I was driving home yesterday and it was about 90 degrees and humid as hell when i started to wish i had refilled my R134. Then it hit me.. Why can't i find a way to redirect the cold air from the a/c using some kind of tubing right into the heat sheild for the intake. It would have to be dedicated to for cold air only from the A/C we wouldn't want to heat up the intake pipe in the winter time.. hehe.

Well what do you guys think, should i just go shoot myself now or does this thing have a chance of working. Or has anyone done this?

 

One of our club members had a similar idea but it involved a seperate system. Not sure if he went anywhere with it. I just don't know how much it would cool down the intake charge.

 

The last gen F-150 Lightning had this option from the factory...supposedly it added 50hp, but then it is Ford we're talking about here.

 

Good point didn't think if it would be worth it, but from how cold the inside of the car can get at full blast it should make some kind of a difference if any.

and i was thinking about it for a sec. and a second system would be the best way to go.. i maybe able to find one that is lighter than stock and remove the stock one seeing how i'm not using it anyway.

 

the air would move too quickly through your cooling system to have any affect. The only way there would be any gain from something like this is too cool down something first and then when under full throttle the A/C compressor would turn off as to not rob power from your engine. I believe mercedes does this one some of their high-end vehicles but cools the fuel rather than the intake. At the end of the day its not really worth it. If you want to cool down your intake and make more power just get some nitrous

 

The drag from the a/c compressor sucks up more hp than what you'll make up by cooling the ambient air intake temperatures.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hawkze_2.3 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The last gen F-150 Lightning had this option from the factory...supposedly it added 50hp, but then it is Ford we're talking about here. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I'll have to reseach that for ideas.. i want to do this on saturday while the car is in pieces and getting ready for paint.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Kagelude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

I'll have to reseach that for ideas.. i want to do this on saturday while the car is in pieces and getting ready for paint.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Haha, just found this on fordlighning.net:

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fordlightning.net &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Ford's patented SuperCooler technology cleverly provides a special burst of power for the SVT Lightning concept. Traditional intercoolers dissipate heat from the supercharged air by circulating coolant through a front-mounted, air-cooled radiator. With the SuperCooler system, the vehicle's air conditioning system is used to chill a small storage tank of coolant to about 30 degrees Fahrenheit.

On demand, the SuperCooler system switches the intercooler flow from its normal circulation and dumps the chilled coolant into the engine's intercooler. In turn, the intercooler dissipates up to 20 percent more heat from the charge air - resulting in a denser air charge.

A green light on the instrument panel indicates the system's readiness. SuperCooler is activated automatically when the driver depresses the accelerator to a wide-open-throttle position.

This technology plays directly into the hands of the enthusiast, Coletti says. The SuperCooler provides the edge for the driver, and it is done simply by taking advantage of the hardware that already exists in the vehicle.

As a result of this cool technology, the SVT Lighting concept can give its driver as much as 50 transient horsepower for short bursts of 30-45 seconds and regenerate within 2 minutes under normal driving conditions. While its effect is similar to that of an aftermarket nitrous oxide system, the SuperCooler is completely self-contained, environmentally friendly and regenerative.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

Looks like it's a lot different than just pumping the cool air into the intake

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Finest &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The drag from the a/c compressor sucks up more hp than what you'll make up by cooling the ambient air intake temperatures.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

I didn't even think about that......Hahaha! The A/C robbed 5-7whp across the board on the dyno in my ~190whp Prelude.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Speedra500 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> If you want to cool down your intake and make more power just get some nitrous</TD></TR></TABLE>

I was thinking this could be some kind of cool alternative. but i like the idea of cooling the fuel.. a lot more efficient.

i also didn't think about the A/C drag.. well looks like i have tons of research to do just to see if this thing is worth it.


Modified by Kagelude at 9:33 AM 7/11/2007

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Speedra500 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If you want to cool down your intake and make more power just get some nitrous</TD></TR></TABLE>

that would be the logical next step. then its not really such a crazy idea.

 

Cry02.... thats the basis of it... DEI makes cry02 for spray bars for turboed cars and intake bulbs, which are hooked up so that cO2 sprays into the bulbs and freezes it, then the air just travels over the frozen bulb... pretty much the same idea..if you look at the kits though... you can make your own...

