240hoke Posted October 1, 2005 Share Posted October 1, 2005 Hey guys, Ive mounted up my intercooler and i mounted it so hat it is flush with the airdam to prevent air from going under the car. This leaves some room up top for the air to bypass the intercooler and travel into the engine compartment. What Im curious about is whether it would be better to seal the top and force all the air to travel through the intercooler or to leave it so the radiator gets more airflow. Right now I'm thinking it would be best sealed off because the air coming up top might mess with the air coming through the i/c. Anyway here is an incredible crude picture but you get the idea perhaps ill take a real picture today lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad-ManQ45 Posted October 1, 2005 Share Posted October 1, 2005 Good question 240hoke: How big is the IC? I believe you haved an NPR? If it is any smaller than the rad, leave it be.... Most of us aren't on boost long enough for this to make a big difference. Road Racers need to pay attention to this more, IMHO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ON3GO Posted October 1, 2005 Share Posted October 1, 2005 austin is setting his car up for road racing and auto-x. he's got a fairly large fmic, not a NPR. i would seal it off, and direct the air flow with some metal to the radiator from the fmic. but after all that you still have trapped air in the engine bay... that hood you have doesnt have vents right? mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240hoke Posted October 1, 2005 Author Share Posted October 1, 2005 intercooler is 24x12x4" and the hood is unvented. This car is going to see the track ALOT hopefully. I think my idea right now is to try and seal off hte front end and direct all the air through the intercooler and radiator treating them as one unit, maybe a pusher fan in between the two? Open to suggestions, anybody have any exprieince with this? -Austin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
proxlamus© Posted October 1, 2005 Share Posted October 1, 2005 Austin, I have a Ford Taurus fan inbetween my NPR intercooler and the radiator... soo it SUCKS air into the intercooler, and BLOWS it through the radiator. i know u have dual 10" fans behind the radiator.. i know they can pull alot of air THROUGH the radiator, but I don't know about the intercooler.. obviously when AutoX'ng you dont go fast for very long which would throw alot of air through the intercooler.. soo i would recommend moving those 10" fans behind the intercooler, and in front of the radiator unless you wanna run two (sets) of fans.. with the Ford Taurus fan .. I bought for $5.00 at the junkyard, my Intake Air Temperature has never been above 30 degrees above the ambient air temp.. so on a 95 degree day in good ol Colorado by intake air temps would be around 120 degree's at 10psi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHO-Z Posted October 1, 2005 Share Posted October 1, 2005 From your picture you will be running the fan allot. You have lost allot the ram effect going trough your radiator. I would move the intercooler back against the radiator. An old sailing rule is air is deflected about 6 times the sail height. The air that goes over the intercooler will reach the radiator but most of the air deflected off of the bottom will go under the car. But it could work great after all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240hoke Posted October 1, 2005 Author Share Posted October 1, 2005 okay so it sounds like i need to seal off the top. i have the run the i.c where it is due to space restrictions and how i need to run the pipes (which is already a challenge). So heres my plan -- the bottom against the intercooler and spoiler will be sealed with a piece of sheetmetal preventing any air from escaping undernieth along with a from spliter (yes my car will be low enough) and then on top of the intercooler ill seall it up to the hood with some sheetmetal and rubber, then perhaps something to block off the space on the sides between the two units and run a set of fans inside ther for when it gets hot. This in efect will force all the air then comes through my intercooler through the radiator too. Anyway ill tkae some pictures tonight of how the i/c is mounted for some more input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nismo280zEd Posted October 2, 2005 Share Posted October 2, 2005 I'd try to split the airflow. you dont want the hot air from the IC going into the Radiator, that isn't gonna cool **** not matter how many fans are behind it. Atleast not in 115 heat index Houston TX. It'd make more sense to me to try to get some cool air to your radiator, either that or use some spray nozzles and create a water mist, that'll work alot better and cheaper than another set of fans. just my .02c -Ed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gollum Posted October 3, 2005 Share Posted October 3, 2005 Hmm, the mist is a good idea. Is it the STI that uses a mist system? Or was it the masdaspeed6 prototype? I can't remember. But from what i've been told it can make a huge difference, expecially if the water resivoir was kept in a cool place with ice. But