water to air intercooler

[wireweld]

Would it be possible to plumb the ic into the water pump provided that it has all the cooling updates?

[Dvldog 8793]

Howdy
If you use engine coolant you'll be heating the air to coolant temp. If you are going with a liquide type cooler then everything I've heard is that you need to have a separate system. It sounds like they work great once you get them functioning. I'm in the process of building one now: mainfold mounted IC, Small auto radiator w/elec fan mounted inside the body of the box just in front of the rear pass tire, a 20gpm pump, and a resivoir. Total system capacity should be about 13 gallons.
My wallet really hopes this thing works! :D
But I'm also very lucky, I have a good friend that owns a junk yard! :D
L8r
Conley

[Turbine Doc]

Dvldog,
Are you planning to recirc the coolant H2O, one thing you'll need to monitor is water PH if it becomes acidic or maybe even alkaline somewhere down the road it could eat those radiator tubes.

At one power plant I visited they were using demineralized water in a copper tube bundle heat exchanger, after about 6 mos the tubes got real thin and started leaking as the copper in the tubes went to the water.

Same reason to maintain water chemistry in a pool or boiler, it's been a long time since I went to boiler water treatment school so I'm not current on possibilities but something you might want to check into with some one up on it.

[Dvldog 8793]

Howdy
Thanks for the info! Due to my climate I'll have to use some kinda antifreeze. Probably the good old green stuff mixed with the demined water. This is really learning experience and I hope it will be a happy one! tongue.gif
L8r
Conley

[BuffaloGuy]

Wireweld. I had a similar idea but scrapped it for lack of time. Perhaps you might have the time.

I thought about tapping the HO water pump and going to an added cooling radiator and THEN to the intake and then to the main radiator. If done right the fluid should be at ambient temp. and the system would be pretty cheap and very effective.

A variation would be to not use the HO water pump on the motor and plumb in a dedicated pump just for this feature. I'd use a temp. sensor switch so it ran only when the intake temp was above 100F or so. Pull fluid out from the bottom drivers side of the radiator by the lower hose and dump back in on top by the return hose.

Thoughts?

[randysl]

Just how hot does the intake air get? With max boost say?

[grape]

on an 80 degree day, if the compressor is in the 70% range, lookin at almost 200-220 at the exit of the compressor. this is at 10 to 12 pounds.

[jcomp]

The cool thing about an air/water intercooler is that it has the capability of cooling the air charge to temps below ambient. It all depends on the temperature of your reservoir, you can throw a bag of ice into it if you feel the need.

On the down side, however, during long periods of use they are not as thermally efficient or reliable as an air/air unit. Since most diesel trucks tend to see long periods of heavy loading, I would recommend an air/air unit instead of an air/water. That is, unless you hardly ever pull anything heavy up a long hill.

My GMC pickup had a factory air/water intercooler. It was great for about a minute and then the water would become hot and performance would decrease. My pickup was really intended for drag racing, and the air/water IC worked great for the 4.6 seconds it took to go from 0 to 60 MPH, or the 13.5 seconds for the 1/4 mile.

I believe that GM specified regular antifreeze for it.

[rockin-b-farms]

Hello, john deere tractors use a water to air intercooler that uses engine water to cool the turbocharged air since the turbo air can reach several hundred degrees the engine water will cool the turbocharged air. Just a idea

[JeepSJ]

OK, here's what I'm thinking. The radiator I am looking at has an extra 5/8" port on the cool tank. Tap off that port, run through another smaller radiator that sits just behind the grill, then through the intercooler, and return through the unused port in the water pump. I figure that should keep IAT at or near ambient.

That would be easier to plumb than running big tubes for an air/air unit, plus it simplifies the air/water setup by eliminating the pump and tank.

Thoughts?

[Peter J. Bierman]

If this unused port at the waterpump is a sucktion port and you get enough circulation it should do the trick.
If it is not you can go the other way around;
from waterpump ( takes cold water from radiator )to auxillary radiator to intercooler and back to radiator.

Good luck on it and let us know,

Peter

[Jim P]

I was upgrading to the high output water pump today and I decided to plumb a line from the spare port on the water pump to my liquid intercooler. I was hoping this port would have enough suction to pull water through the ic. The other line on my intercooler was plumbed to bottom of the radiator on the passengers side. I just did this to see if the water pump would circulate the water through the IC but I found out that it does not. I even took one of the lines off at the IC when the engine was running but it has neither pressure nor vaccum. It seems that the only way to get any circulation from the water pump would be to tap into the pressure side which would be hot water and kind of defeating the purpose. I think an electric pump and an independent cooling system for the ic is the only way to go.

[Jim P]

Dvldog 8793,

What kind of vehicle did you get your radiator from? Also are you going to mount it vertically or horizontally? If you have any pictures that would be even better.

[Cowracer]

The pressure side of the pump would be no hotter that the suction side. The pump impeller only ads negligable heat to the water.

Tim

[Jim P]

I guess I didn't word that very well but I will try again.

The pump doesn't seem to have vaccum at the spare port so the only way to get any circulation for the ic would be to tap into the high pressure side of the cooling system. All of the water on this side of the pump is hot because when the thermostat is closed, the water is just pumped through the engine and up through the thermostat housing and then back to the water pump through the bypass hose. Once the thermostat opens, the water is allowed to flow to the radiator but as soon as the temp cools a little, the thermostat closes again. So once the engine is up to temp., all the water on the pressure side of the pump is roughly atleast 180*. The only place you might get some cool water for the IC would be at the bottom passengers side of the radiator but this location has no pressure or vaccum to cause any circulation.

[Peter J. Bierman]

I think you have a point there redface.gif
So the only thing left is a separate pump then, electric or beld driven and cycle from cold side to hot side off the radiator.

Peter

[Cowracer]

If you drill and tap a hole into one of the 'arms' of the pump (for lack of a better term) you will get pressurized water at the same temperature as the water in the suction (inlet) hose. We used to do this on 406 CID small block chevys to take cool water to the middle of the cyl heads.

Once an automotive thermostat opens, it does not close until waterflow is stopped. And even if it did, it does not restrict water coming into the pump, it restricts water going out of the engine. The suction line of the pump never closes, so you are always sucking cool (relativly) water from the radiator.

I am not saying that this would be ideal for an intercooler, but if you just want to get the coldest coolant possible to the I/C, this is the way to go.

Tim

[Jim P]

I understand what you are saying about tapping into one of the arms of the water pump but when the thermostat is closed, the pump is sucking almost no cool water from the radiator. It is only sucking water down through the bypass hose that attaches at the base of the thermostat housing. If it did suck in cool water all the time, The engine would never get up to operating temperature in the winter.

I felt the arms of the pump on my truck with it running(watch out for the fan) and it is always hot to the touch.

[Cowracer]

There is no valve or any other mechanism to restrict or halt flow from the radiator to the pump. The thermostat keeps the water that is already in the engine from leaving.

This dead-heads the waterpump and stops flow. A small amount is bypassed by the bypass hose to make sure that the pump always has a full case of water.

Tim