External water mist on IC

[atom_c]

I have been wondering how effective misting my IC would be on especially heavy load, hot days. Has anyone set this up? How much would it drop IAT? I was thinking a 2-3 gal water tank or maybe start with an old windshield washer setup from a junkyard. It could be a manual switch or an adjustable pressure switch that kicks on over 9 lbs boost. It seems that on the west coast with temps at 100+ and humidity at 20% to 30% there could be some good cooling gains. It might be a trick to get an effective spray pattern at 60 mph. Any thoughts?

[Mark Rinker]

I saw this done on a 200mph turbo 4 cylinder Ford Probe at Bonneville.

They had a large ice chest mounted where the passenger seat would have been. Drew outside air through it to supercool the intake charge (pre-turbo), the icy cold melt water was then pumped off the bottom to spray on the intercooler (post turbo).

For your application, I think you'd need alot more capacity than 2-3 gallons, however. I think you could go through that in 30 minutes. Have you considered water/methanol injection? You'd get more cooling and carry alot less extra weight around...

[ANXIOUS-SUBMAN]

Somewhere I saw a system that sprayed CO2 onto the face of the IC during heavy loads. If I come across the web site again I'll post the URL.

[atom_c]

My goal is to keep it fairly simple. Water, tank, and a small 12v pump should be fairly cheap. Mark, you may be right about needing more capacity. I would only use it going up steeper grades in the summer months. I am really wondering how significantly it would cool IATs. Maybe this summer will be time for IAT guage and a bit of testing.

[Bnave95]

Have you considered water/methanol injection?

And this does work plus you'll get the seat of the pants power add to that

[More Power]

My daughter's recent junior-high science fair project incorporated a NAPA windshield washer pump to move water through a sample chamber. The pump capacity was measured at 30ml per second - unrestricted flow. This would provide approximately 2 minutes & 8 seconds of water flow per US gallon.

An intercooler is the single best solution to cool boosted air temps. Always there, always working, nothing to maintain. For best results, choose the largest IC that'll fit the application. :)

Jim

[restoguy]

Those rice burner 'tuner' guys use CO2 to cool the intake charge on turbo and non turbo engines, so I think that it should work great. But, of course, that means more cost and effort involved. I also knew a guy who raced dirt circle track that used a water spray set up to cool his radiator a little more. He used a washer pump and I think he had washer nozzles too, but I'm not sure about that. Seemed to get the job done for him. Don't know why it wouldn't work in this situation. I don't have any idea how much good it would do, but it can't hurt.

[moondoggie]

Good Day!

Can you say "mineral deposits"? I guess I'd make sure I knew how I was going to remove them from my (expensive) IC B4 doing this.

Blessings!

[atom_c]

Sounds like a mixed review. Thanks for the thoughts. Maybe I will plan on a IAT gauge this spring to see what temps I am getting out of my IC (installed in December 05). From there I might try setting up a simple system using low pressure spray heads and 1/8" tubing from my irrigation supplies out in the garage. I could mount it under the bumper or on my "debris guard" under the IC. There are lots of adjustable spray heads that put out from .5 gph and up at 20- 30 psi. Then I could get some hard numbers by doing some test runs with and without mist. I would only need to wet it, not hose it down. Getting a good spray pattern that covered the IC and didn't waste water might be one of the tricky parts. Mineral deposits could become a problem. Distilled water would solve that, but would cost $ and be a PITA. Thanks all. I will keep you posted if I go anywhere with this.

[JTodd]

You would get much better results if you sprayed the water into the charged air. You would get more of the cooling effect you are after, plus making the air denser. It is a much, much more efficent means to the end you are after, with far better results.