I recently added a 1 gallon aftercooler tank but still I feel like the system is nothing more than a capacitor in summer.

I've had my firebird out the past 3 days and each day i've checked either the IAT's or stuck my hand in the aftercooler tank. It stays hot enough to be very unconfortable. IAT's while at idle will often run into the 130's. The heat exchanger is also very warm.

Any of you guys notice the same thing in summer at low speeds/city traffic?

My aftercooler doesn't have the insulating wrap so i feel that it can be a heatsoak to the entire engine instead of just the blowers discharge but I wouldn't have thought the wrap woudl be that important.

 

I don't run the wrap on mine either, and it typically keeps my intake temps about 100deg cooler than my radiator temps. What were your intake temps before the cooler? There's only so much it can do (assuming it's working properly) if the ambient temps are high.

 

Ambient was probally low 90's on all fo these runs. I imagine temp right above the road to be really high

 

you are correct sit, the tank is just like a cap.

You need a better/larger heat exchanger.

you have also figured out why air/water units are not so cool (pun.. hehehe) for street use

 

It gets so warm in traffic (130+'s) that I think it actually affects driveabilty.

 

I also have the one gallon tank in place of the battery. I saw 130s last week sitting in the drive way when it was 90 out, I just got off the interstate. Last year same senario with an aftercooler my temps were in the 180's. Do you think an air to air would be any better in traffic? It wouldn't. Higher iats are the nature of the best when you go supercharged. BTW my fans are set at 179 and I dont have any drive ability problems. Its tight under that hood and your IATs are probably lower than under hood temps. Just think about how hot the pavement is at 90, if I remember right the pavement is around 120-130. If you haven't allready try removing the weather stripping that seals the hood to the cowl. It allows alot of the hot air to rise out. The rain will still ride the plastic cowl to the fender. I think its their more to keep the engine noise down.

How are yalls coolant temps? With the condensor removed and with the top of radiator moved up an inch it hasn't gone over the 1/4 mark, even on some 95* days in traffic.

 

Well I leave the drivers fan out to make swapping pullies on the blower easier.

My coolant temps usually sit at the first 1/4 hash mark.

This kinda makes me want to go with uncooled setup in the summer. I know the blower discharge is hot under boost but right now I believe this aftercooler is actually pulling heat off the road and engine and putting it into the intake. In otherwords its doing more harm than good.

Anthor option would be maybe small heat exhanger fans to really get airflow kicking around them

 

I'm gonna restate what I posted above again because I really think it will help, my temps went from 180 to 130 sitting in the driveway after driving the car. I would hate for you to pull it off only to see your temps spike. What about when its under boost, I think highest we saw was 240 with out the intercooler, I dont have a hot weather log but on the dyno when it was 65 ambient my IAT was 115 with 12lbs. I'd put the other fan in to get the overall temp down, plus another fan will help move twice as much air over the exchanger at low speeds. Have you pulled the weather stripping? I have been daily driving the car this summer and its been 90-95 and the car has been great. BTW I use 75/25 water/antifreeze in the aftercooler. And the temp guage spends 90% of the time around the 1/8 mark.

 

I hear ya but it looks like it does more harm than good at this time of year.

You got to wieght, ambient + heat from blower effiecency (or lack i should say)

vs.

Ambient + heat added-subtracted from aftercooler + heat from blower efficentcy.

When I get out of the car and put my hand in the aftercooler tank after driving it around easy in town (no boost, still on new clutch) and it burns my hand It makes me think that its doing nothing but soaking up heat from the road/valve cover and dumping what it can back into the aftercooler.

 

So take it off and do another test. I do understand the weight, it must add about 30lbs to the front. I want to know what differece you see under boost. I bet its close to the 100* that vortech claims.

I remember my car being sluggish before the aftercooler and now I feel the opposite. Have you duobled checked that the cooler water pump is working? I check the flow in the tank once a month to make sure. It quit working once and the car was sluggish.

 

Yep checked it yesterday, I'm actually thinking about putting a PWM controller on it to slow it down.

 

I remember waaaay back a guy mounted his aftercooler where the battery would normally be. If that's an option it would probably cut down on alot of the heat soak the case gets from sitting over the engine. Just an idea.

 

At low speeds and idle there isn't enough air flowing past the heat exchanger to cool it. On a 90 deg plus day, nothing will work that well anyway unless you have ice water in the tank during a run. The same holds true with an air-to-air cooler. I've run both and think the air-water is much better.

Opening up the hood to let hot air out is a good idea. Putting the insulating wrap on is a good idea too. It won't get heat soaked as fast.

 

I don't think the water is getting hot from the outside air. I bet yours is heat soaking because of the lack of heat shielding. That aluminum intercooler sits about 4" above the exhaust header. Riding around town, I can see where it would get quite hot. Put the reflective heat wrap on it.

That said, 130 degree water feels very hot to the touch. But. . . boost temperature can range from 200 - 300 degrees, so the 130 degree water will cool it quite a bit.

I, personally, have a 5 gallon water tank in my trunk. I really hate the fact that I can't use the nifty t-top holders anymore, but the water NEVER gets hot. I've made 5 back-to-back dyno pulls and the water isn't even luke-warm.

Mike

 

Do you know of where I can get some asthetically reasonable insulation? I hate to call vortech over that blanket, I wasn't impressed wtih the quality of it anyway.

I browsed in lowes the other day but everything I saw was only rated to about 270F

I also looked in mcmaster carr. Saw some neat things but I hate buying something liek that with out putting my hands on it.