Modifying Stock Intercooler For Water-air

[Ionos]

After reading this topic and doing a bit of research on the matter, i'm considering an attempt to convert the stock intercooler into a water-to-air unit.

The general plan is to weld an aluminium jacket around the cooler, and pump water around the intercooler then through a radiator in place of my current front mount air-air intercooler.

Has anyone attempted this? What kind of flow rate could I get out of the stock cooler, enough to flow 16psi at 7000rpm?

[Roy]

I had one of these made up from an RX7 core years ago for my R31. Never got around to insalling it though as i was at the time hunting around for a wrecked Liberty so i could steal the pumps etc.

At the time i was hunting around for an STI cooler as that would be a far better basis for a water to air cooler. The problem with the std cooler is they have about a 2psi pressure drop accross them.

So good ideam, but go for a top mount STI cooler, plated up and over the turbo with the right sort of temp shielding. Remember two layers of aluminium with an air gap between them will stop most of the heat getting into the cooler. Your inlet track will be about 6inches in total and you will have pretty good inelt temps. Only problem is weight and complexity, pumps can fail etc etc

[Adriano]

I would have a look on us ebay, there are plenty of water/air intercoolers for less than the cost of modding your own. I would imagine that the material thickness and design(ribbed end tanks) of the stock intercooler would make it very difficult to make it seal.

[VB-]

yeah you'll still have the same pressure drop from the cooler, you *MIGHT* cool the air better. i'd say go for another, better flowing cooler, and try it

[Ionos]

No worries.

I looked at these. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BIG-Liquid-...sspagenameZWD2V

They look good, but is the core sufficient to cool the amount of airflow going through it at 16psi, 6000-7000 RPM?

[zebra]

I want one...Trying to get it to fit in the engine bay might be tricky tho...espesh with the outlets facing the same way...if they faced opposite it would be good

BTW...looks very similar to what Duncan just bought for his race car

Edited September 8, 2008 by zebra

[Ionos]

This mob have lots of differnet models, including ones that go both ways although I would have though you could mount the ebay one vertically somewhere...

http://www.frozenboost.com/

Shipping to Aus is about $90US

[Ionos]

OK - update. I'm now getting serious about this, ditched the stock intercooler idea. I've found one on ebay which is a very good price.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/UNIVERSAL-T...sspagenameZWDVW

Now, I need some solid opinions on whether this will be capable of supporting an RB25DET with a HKS GT2535 at 18psi. That setup makes about 400HP, the intercooler supposedly supports 600HP but will such a small core (4.5" x 4.5" x 10") really be ok with this setup? I'm worried that there just wont be enough surface area in the core to cool the air effectively even if I keep the core nice and cool with a large radiator.

Thoughts?

Edited September 22, 2008 by Ionos

[paulr33]

for $60 USD id say that its complete junk

if you are serious about water to air intercooling i suggest speaking to are.com.au in QLD im pretty sure

find out some costing $ info and setup ideas for true water to air intercooling

[Ionos]

for $60 USD id say that its complete junk

if you are serious about water to air intercooling i suggest speaking to are.com.au in QLD im pretty sure

find out some costing $ info and setup ideas for true water to air intercooling

Could you elaborate as to why? I mean, what would make an ARE intercooler better then this one? Presumably they're a fairly standard design?

[Bond]

ARE do a lot of in house R&D......BUT you pay out your arse for it. For $60 i would try it. You can always get the outlets changed around to suit. I wonder if it would fit where the standard SMIC is?? I would be interested if it did.