it's the same idea as perspiration, the water on the IC & radiator will make the flowing air have a greater effect on the temp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueovalz Posted October 3, 2005 Share Posted October 3, 2005 Would hotter air from the IC (because some air flow is bypassing it over the top of the IC) offset the extra air going to cool the radiator? In other words, would sealing off the IC make the radiator warmer, but at the same time, let the cooler intake charge make up for it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heavy85 Posted October 4, 2005 Share Posted October 4, 2005 Hmm, the mist is a good idea. If your going to do that why dont you just skip the aftercooler all together and just use water injection? Remember power is proportional to mass flowrate so adding water increases mass flowrate while cooling the charge allowing more fuel (& boost) without melting things (well as long as you dont run out which would suck) which again increases mass flowrate. As far as the actual question I think that depends. As you show it would probably provide the best radiator cooling, but sealing it would increase the flow through the aftercooler by the fans at the cost of temperature and flowrate to the radiator. Cameron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ON3GO Posted October 4, 2005 Share Posted October 4, 2005 water injection scares me.. something about putting a none compressable liquid in the chambers just makes me feel werid. alky would be cool, also a NO2 style intercooler sprayer. mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rudypoochris Posted October 4, 2005 Share Posted October 4, 2005 I thought the mist they were reffering to was spraying on the IC? Wouldn't water evaporating off the air to air intercooler greatly cool the intake temp? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olie05 Posted October 4, 2005 Share Posted October 4, 2005 I think I remember reading in the corky bell turbo book that the ideal intake size for forcing air through any radiator type contraption is 1/4 of the surface area of the radiator. In this case you are using an intercooler... so here is my rendering of it: You would have air going over the top for the IC, and the 2 blue air currents you drew originally would be forced to go through the IC. i got bored... hehe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gollum Posted October 4, 2005 Share Posted October 4, 2005 I thought the mist they were reffering to was spraying on the IC? Wouldn't water evaporating off the air to air intercooler greatly cool the intake temp? That's what 'I' was talking about. For sure. (fo sho for you youngens... wait... i'm one of them... darn...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Z Draci Posted October 4, 2005 Share Posted October 4, 2005 There are many aftermarket "pans" in Japan for the same application. Your logic makes sense because Ferrari thinks it's a good idea too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240hoke Posted October 4, 2005 Author Share Posted October 4, 2005 Okay here is what im dealing with, the stuff is jsut kinda mocked up i just have top mounts on it and old hood hinges. The bottom with be brought in against he x-member about 1/4" more inches so it pulls it off the hood springs. And before i get flamed for having a huge intercooler, yes I know its big and will give me an extra .5 psi pressuredrop. BUt i like it like that PLus gotta have some room to grow you know to 1200hp I have plenty of room up top to redirect the air to the radiator, Im just worried that the air going over the top is going to disturb the air going through the i.c perhaps i could make a baffle all thh way to the radiator, but then it would only be cooling the top half if it and would cut into fan room. -Austin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heavy85 Posted October 6, 2005 Share Posted October 6, 2005 water injection scares me.. something about putting a none compressable liquid in the chambers just makes me feel werid. You mean like alky or gas (sorry I couldn't help myself). Austin - I'm guessing that unless the aftercooler is close to the radiator - maybe an inch? - that the air from the fans will go path of least resistance which would be over the top and around the sides (at least stationary). Sealing the bottom and sides would help but not sure how much. This is where a middle mounted fan would help if you really wanted the fan to be pulling air through the aftercooler. This is really only a potential issue when going slow as the ram effect would push air through both once moving. I think the WRX aftercooler being mounted above the engine only gets ram air so maybe none of this is an issue. I'm guessing (again) that by the time you really need cooling you would be moving pretty good which is how they get away with it. However, I'm finally guessing (last time for this post I promise) that the WRX type for the same reason would be a good candidate for the water mist. As many have said before - nice job on your car by the way. Cameron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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