I also bought some heat shielding from summit that comes in sheets and is made of a fiberglass mesh or something with a foil on the outside and that helps with the heat soak. Good thing is that at the track u can use ice in the water resevoir and really chill your intake charge.
Drifting
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 1,637
Likes: 2
From: Honeoye Ny
Re: water/air intercoolers (BAM92)
I use a PWR water air setup and it's quite a space saver. also has less than .1 psi drop @900cfm. The best part is you can use Ice at the track and pick up 4-5% more power. Some times more.
Drifting
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 1,475
Likes: 0
From: Speedo Indiana
Re: water/air intercoolers (Baldturbofreak)
Rick,
While using the A/C intercooler you were talking about a few weeks ago, does that mean you lose your regular A/C or can you switch back and forth for the intercooler to the passenger compartment? I can't give up my creature comforts you know...
Tony
While using the A/C intercooler you were talking about a few weeks ago, does that mean you lose your regular A/C or can you switch back and forth for the intercooler to the passenger compartment? I can't give up my creature comforts you know...
Tony
Drifting
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 1,637
Likes: 2
From: Honeoye Ny
Re: water/air intercoolers (TONYDEE64)
Oh hell no it runs both with no problems. Very similar to how a dual evap suburban works. it's really easy to do. Just remember to turn it off before a boost run. Or you could use a hobbs switch to interupt the a/c clutch wire. In our motor's case I don't think we'll miss the 26 ft lbs so I'll just leave 'er on. 
Drifting
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 1,475
Likes: 0
From: Speedo Indiana
Re: water/air intercoolers (Baldturbofreak)
I wanna see some pictures......you could just remove your rear glass and mount that bad boy (with a cooling tower) in the rear cargo area.. kind of get a back to the future look going....that would be cool.... 
Pro
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 704
Likes: 16
From: Dallas Texas
I was planning on bumping the boost up. The only thing I could find that would flow enough air without cutting up the entire front end of my car was a Spearco air-to-water intercooler. I was considering removing the spare tire and mounting a water type radiator there with an electric fan, water pump and custom air ducting...if it works out, I'll post some photos.
Drifting
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 1,637
Likes: 2
From: Honeoye Ny
Originally Posted by Brand-X
I was planning on bumping the boost up. The only thing I could find that would flow enough air without cutting up the entire front end of my car was a Spearco air-to-water intercooler. I was considering removing the spare tire and mounting a water type radiator there with an electric fan, water pump and custom air ducting...if it works out, I'll post some photos.
Seriously though, if you can keep the resivouir cold enough (like ice at the track) it will be a BIG performance boost. It is likely that with a sufficient core size and tank full of icewater you will have boost going into the motor below ambient temps. And during street duties, boost is used so rarely it (a time based perspective of things) will hardly ever be more than a dozen degrees above outside temp. It's just all the logistics of another water system is the pain in the ****.
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