Has anyone considered building a tray onto the intercooler to form a box at the top of the intercooler ? This would allow you to dump a couple bags of ice on the top of the IC, then you could drain the water using a petcock installed also.

-Shannon

 

I've seen people carry bottles of Co2 to spray onto the intercooler between runs. Also, they make those halo sprayers to spray water or alky onto the intercooler during runs.

 

why not just save yourself the effort and bring a styrafoam cooler, and a couple of bags of ice to the track to place on the intercooler/intake manifold between runs? are you talking about using this during a run? first i'd check to see if nhra even allows this, and second, what affects would possible runoff of melted ice have on your run down the track (i.e. grip, electrical shorts, etc.)? i'm not trying to put you down or anything, just trying to see all sides influencing the solution.

 

I want to be able to use it all the time. I could care less about NHRA
I wouldn't be worried about water drain off since it would be welded in on top as part of the intercooler with a lid, hence the petcock to drain it

-Shannon

 

Sounds good, if its easy for you to make, i say go for it. Want to go out for a night of racing? Open up the freezer and load up the ice box and throw it in your box. The ice probably wouldnt last too long though and probably wouldnt help out the intercooler too much, but it would be neat.

 

But we can stuff drinks in there too

I also have access to dry ice here at work, so thats another option

-Shannon

 

Get a bottle of c02 or use an air/water intercooler. if you are so intent on using ice on a regular basis, the air/water will suit you much better. My setup involves a 2 gallon tank under the hood for normal every-day driving (which will run a little less efficient then an air/air intercooler on that temp fluid, but I also have methanol injection) and then for hardcore days, another 5 gallon tank in the trunk for those wed night meets or days at the track

 

The cheapest way that I've seen this done is that you build a tray infront of the intercooler and right before your run you drop a piece of dry ice in that tray. As the dry ice evaporates(not the chemically proper term for dry ice but I forgot it) the steam goes through the intercooler and cools it off emensly. This works better than just icing the intercooler because aluminum returns to ambient fairly quickly with the hot charge and ambient air moving through it.

 

Sublimation

I love dry ice...
There are guys I've seen that run an air/water intercooler with glycol instead of water and dump a brick of dry ice in the tank in the back. Pretty impressive results!

 

Thanks, atleast highschool chemistry didn't fail me too much

 

gotcha. hope it works out man.

 

Dry Ice....hmmmmm

Whats the difference between air to air and air to water as far as setup complexity ?

-Shannon

 

glycol in the aftercooler rather than the water/coolant mix????

got any links for info on this????

 

In the aftercooler you want pure water with water wetter as a top choice. In the winter time (if you drive your car close to freezing temps) then use glycol. Otherwise water has better thermal properties.

An air/air intercooler is simple. Air goes through the intercooler, which is placed in the ambient air stream (see front mount intercoolers) the charge is cooled and it returns via another pipe to the throttle body.

An air/water intercooler setup uses a smaller intercooler (as water transfers heat much faster then air) and the intercooler does NOT have to be mounted in the ambient air stream. Advantage is a dramatically shorter intake pipe length. I will now refer to the water in the system as "coolant" as that is what it is doing...

The next part of a air/water determines whether it is track or street. All you now need for an air/water is a reserve of coolant and a pump. Circulate the coolant from the resivoir to the intercooler, getting the hot coolant out and cool coolant in. On a street setup, you would also need a heat exchanger. For example, if you were to look at my intake charge side, the turbo is mounted on the driver's side where the air pump used to be. The air leaves the turbo, goes approx 3" to a 90 degree pipe and into the intercooler. It goes through, and then comes out, hitting a 2" length of coupler and the MAF. Then it hits the elbow and the throttle body. Very short intake length.

My "Coolant" side, runs from the intercooler to a holding tank under the hood where the stock air filter/air box goes. This is approx a 2 gallon tank. It pours it into the top of the holding tank, where it is then pumped out of the tank, through a pair of heat exchangers and back to the intercooler. I have a pair of bypass valves on the lines that route a pair of water lines to the trunk. There I will mount a larger tank for those times when I dont need trunk space (which could even be on the street most days of the week).

Water PROS/CONS:

Water intercooler setups are more expensive, heavier, and more complicated.
Water setups for street use are normally slightly less efficient then air/air.
I can add ice and get below ambient inlet temps, thusly giving me more power.
With my air/water I didnt have to do anything to the front of the car at all. I dont need to cut or hack anything, which for me means a lot.