Airbox and intercooler help/ideas

[Gareth87]

Hi all,

Matt from PITS just finished my new ECU tune. (Link Fury G4+ with EGTS, wideband etc). Went 495hp at 22psi which I'm stoked with, but I'm throwing away power with air inlet temps. End of a run it's exceeding 60 deg C. Under bonnet temps at the filter is up near 80 deg C.

Questions are..

1) - Any suggestions for intercoolers? (The current cooler is a 450mmx75mm tube and fin autobarn special from 2004) Going wider isn't an option.

2) - Has anyone had any good results with airboxes and cold air intakes? Open to suggestions here. My thoughts are to retain the filter, enclose it and add an inlet pipe from outside the engine bay to feed it.

Pics of the engine bay attached..

[PLYNX]

 Seems you have sort of answered your own problem

Hmmmm .  . . In my opinion get rid if that cone filter and use and original one or multiples of one

All it doing is sucking hot air into the engine for the hot engine bay

What does the original air box look like ?

It can be a starting point to re-engineering it.

Basically you need to convert that entire guard corner to an insulated area for a filter to sit that is pulling cold air from the outside of the car.

Here's an example of what can done on my R33 a while ago using the original cold air intake

[GTSBoy]

+ Autospeed intercooler water spray controller. Very effective way to boost intercooler effectiveness. Could implement something similar these days with an Arduino for peanuts.

[Gareth87]

Ok great, car originally had carbs and the FJ20 airbox is long gone.

I'll fab a box up with a draw pipe from outside the engine bay. I have been looking at various off the shelf products and most only have a 3" inlet so it looks like I'll be doing something like what you did with the 33 airbox.

as for the intercooler sprayers, would prefer to keep everything conventional with the intercooler, just need to find a decent cooler in the size I can fit.

Anyone got any back to backs results on intercoolers types?

[Gareth87]

Ok so ive been making enquiries about intercoolers, massive waits at the moment for custom made.. so if anyone has any suggestions for off the shelf coolers would be great. Better yet, has anyone done a back to back with different coolers?

I dont want to simply trade my chinese cooler in for the same one with a different brand stamped on it..

[Unzipped Composites]

On 26/10/2021 at 7:28 PM, Gareth87 said:

Ok so ive been making enquiries about intercoolers, massive waits at the moment for custom made.. so if anyone has any suggestions for off the shelf coolers would be great. Better yet, has anyone done a back to back with different coolers?

I dont want to simply trade my chinese cooler in for the same one with a different brand stamped on it..

 

Plazmaman Pro or Hypertune are the go. Plazmaman more likely available straight off the shelf and a bit cheaper.

 

In all honesty, I would do the intercooler before you do too much else. Airboxes arent as essential as a lot believe, they do make a difference and they help and given they're fairly cheap and simple to make its not a terrible idea, but - an airbox isn't going to bring 60° charge temps down very much at all. 80° ambient temperature at the pod filter isn't terrible, your turbo is going to be heating the charge air a lot more than that. So your intercooler sounds horrendously inefficient. 

Cold air intakes from outside the engine bay are also unnecessary, the positive lift and drag you cause by doing that is more harmful to performance than warm IAT's. Unless you can duct air in from an existing opening in your front bumper. But in reality there is already plenty of cold air going to your pod filter, these engine bays are not stagnant pockets of hot air, there is plenty of movement in there.

Get good intercooler, fit that, go for a retune. If your intake temps are still up over 50°, then think about making an airbox and fitting a water sprayer etc. But I bet you'll find a Plazmaman Pro cooler has your charge temps back down around the low 40's

[Gareth87]

Thanks mate, great advice. I just need to try and get one by the end of November now.. it can't hurt doing both and taking outside air in from the bumper or something like that.

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

On 26/10/2021 at 11:29 PM, Unzipped Composites said:

Plazmaman more likely available straight off the shelf and a bit cheaper.

All the Pro and Comp series IC are made to order. Unfortunately not off the shelf as you would think.

I waited 2 months for mine LOL...

[Unzipped Composites]

On 27/10/2021 at 10:41 AM, Dose Pipe Sutututu said:

All the Pro and Comp series IC are made to order. Unfortunately not off the shelf as you would think.

I waited 2 months for mine LOL...

Yeh fair enough, I wasn't sure - I went down the Hypertune route, and even then I just bought the core. I thought someone like Goleby's may have kept some stock of the Pro series.