Frederic's radiator cooled intercooler.

[Frederic Breitwieser]

> my eye.  I did a similar project last year along the same lines, but the results
> were a bit disappointing.  here's what I did:

Depends what your goal is... for my truck, consistant air temp makes modifying EFI
setups much easier - less wide swinging variables to play with.  I agree with Bruce
on this one.  Though let me make some turbocharging efforts and test it in the real
world, in the truck, with a payload.

> something cheap.

Cheap is good inmy book as well.

> One windshield washer tank, modified to accept 3/8" hose.
> 3/8 hose.

I had done something similar with the Buick V6 twin-turbo project, we used an igloo
cooler with a plastic sailboat sump pump glued in the bottom, and it worked very
well with ice water.  We found the best water to air intercooling (using the same
plenum mounted intercooler setup) was by connecting a garden hose to the well pump.
A constant source of 40 degree water helped big time - though impractical on the
street of course.  We also made a sad attempt at using a large freezer that was
being thrown out, connecting it to the intercooler and using the condenser,
evaporator, and a tank of "sucked out" freon left over from cars that have been
retrofitted or fixed over the years.  Decent results.  The well water from the hose
actually was at least as effective, since the outlet of the water was not recycled,
and hosed to a floor mounted drain.  You might want to search the archives... I've
posted these experiments before, say about 4-6 months ago I'd guess.  Don't have my
copies anymore as this is a new mail server, and the old one sorta bit the dust.
Again.

> and back into the water tank.  On race day, the pump would be reversed  and the
> water tank be filled with ice water for max cooling.

I actually built a plenum for the Buick V6, using the cad diagrams in the "Buick
Power Source" book from GM to make the head mating surface plates, with 15 or 16"
runners I think... been a while.  Its in the garage somewhere.  Anyway, the plenum
was a large triangle bottom half, and a rectangular top half, with a transmission
cooler brazed inside, manifold and cooler both made of aluminum.  Airflow comes in
from the turbos, heads downward through the intercooler, into the runners.  Then, we
ran ice water, refrigerant, well water, and other things through the intercooler to
see what worked best, then attempted to figure out a realistic method of doing this
on the road.  See, when the engine is on a dyno stand, you have access to well water
as well as 120V :)  The water Igloo with a sump pump worked fairly well.  The more
piping and water you have, the longer it takes to heat it.  We also put the freezer
coils in the igloo with even better results - used the freezer to remove the heat
energy from the water returned to the igloo.

> Soo, my take on the trans cooler idea was that it was not nearly enough, at
> least not for that setup.  Albeit Frederic's setup has a cooler at least 4 times
> the volume probably, I think it's the exposed surface area that counts.  I've

You need to make the transmission cooler thicker.  I found that the thicker the
core, the better the cooling is.  Prolly due to more surface area.  The cooler I
used was from an aging race car, and after flushing it out, worked just fine.  It
was 2" thick on the Buick, and the one brazed into the Dodge plenum is 3" thick.
Thick is good :)

> that even the largest trans coolers.  Fred, are you going to do some numbers
> testing on that beast?  I'd like to know what kind of temp drop you're getting

Well, dyno testing is a possibility, however this weekend is my last weekend of free
dyno time, then I have to be shoved in with everyone else who spends cash, and the
intake still isn't quite done, nor are the turbos finished - need new bearings, and
I'm still waiting for them, and have to clock one of them around to mirror the other
one, and fabricate the feed pipes to the plenum.  Among other things.

Anyway, while not necessarily immediate, I can produce dyno results the same way I
did with the Buick V6 twin-turbo project.  Hopefully, without losing the crank,
bottom end, pistons, rods, and the left side of the block.