While comtemplating turbocharging my car. I though of something pretty neat that could be done to help cool an intercooler. I used to work for a boat service establishment. Now you've got
to use your imagintion abit here ;

Boats with inboard motors use devices called "blower fans" to expell exhaust/gas fumes from the engine compartment before starting the motor. They are high-power 12V DC fans inclosed in either a 3" or 4" diameter tube. They are about the length of a coke can. If memory serves me the 3" flow about 140CFM and the 4" are 240CFM. At 20~25 dependeing on which one you buy, they're a pretty good deal.

Just for all you visual learners(I know i'm not making much since)
http://www.parkeryamaha.com/bilgeblower.htm
AND http://www.yotting.com/19/00019195.htm

Now the point of all this, you've got a fan that is easily mounted, flows a hella good amount of air for it's size, I was thinking that since mounting a fan(like the OEM honda fans) on the I/C would be detrimintal to cooling the I/C. What If you mounted 1 or 2 of these blower fans on either side of your I/C?

Mounted so that they blow parallel with the surface of your I/C, it, they wouldn't get in the way of nowmal air flow, and they would provide a good bit of circulation. Am I making a bit of since?


~steven

 

eheheh.good thought...dont know if it will make a difference while moving though

 

You mean, basically, fans like what are on radiators? This is done routinely for MR2 turbos. At speed, a front mount intercooler shouldn't need them though since radiators are known to flow better without fans at speed (they are known to heat soak without them while not at speed BTW) however, an intercooler won't heat soak while idling since the turbo won't be spinning very fast, therefor not much heat will be created.

Did I make sense?

 

That is correct TurboMiata. You make total sense. If you've ever touched both ends of an endtank on an IC at idle you will see that there is not very much heat soak. A big IC like the ones that come with the drag, rev-hard, fmax etc, will keep things cool. But it keeps things very cool while moving and the heat is getting disapated with the air flowing through the heat sinks.

This idea sounds good but I dont think it will help out very much. But at least you are using your head to come up with ideas to help out and that is what is important.

art

 

It probably has been mentioned before, but I haven't seen it. What about spraying (misting) alcohol/water mix over the intercooler during drag runs? Anybody with any success? After some spirited driving, I noticed my inlet to the TB is hot nowadays......

 

spraying the i/c works...a friend sprays his all the time while in the staging lanes(its a stock sidemount on a 92 talon)and it makes a big difference in intercooler temps.....and rally cars have them --the lancer and wrx come from the factory with them

you can also use keyboard/electronics cleaner--it sprays around -70 degrees F

 

you have to be carefull praying the intercooler in the staging lanes.. if water drips off onto the track they will kick you out