still a work in progress but it looks to be turning out pretty badass imo.
core is 32" wide 10" tall 3.5" thick. its good for 2000 hp :O

 

while my torch is cooling more pics

 

top tank done.

 

It looks pretty and fills the available space but I think you're going to have some serious engine cooling issues.
Also, with the tank, why didn't you bend it to a channel section and just fill in the ends so there wasn't as much welding required?
Regards Andrew from Oz.

 

engine cooling will be fine, other style FMIC's actually take up a lot more room taking cool air away from the engine and they work fine.
what do you mean by a channel section?

 

looking good

 

Looks good but I'm not sure I understand the point. It's a lot easier for air to spread across a smaller area in a traditional routing. There might be a space constraint though that I'm not seeing.

 

Nice work on the VR-4 intercooler. More pics of the piping

 

he was trying to say why didn't you make the front, top, and back as one peice and bent it up on a brake. that way you just needed to weld the ends shut and weld it onto the intercooler core.

but as i'm sure is the case here, you don't have access to a sheet metal brake.

 

exactly, i wish i had expensive tools like that. for now i have to work with stuff like angle grinders and such

 

2nd tank mocked up, about to weld it up now

 

as much as that bumper is chipped up id be scared to have the bottom tank that low! it looks good fab wise and i think the vertical design is a good one for a twin turbo setup that uses a cross flow design like the GTR and has the IC divided between left and right, but what is the reason you are going with a vertical design??


i like how you said you wish you had expensive tools like a brake, and your car is on a shiny new two post lift in a BIG *** 2 story garage with sky lights and a brand new syncrowave runner in the background. lol :p. if you look on millers forum there are instructions to make a cheap brake. or you could just clamp a 3" pipe to the end of the table and bend the AL around it

 

vertical flow is just a lot more efficient. go look on bell intercooler's website, vertical flow cores are rated at nearly twice if not more the efficiency of the same sized horizontal flow cores.

 

Lol. I looked at the lift and thought the same thing. Thanks Got Wide for the homemade brake info!

to the op, nice looking welds. when do we get to see the IC fittings?

 

well im buying quality equipment little by little, cant get everything at once

on that note, i just burned up my 9 series torch from too much heat with this core. cant wait for my water cooled torch to come in next week.

soon as im dome with the tamks ill make the outlets

 

I wouldn't necessarily take that information as gospel. The fact is, whether it's a cross flow or straight up and down design the effective surface area is basically the same.
Cross flows have less tubes but longer and up and downs have more tubes but shorter.
It all boils down to what a fabricator is trying to achieve in the space available. Often changing the orientation of an i/cooler makes the location of inlet/outlets an easier proposition, so that's why a particular orientation is chosen.
I'll be interested to see where your inlet/outlets are positioned as the tank shape isn't ideal, I would prefer to see a tapered endtank which evens the airflow across the header plate area. I know this wouldn't give the "look" your after but it is more efficient.
I'm also a bit concerned about the sizing, that's a hell of a big i/cooler with large volume endtanks and I think it will be pretty laggy in day to day driving for a relatively small engine.
Please note: These aren't criticisms merely observations, my day job is as a fabricator and I'm very happy to see people "having a go" and doing it themselves.
Regards Andrew from Oz.

 

thanks for all the pointers, really appreciated! im still learning so i take comments closely. the engine will be a 3.5-3.8L V6, volume shouldnt be a problem. this is one is going to most likely go on my drag car project as it turns out its a little too big to clear bumps and stuff on a street car. my production units will be a little shorter.

 

Are you worried about the efficiency of end tanks, basically do you think they will spread the air evenly across the core without a big pressure drop? I think a more efficient design would be triangular with short ends and taller by the inlet to keep pressure even across the core. I would take the temps at different areas to see where it's working and where it's not and working with the same inlet position come up with a more efficient design. And I would be very careful drilling, it will be very easy to get pieces stuck in the core. I would drill it upside down since you already welded her up. Just questions and considerations. Good luck with it and happy welding!

 

That's exactly what I was planning on doing!

 

I still don't understand why you went with a vertical core? It looks like you could fit a horizontal core no problem and you would benefit from the better cooling and the ground clearance.

Matt

 

Everywhere I read says vertical flow is better plus my customer wanted it this way

 

yeah the vertical core are better, but i do think packaging come into play. but if he doesn't car you can see the intercooler below the bumper then it's cool.

 

Damn that's low. I don't know. That may not live long.

 

Ya know what, I was just looking at the pics and to keep the in/out pipes up out the way, you could prob go in/out from the angled side plates, that way it's plumbed like a side flow yet its still vertical flow. Just a thought if your gonna keep it there.....you could always mount it on the roof

 

This one may end up as my drag car unit, probably gonna go with a 8" core for street version