Rodrigues

If a radiator is used with a liquid air intercooler would it still work as well if not better than an A2A on the street? It seems like it would work a lot better at the track when times count but Im curious if the gains arent going to be worth the . How much weight does an average setup have over A2A? This is all assuming the same price...

MEAN LT1

For a racing application the air/water setup is alot better for the simple reason that you'll be able to get the water belowe ambient temps but only if you add ice. For real world street driving the air/air intercooler is prefered over the air/water b/c it takes ice for the air/water setup to match the efficiency of the air/air.

engineermike

Think about this for a minute. Which is better, an air cooled engine (a la Briggs and Stratton, WeedEater, and VW Beetle) or a water cooled engine (a la EVERYTHING ELSE WORTH HAVING).

Mike

engineermike

But why take my word for it? Check this out:

http://www.turboford.org/faq/ta.shtml

.03 psi pressure drop for water/air versus 1.6 psi pressure drop for air/air!!!

Mike

OutKlast

So I guess as long as you've got an icemachine in car then that'd work great for the street.

engineermike

So I guess you have an ice machine in your car to keep the engine cool, because the engine cooling system is air/water?

97WS6SCharged

Just get another set of AC coils for your intercooler setup and tap into the AC system.

JZ 97 SS 1500

As long as you have a larger heat exchanger your ok.

Jose

carnutz

and a stock T bird air to air is as good as an aftermarket one?????
Ya tell me another good one...........

5.0THIS

you're argueing with the wrong person on this one

97ChameleonTA

You ever jump into a pool of 70* water? Notice how cold it feels? Notice how it doesn't feel cold if you walk outside into a 70* day?

The reason for this is that water is a much better conductor of heat. The 70* pool water is removing your body heat much quicker than the 70* day.

Air to water with a heat exchanger is more efficient. The only downside is it's more complicated.

Hope this helps.

Marty

engineermike

One important detail that most people neglect is the tube arrangement.

Air/Air: Compressed air from the supercharger passes through the intercooler tubes.

Water/Air: Water flows inside tubes, while compressed air from the supercharger flows around the outside of the tubes.

There is much more cross-sectional area for flow around the tubes rather than through them.

This is how the Vortech Aftercooler only has 0.03 psi pressure drop versus 1.6 psi for the T-bird intercooler. Even aftermarket intercoolers have significant pressure drop since the air is forced through tubes.

97Chameleon is absolutely right, also, in that water transmits and absorbs much more heat than air.

Mike

2MCHPSI

Personal experience with my Aftercooler on 10 PSI showed NO daily driving problems heat wise from a 50/50 mix of water, antifreeze. My IATs under boost were under 100degrees on a 85 degree day.. Temps did not go up after daily driving for a few hours.

I see all of these people quote that air/water is only good at the track, or that you need ice for it to perform well. Bunch of BS. None of whihc have ever owned one.

There are production cars that use air/water setups just fine daily driving. Vortech aftercoolers work great on a daily driven car.. No need for ice either. Do not buy into the propaganda some companies want you to believe.

EddieP

Some interesting points here... IMO, it doesn't matter how much greater the specific heat of water is compared to air - with an air to air intercooler, there is an endless supply of 'new' air that passes through the intercooler. The coolant used in the liquid intercooler is a fixed amount. Also, core sizes on air to air and liquid to air setups are much different for similar applications - air to air cores are typically much larger. Any cooling advantage from a liquid intercooler is only short-term, since it's effeciency is limited by the external air/water heat exchanger. All the heat exchangers in liquid setups I've seen aren't going to dump as much heat as a comprable air to air setup. This is not to say that you could install a heat exchanger large enough to be on par an air to air setup, but it just typically isn't done.

BTW, ALL of our engines are air cooled.

Roadie

Last time I checked, water and antifreeze ran through my block. Granted, the water is cooled by air, but my engine most certainly is cooled by liquid, not air. Why??? Because liquid is a MUCH better conductor of heat.

air-to-air will never perform as well as air-to-liquid as long as the air-to-liquid setup has an adequate sized heat exchanger. That's just simple physics.

If a liquid to air heat exchanger was not more efficient than air to air, all our engines would still have big cooling fins on them and not bother running the more complicated liquid cooling system.