 

I really think it's worthless. First off obviously you would have to be running your a/c and that alone saps A LOT of power. I've heard upwards of 15 ponies. While it might not be that much from personal experience there is quite a noticeable difference in the butt dyno when running the a/c, and not only that but the sound of the car and VTEC engagement itself sounds different. So in the end it wouldn't be worth it I don't think. If you want colder air getting into your intake build some sort of custom ice box and stick of block of dry ice in there.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hawkze_2.3 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The last gen F-150 Lightning had this option from the factory...supposedly it added 50hp, but then it is Ford we're talking about here. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Little different than what he is talking about. The lightning redirected A/C coolant through passages under the supercharger, part of the built in intercooler they have and it does indeed make horsepower.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Nismo180 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Little different than what he is talking about. The lightning redirected A/C coolant through passages under the supercharger, part of the built in intercooler they have and it does indeed make horsepower.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes, thank you, I already posted 5 paragraphs on that earlier to correct myself.

 

Well i did many hours of searching while at work being bored. in the end it wouldn't be worth the power gains.. estimated amount would be about 18-20hp if that. Thought I'd get cool air in addition to more air because of the big TB we are putting on. we have a 60 and a 66MM TB that we want to play with.

 

Honestly, guys tend to "overthink" the simple mods and pass up on the mods that actually make more whp, like cams/internals/or even a well designed header.

 

Back on the old Z boards I used to go to there was a discussion about Dry Ice in the intake and if would really do any good. Ill try to find it if I can, but basicially everyone agreed that, dropping your intake temperature by a few degrees (in this case even fewer than dry ice) would have minimal gains, as in the time it takes to reach the block, it has already passed over your hot engine bay and in turn has heated it up.

I hope that makes any sense.

Edit- I guess it was in an Import tuner that I used to have.


Modified by Tsa-Narq at 10:12 PM 7/11/2007

 

when u do that then your still going to use the a/c which is getting power from your crank, which is your not getting power. knda pointless, might be better juz getting nitrous or cryogenic. its a good idea though...

 

Its nice that everyone is willing to repeat what was said in the first few posts. I personally think its a little too much work for the gains. I'm not quite sure how you calculated your estimated HP gain you stated. It sounds a little on the high end though. I suppose you just figured a 100% heat exchange to the temperature you were cooling to and plugged in the ideal gas law. Realistically I wouldnt expect more than a few hp on a small NA engine. With a turbo charger you would likely see higher gains, but still comparatively small for the required amount of work. However it seems like a pretty cool idea for factory forced induction vehicles or for people who don't want CO2 or N2O

 

you can hardly call that forced induction. you can blow as hard as an air conditioning vent. and driving in the winter would cool the intake charge down more than that. so why dont we just move north? its like a turbonator idea that wasn't thought through.

 

If the ac line is coiled up all the way up and down the intake pipe. You'd gain more HP than you'd loose off the ac pump's drag. Try it, I would garentee it would work.

*edit* I missed "not much though. It would be minimal after drag"

 

Hmm.. this sounds like a very cool topic I took thought of ways of having cooler air sent into the engine but, i've always thought that the receiving air has a certain AT that causes the air fuel ratio to optimizes properly into the combustion chamber?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bluedlude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you can hardly call that forced induction. you can blow as hard as an air conditioning vent. and driving in the winter would cool the intake charge down more than that. so why dont we just move north? its like a turbonator idea that wasn't thought through.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm not trying to sub for a turbo.. i plan on getting one down the line.. just was thinking that if i'm going to be running my AC anyway i might as well use it in more than one reason. Plus i do live up north i'm in MA the winters get pretty cold around here but cold is not always good if its too cold.

 

Edit
we had this idea before and i'll give it another try we used Dust bunny remover (for computer parts) we used it to pop out dents out of the rex i remember that this was super cold when held upside down could this be a good way to spray in perhaps hybird version for r134 ? I only see this to work on IC doh does anyone know if this has been done?


Modified by ricedadee at 2:34 AM 7/13/2007