anglia4 Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 I'm thinking about building up a water to air intercooler for my supercharger set up on the cheap. I was thinking of using a heater matrix between the supercharger and the inlet plenum. The ideal heater matrix for the job would be quite small and made of aluminium, does anybody know what car I might find something like this on? I'll put up the rough ideal dimensions (the dimensions of the outlet on the supercharger - Eaton M90) in an hour or so If I can't find an aly one I will just make it so that it is clamped inside the manifold rather than welded. Does anyone have any other ideas for things that would work well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 A normal IC core in a box of moving water? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abarth Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 Old Subaru Legacys run a water intercooler setup. Pick a part? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowzer Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 Yah, you could raid a factory one from something pretty easily. Making it fit could be interesting sometimes since they are moulded in weird shapes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LingLing Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 Do you mean a intercooler but use recycled water to cool it rather than air? You can build a Plate Heat Exchange, probabaly need to work out the Temperature difference and also the hot air flow rate first. After that you can work out the Total area of the Plate heater exchanger and flowrate of the water etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R3spct Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 The subaru ones are quite good and flow ok, worth a look for the price Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eke_zetec_RWD Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 A normal IC core in a box of moving water? this works well, but suby ones work well too and the inlet pipe can be rewelded into a more ideal spot. heater cores are a waste of time from what i have seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaMpylobacter Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 subaru bits + radiator from a bike if you're not able to fit a large rad for it?> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glen Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 This is what your thinking of? not sure how you would build a home made one. But looks to be more or less a heat excanger that's placed under the blower. would just be a mater of finding one that's the right size and wouldn't offer to much restriction ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jebus Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 I have a series 5 rx7 intercooler thats been enclosed for running w2a I used it on my rx7 for a while, not using it if youre interested. I think I have a subaru water pump too that went with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock-Lee Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 either subaru or sw20 mr2, the toyota one is heaps better/according to the internet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anglia4 Posted November 29, 2011 Author Share Posted November 29, 2011 This is what your thinking of? not sure how you would build a home made one. But looks to be more or less a heat excanger that's placed under the blower. would just be a mater of finding one that's the right size and wouldn't offer to much restriction ? Thats exactly the sort of thing I'm wanting to do. Its all pretty tight for space so there is no room for something as big as a standard intercooler. I might look into the subaru one a bit further and see if I can modify it to suit what I want to do Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Testament Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 some GT4 celicas are w2a too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock-Lee Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 Blarg, thats what I meant. Gt4 not mr2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldturkey Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 Probably a stupid question but an intercooler is basically a heat exchanger. Meaning you transfer cold from something to something else. Normal air to air intercoolers take colder outside air and transfer the cold into warmer intake air. So I assume you want to take cold water and transfer the 'cold' from that into warm intake air. Where do you get the cold for the water from? I know some drag cars do it with an ice box or something, but otherwise you'd need to get it from outside air, in which case is what's the point? (not to mention the efficiency losses). As per usual, probably missed the point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xsspeed Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 Heat transfer goes the other way (from hot to cold) as you likely know, but, I believe W2A intercoolers use a separate radiator to cool the water loop. I forget the term (which I should know) but water has better contact with the surface of the metal so you get better heat transfer, removing heat from compressed air off the turbo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock-Lee Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 BUT, for sustained high boost runs you can end up with a heap of heatsoak/interheater. You have to size the w2a radiator to the application etc. I remember testament I think saying they ran a ford laser rad just for the intercooler haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldturkey Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 So, hang on, your are using another radiator to cool the water from outside air? That doesnt sound efficient at all. The term you are looking for is thermal conductivity, but what are you saying still doesnt really add up in my mind. Edit: unless the objective is to cool the turbo itself and not the air going in to it, then i could understand. In that case I guess I have confused my meaning of the term 'intercooler' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xsspeed Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 You cool the air after the turbo has compressed it. Intercooling is the process of cooling a compressed medium (air) between compression cycles. It's not just thermal conductivity of the medium, (I don't think - could be the same thing I am trying to recall but can't put my finger on) anyway A2A is less efficient than W2A as a process. Plus you can tuck a W2A IC in somewhere. Broccoli is also correct though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 So, hang on, your are using another radiator to cool the water from outside air?That doesnt sound efficient at all. The term you are looking for is thermal conductivity, but what are you saying still doesnt really add up in my mind. Edit: unless the objective is to cool the turbo itself and not the air going in to it, then i could understand. In that case I guess I have confused my meaning of the term 'intercooler' It's very efficient. Water has 4 times the specific heat capacity of air (even though the air isn't recycled) and like 25 times the thermal conductivity. Especially efficient on road cars where you are not boosting much as the water has time to cool and doesn't really heat up but also a blat from an intersection / start line has full cooling where as an external IC needs lots of airflow under boost. You can set the pump up to come on at a certain boost / throttle position / time of day etc. I prefer W2A as it's compact and you don't have meters of pipe that the pressure has to travel through to get to the turbo inlet. Also if you are track racing you can build an extension that you chuck ice in for more cold than wind chill can give an A2A with a sprayer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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