Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

R34 GTR Intercooler choice for 350awkw

Hi guys,

I've damaged the bottom 2 or 3 fins of my intercooler during a fight with a gutter, was wondering what you guys thoughts are in terms of replacements, have read a lot of threads on here with varying reviews so I though I'd start my own for my specific application.

I'm also aware that the stock one is quite capable of my requirements but like I said, it's damaged and needs replacing.

Car has -5's and was last dynoed at 343awkw.

Open to all suggestions from Aussie made, ARE, PWR, Plazmaman, to Japanese ARC, HKS, etc.

My mechanic is recommending ARC or HKS.  I'm leaning more towards ARC as I really haven't read anything negative about them other than they're expensive, performance wise I've read they're solid.

ARC has a couple of different types but I can't read japanese so I don't know what the difference is:

http://www.arc-brazing.co.jp/intercooler.html

There's an 073 and an 079, the 079 being quite a bit more expensive, so I'm assuming it's bigger, would greatly appreciate if someone could help out with dimensions as it's an expensive purchase and I want to make sure I'm buying the right thing!!!

I believe ARC have a wide core version as per http://www.visionr.com.au/.  It would be nice if it was wide enough to hide the end tanks behind the front bar, purely for aesthetics.  Also has anyone ever ordered through these guys?

Been away from the scene for a long time, would I still go through Streeter or Import Monster for quotes or is there a new kid on the block?

Edited by samurai_gtr
2 hours ago, samurai_gtr said:

I've damaged the bottom 2 or 3 fins of my intercooler during a fight with a gutter

Does it actually leak, or is it just cosmetic damage?

I've spent hours straightening the fins with a screwdriver on my IC but never had any issues with leaks at the cooler.

2 hours ago, V28VX37 said:

Does it actually leak, or is it just cosmetic damage?

I've spent hours straightening the fins with a screwdriver on my IC but never had any issues with leaks at the cooler.

Good question mate I'm not sure as the cars off the road and not really driveable at the moment.  Is there an easy way to test?

Most of the reason would be that Plazmaman (and PWR as well) are some of the best of the "locally" made ones. They perform very well, have top quality finish, are light and fit without having to hack the car up or perform dodgy piping if you purchase the normal thickness models. They perform as well or better than while costing similar to a unit from one of the top Japanese brands but you get the ease of purchasing plus warranty locally from a well known company.

1 hour ago, samurai_gtr said:

Good question mate I'm not sure as the cars off the road and not really driveable at the moment.  Is there an easy way to test?

Probably worth testing then before spending big $$ on a new unit.

I'm guessing a standard boost leak tester would work fine, with some pressurised air and a cap at the other end of the cooler?

1 hour ago, baron_von_bootsector said:

Most of the reason would be that Plazmaman (and PWR as well) are some of the best of the "locally" made ones. They perform very well, have top quality finish, are light and fit without having to hack the car up or perform dodgy piping if you purchase the normal thickness models. They perform as well or better than while costing similar to a unit from one of the top Japanese brands but you get the ease of purchasing plus warranty locally from a well known company.

Actually the Aussie ones cost a lot less then the Japanese ones and work as well or better then them

  • Like 1

and when someone sees a Plaz cooler they know you're serious :)

Anyhow, I can get you one for a decent price however the team there is flat out catching up on jobs so it will be at least 2 weeks before you can get your hands on one as they're all made to order. 

  • Like 1
21 hours ago, Dose Pipe Sutututu said:

and when someone sees a Plaz cooler they know you're serious :)

Anyhow, I can get you one for a decent price however the team there is flat out catching up on jobs so it will be at least 2 weeks before you can get your hands on one as they're all made to order. 

Thanks mate.  If you could get me a quote that would be great.

29 minutes ago, samurai_gtr said:

Thanks mate.  If you could get me a quote that would be great.

PM me of what you're after, i.e. 76mm or 100mm, Raw or Stealth Black or Polished, IAT or no IAT, and postcode so I can work out freight

  • Like 1

There seems to be two standard sizes for GTR coolers.  For my power output would I only be requiring a 70ish mm cooler?  What power figure will this take me upto?  Would I lose response if I went to a bigger cooler?  Any other downsides of a cooler that is 'too big'?

Whilst I have a cooling thread active, I'm also in the market for a new radiator, looking a Koyo, there's two types though, copper and aluminium.  From what I've read the aluminium would be the way to go as doesn't retain as much heat.  Is this correct?

 

Um....retain as much heat?  Not the distinction between the two metals that I would make.  Copper has better thermal conductivity than aluminium, so for otherwise identical heat exchangers it will result in better cooling.  But it is heavier than aluminium.  I cannot tell you which will be more important in your application, although I'd be willing to bet that you're not going to need to go to copper.

1 hour ago, GTSBoy said:

Um....retain as much heat?  Not the distinction between the two metals that I would make.  Copper has better thermal conductivity than aluminium, so for otherwise identical heat exchangers it will result in better cooling.  But it is heavier than aluminium.  I cannot tell you which will be more important in your application, although I'd be willing to bet that you're not going to need to go to copper.

I can get a copper one relatively cheaply, would you prefer a copper over aluminium given the choice?  They're very similar in price.

Just curious to know what your preference would be and why?

Edited by samurai_gtr

It's unlikely that you will get a copper radiator that is superior to an alloy radiator at a low price.  Copper rads are inherently more expensive than aluminium rads.  In my earlier reply I said " for otherwise identical heat exchangers [copper] will result in better cooling", but the problem is that there is never going to be a pair of radiators that are the same except for the material.  Aluminium rads have fatter tubes and different fin pitch where copper rads have to have thin tubes because the metal is not as strong.  It's actually easier to get a very good aluminium radiator than it is to get a very good copper one.  And the Al rad is lighter and should last longer.

