Dual Air/Air Intercoolers

adamsmarshall

adamsmarshall

Drilling Crooked Holes
Joined
Oct 12, 2008
Messages
1,915
Alright, after seeing the new triples setup that JD is running it has sparked some intrest in intercooling between stages.

What I have come up with so far is that you've cooled the air before it enters the manifold charger but once it exits it is no longer being cooled further. now I know at this point the IAT's (Intake Air Temperature's) will be higher than what it would be if it were coming straight from the intercooler but I don't know by what degree.

My question here is would there be any dissadvantage to running a top mount intercooler between the manifold charger and the intake to further reduce the IAT's.

Know I know a water/air intercooler is smaller and more efficiant than an air/air intercooler but you run into issues running water on a street vehicle due to the water temps in the water/air cooler.

I know there are vehicles that run top mounted intercoolers (eg. Subaru STI) that mount just below the hood with a scoop on the hood feeding the air. For those of you with more knowledge than myself about intercooling, how thick of a core would be recommended to build an air/air cooler to sit above the valve cover on a CR.

I'm assuming as far as CFM capability of the size cooler we would be looking at it would have to be a minimum of a 3" core if not even a 4" core, I don't have any measurements of the room available in front of me but lets just say we use a 3" core cooler with a basic dimension of say 24 x 12. How much good would you feel this would do for the air being moved from say an S475.

Would there be enough area in a 3" or 4" core cooler of that rough size to be worth the trouble or do you feel it would be better non-intercooled from the manifold charger.

Also if any of you happen to have any pictures of top mounted intercoolers mounted in our trucks please post pictures.

Thanks, Feel free to cuss and discuss
 
I vote against trying to mount any air/air intercooler above the valve cover; there's no good way to get the air to flow through it that would gain as much temp differential as a front mounted cooler. Might as well go with a water/air and a circulation system
 
Ok so even with the water at room temperature driven on a street vehicle you feel it would still work better that trying to fab up a second air/air cooler?

Cause thats my only concern would be running room temp water in it as opposed to filling it with ice every day.
 
room temperature would be unreal...

150* water is going to cool amazingly well... air/water isn't as great for heavy towing, but with a good heat exchanger, it WILL help... where it will shine is during short bursts, and then the heat exchanger will cool the water back down while cruising easy
 
ice is for trying to get the very coldest temperatures you can get for competition only..
the top mount intercooler wont work , it will have to be huge to make as much effect as even a small water air cooler, like forrest said its all about the heat exchanger. and how much air you can get through it. and with a properly matched heat exchanger you can cool air to ambient or more consistently towards ambient than an air/air cooler.
 
I'm still curious as to what the best method of constructing a heat exchanger is?
 
plain water w/ water wetter is probably your best bet... water has the best thermal transfer properties, but you want some corrosion protection
 
I have access to all kinds of coolers, just need to know what is best to use.

Seems an A/C condenser is too small, same for the oil cooler. Civic radiator maybe?
 
Can someone please post up a picture or draw me a sweet picture on paint to help me get this concept down i understand what is gained from it i just dont understand how the plumbing and everything else is routed
 
Rollincole said:
Can someone please post up a picture or draw me a sweet picture on paint to help me get this concept down i understand what is gained from it i just dont understand how the plumbing and everything else is routed
Click to expand...

It would be like mine but with another intercooler.
 
New Ford 6.7 has air/water on it. Pretty interesting setup with its own rad for the coolant!
 
for rollincoal if you don't understand JD's setup, the air from the parallel turbos on top are routed through the drivers side of the intercooler then from the exit side it enters the compressor on the bottom turbo, then from the discharge of the bottom through a second intercooler to the intake of the motor.

Sounds like a mess but works great, just a fabbing nightmare if you don't know what you're doing and depending on space
 
Intercooling has nothing to do with the way a compound turbo arrangement is plumbed, as long as it's efficient. On the street an air/air setup is fine and most times the best due to space and ease of layout, on the track water/air is better because of limited natural air flow that is important to provid efficient cooling...all it comes down to is how cold the air is that's entering the engine's intake. At vehicle speeds over 50mph most stock and 99% of aftermarket intercoolers provide enough cooling to drop intake air temps down to the outside ambient air temperature. The short version of this: if you are looking for better air/air cooling you're wasting your time. I see a lot of upcoming problems with the stock 6.7L cummins intercoolers, guy deleting the egr and adding power...stock cooler approx. 1" thick...
 
Street guys will likely use an air to air, plenty of air flow to keep things cool but I never saw anything close to ambient temps.

Some pullers are thinking like racers and I like it, water/air coolers big or small, good pumps/supply and there not overlooking the batt system, 16V systems have been used for a long time.....proven!

Jim
 
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