Thinking about intercooling?

[Goldy]

Been having a think about intercooling and I've decided to go for a top mounted intercooler in the engine bay, to :
1. Keep pipework short to reduce lag
2. Keep pipework short to keep things simple lol

I had a sortof dummy run to see if it would fit :
See :
http://www.goldy.biz/scphoto/DSC00491.JPG
http://www.goldy.biz/scphoto/DSC00493.JPG

It looks like it'll fit in there very nicely!!, the only issues I can see are :
> I'm going to need some reducers / flexi bends to pipe in the intercooler.
> Going to need to ditch the airbox and resonator to make some space for the afm and pipework to go.... (this may be a problem as I don't know if I can get a cone filter adaptor for my car's afm!!)
> Not quite sure where this dump valve is going to go
> I may need to take out the inside shroud on my engine lid
> Not sure how efficient this is going to be? will I be cooling or heating the air :mrgreen:

Anyone got any suggestions / feedback, tips and tricks appreciated.... The more ideas that get chucked about the better i'll hopefully be able to address the issues!

Cheers

Simon

[superchargedsam]

Goldy firstly your hand is gonna get hot and tired holding that for long periods, if I were you I would make some brackets to save arm strain and burns !

On a serious note if you do this you HAVE to sela this against the inside of the lid so that the air flows through the IC not round it in anyway at all ! If you need pics of the supercharger set up in my MK1 which is factory fit and looks like yours let me know as it shows how the skirt sits etc (although the factory fit can be further improved upon !) ! if you go this method I highly recomend the following:
1. Water/methanol injection boost activated
2. Water spray bars on the IC again boost activated
3. Cryongenic CO2/NOS sray kti added to underside of IC !
4. Draught excluder type foam around the seal between top of IC and base of engine lid !
Just my 2 pennys worth !

[Goldy]

Yea I thought about sealing, I might need to fabricate a new engine lid shroud, its not such a biggy as I don't mind working with sheet metal. I've seen the supercharger setup, though I'm using a turbo intercooler its essentially the same.

On a side note I'll be keeping my hands thank you, I quite like them actually :woods:

[superchargedsam]

LOL ! Goldy if your going A2A it might be worth keeping your eye out (Not literally taking your eye out and letting it dry up or nowt, Obviously!) for the Supra MKIV IC as they have quite a big area in them and go quite cheap as they often swop them for big mofo ICs ! Just a thought and all !

[Goldy]

I don't think I can fit much bigger in there to be honest. There is about 2'' to play with before it hits the supercharger. Remember i'm only running 5psi, and I wont be pushing the supercharger to its max so it shouldn't require massive intercooling to keep charge tempratures reasonable.

[superchargedsam]

fairy snuff then fella didnt think about that ! put a bigger one in and run higher boost then :) get them pistons changed a slightly thicker metal gasket max the charger out and jobs a good un !

[MRV6]

Hi Goldy I'm running 4 psi without any intercooler. Thinking of upping it to a massive 5 psi. You can't intercool the trd unit without splitting it in two and I'm not gonna do that. If I do increase the boost I'm going for water injection, it cools the charge and should be ok if you are not running massive boost.

[Goldy]

The original plan was to run the setup without an intercooler, but general consensus from the mk1 sc guys and reading books is that that would be a bad idea.

Fitting the intercooler complicates things a fair bit, and i'm still not 100% sure I need it, though i hope it will improve the gains from fitting the supercharger as well as reducing the chances of detonation!

Whats the max boost people run on the trd unit before they require intercooling?

The problem with water injection is that its a bit of a compromise. I figure if i can fit an intercooler I should.

[MRV6]

Brad was running his @ 10 psi for the Ultimate Street Car Challenge. From what I've heard when he was dragging it he had to let the car cool down because it was that hot after one run. You can't intercool a trd unit you would have to cut it in half. Thats the prob mate it's a cracking piece of kit but you can't intercool it. This is the reason why I looked @ wi. To be honest I would n't think you would need an intercooler on the car because of the engines internals you prolly can't run any higher than say 6-7 psi.

[MartG]

Simon

If you do fit the ic in that location, the critical thing to aim for is an ample supply of cool air to the underside of it. In the Mk1 the air normally has to pass from the side scoop across the hot engine or upwards from under the car across the hot gearbox etc. before getting to the ic, which isn't ideal.

If you remember my car from Anglesey, I've got an airscoop near the rear pillar which feeds cool air under the ic ( with the help of some B&Q extractor fan ducting lol ) - it isn't boxed in to the underside of the ic as the normal vacuum above the ic will suck the cool air through when the car is moving, and boxing it in would prevent 'thermosiphon' airflow when the car is stationary.

You could do something similar with a Tom's Mk2 scoop, but remember to modify it so the air is ducted to where its needed.

Also remember that the vacuum induced airflow through the ic will be a lot more than can be achieved by a fan, so don't bother trying to fit a fan unless you plan on sitting in traffic a lot.


Of course an ideal solution would be a chargecooler.......