There are a lot of "articles" written by radiator people on this topic that you could google up.

In your specific case, Koyo don't even offer a copper rad for R34s, so it's not even a point for discussion.  The only parts they list are for their racing product line, which are all aluminium, including the tanks.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Hey Dave, welcome aboard! Good to see another soon-to-be Stagea owner here. The wagons are awesome — plenty of space, still got that Skyline DNA, and loads of potential if you’re into mods. Definitely post up pics when you get it, everyone here loves seeing new builds. What model/year are you looking at?
    • See if you can thermal epoxy a heatsink or two onto it?
    • The other problem was one of those "oh shit we are going to die moments". Basically the high spec Q50s have a full electric steering rack, and the povo ones had a regular hydraulic rack with an electric pump.  So couple of laps into session 5 as I came into turn 2 (big run off now, happily), the dash turned into a christmas tree and the steering became super heavy and I went well off. I assumed it was a tyre failure so limped to the pits, but everything was OK. But....the master warning light was still on so I checked the DTCs and saw – C13E6 “Heat Protection”. Yes, that bloody steering rack computer sitting where the oil cooler should be has its own sensors and error logic, and decided I was using the steering wheel too much. I really appreciated the helpful information in the manual (my bold) POSSIBLE CAUSE • Continuing the overloading steering (Sports driving in the circuit etc,) “DATA MONITOR” >> “C/M TEMPERATURE”. The rise of steering force motor internal temperature caused the protection function to operate. This is not a system malfunction. INSPECTION END So, basically the electric motor in the steering rack got to 150c, and it decided to shut down without warning for my safety. Didn't feel safe. Short term I'll see if I can duct some air to that motor (the engine bay is sealed pretty tight). Long term, depending on how often this happens, I'll look into swapping the povo spec electric/hydraulic rack in. While the rack should be fine the power supply to the pump will be a pain and might be best to deal with it when I add a PDM.
    • And finally, 2 problems I really need to sort.  Firstly as Matt said the auto trans is not happy as it gets hot - I couldn't log the temps but the gauge showed 90o. On the first day I took it out back in Feb, because the coolant was getting hot I never got to any auto trans issues; but on this day by late session 3 and then really clearly in 4 and 5 as it got hotter it just would not shift up. You can hear the issue really clearly at 12:55 and 16:20 on the vid. So the good news is, literally this week Ecutek finally released tuning for the jatco 7 speed. I'll have a chat to Racebox and see what they can do electrically to keep it cooler and to get the gears, if anything. That will likely take some R&D and can only really happen on track as it never gets even warm with road use. I've also picked up some eye wateringly expensive Redline D6 ATF to try, it had the highest viscosity I could find at 100o so we will see if that helps (just waiting for some oil pan gaskets so I can change it properly). If neither of those work I need to remove the coolant/trans interwarmer and the radiator cooler and go to an external cooler....somewhere.....(goodbye washer reservoir?), and if that fails give up on this mad idea and wait for Nissan to release the manual 400R
    • So, what else.... Power. I don't know what it is making because I haven't done a post tune dyno run yet; I will when I get a chance. It was 240rwkw dead stock. Conclusion from the day....it does not need a single kw more until I sort some other stuff. It comes on so hard that I could hear the twin N1 turbos on the R32 crying, and I just can't use what it has around a tight track with the current setup. Brakes. They are perfect. Hit them hard all day and they never felt like having an issue; you can see in the video we were making ground on much lighter cars on better tyres under brakes. They are standard (red sport) calipers, standard size discs in DBA5000 2 piece, Winmax pads and Motul RBF600 fluid, all from Matty at Racebrakes Sydney. Keeping in mind the car is more powerful than my R32 and weighs 1780, he clearly knows his shit. Suspension. This is one of the first areas I need to change. It has electronically controlled dampers from factory, but everything is just way too soft for track work even on the hardest setting (it is nice when hustling on country roads though). In particular it rolls into oversteer mid corner and pitches too much under hard braking so it becomes unstable eg in the turn 1 kink I need to brake early, turn through the kink then brake again so I don't pirouette like an AE86. I need to get some decent shocks with matched springs and sway bars ASAP, even if it is just a v1 setup until I work out a proper race/rally setup later. Tyres. I am running Yoko A052 in 235/45/18 all round, because that was what I could get in approximately the right height on wheels I had in the shed (Rays/Nismo 18x8 off the old Leaf actually!). As track tyres they are pretty poor; I note GTSBoy recently posted a porker comparo video including them where they were about the same as AD09.....that is nothing like a top line track tyre. I'll start getting that sorted but realistically I should get proper sized wheels first (likely 9.5 +38 front and 11 +55 at the rear, so a custom order, and I can't rotate them like the R32), then work out what the best tyre option is. BTW on that, Targa Tas had gone to road tyres instead of semi slicks now so that is a whole other world of choices to sort. Diff. This is the other thing that urgently needs to be addressed. It left massive 1s out of the fish hook all day, even when I was trying not too (you can also hear it reving on the video, and see the RPM rising too fast compared to speed in the data). It has an open diff that Infiniti optimistically called a B-LSD for "Brake Limited Slip Diff". It does good straight line standing start 11s but it is woeful on the track. Nismo seem to make a 2 way for it.
×
×
  • Create New...