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Water to Air Intercooler

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41K views 148 replies 34 participants last post by  F.B.I  
#1 ·
Hey Guys,

I have a chance to buy a small water to air Spearco intercooler for around $80 (could probably get it even cheaper)....would it be worth it? It is roughly 6-8" square by 3 1/2 or so inches deep with 2" inlet and outlet...it would just be the intercooler and not the pump or the water cooler....
 
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T
#2 ·
Several have looked at WTA, they work but you will also need something to cool the water after it has done it's work cooling the air, so a resevoir, 2nd heat exchanger, and circ pump & plumbing need to be thought out as well
 
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#3 ·
Yeah, and you need a large enough volume of water so it can be cooled faster than it gathers heat from the WTA unit...

Kind of the same principle the PMD heatsink operates under. If your volume of water is too small, you need fairly agressive cooling measures, as TD mentioned, otherwise the water starts to heat up, and you lose the differential between the water temp and your IAT, which is what makes the idea plausible in the first place.

Most guys that use WTA cooling are using it for strip racing - they can put in ice water, run their race, drain out the hot stuff, put in new ice water, and start over.

A little hard to come by in beautiful downtown Prairie, I would think. That's why ATA is better for us - even though it's not as efficient, the air is readily available and constantly replenished.

My $.02, FWIW
 
M
#4 ·
You just need to spend a little more effort to make a much better system.

Syclones & Typhoons don't have a problem. Also, when you are not in the boost, the charge air helps to cool the water.

A nice little rad out of a Geo or something would work well I think. Put it in front of your rad.

Bill
 
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#5 ·
I was thinking of using either a heater core out of an old Ford truck or a pair of oil coolers in series to use as a heat exchanger....I would use an electric water pump and an old coolant reservoir as the container to hold the antifreeze/water mixture....then all I would have to do is run the piping....

I will give the guy a shout tonight and see if I can still steal this intercooler for around $80.....it would be a nice project....
 
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#7 ·
Dave12;1651184; said:
You are an ambicious Lad, you are. Good luck. From everything I've read about what you've done so far, it will be a piece of cake!

Dave
Click to expand...
lol....I am by no means an engineer....some common sense should work for me though.....I hope :p:
 
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#8 · (Edited)
Is it worth $80 CDN?? Just the core...

This used to be in a Civic....has a port for an extra injector...I am thinking a WMI jet could fit nicely....

Let me know what you think (I will probably buy it anyways....my wife's Jimmy could use a turbo if it isn't big enough for my truck :D )....

Approximate dimensions are 8.5" X 7" X 3.75"

EDIT - inlets are 2.25"
 

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#10 ·
lol....no ice needed...

Here is my plan...

1. 4 liter holding tank (unless someone thinks that is too small)
2. Continuous duty water pump off of a Ford Lightning
3. Heat exchanger (I am tossing around a few ideas....one is putting another cooler in front of the rad the other idea is to run a few oil coolers in series and use fans to move air over them)
4. Use a 60/40 mix of antifreeze and water with water wetter additive to break the water's surface tension

Whaddya think? Enough baler wire in this idea?
 
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N
#11 ·
Chris,

What the hell? It can't hurt! Experiment! I am fooling with IAT controlled WMI that I cobbed together.
 
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#12 ·
My only concern is that the IC has 2.25" inlet and outlets whereas the intake and turbo outlet are 2.5"....I am not an engineer by any means so I am not sure what kind of effect that is going to have on cooling efficiency and pressure drop (if any)...
 
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#13 ·
chrisk1500;1679530; said:
My only concern is that the IC has 2.25" inlet and outlets whereas the intake and turbo outlet are 2.5"....I am not an engineer by any means so I am not sure what kind of effect that is going to have on cooling efficiency and pressure drop (if any)...
Click to expand...
From a strictly technical POV, the air will further compress on entering the IC, heating it even more. I doubt the restriction is going to help flow much, either.

That's one of the reasons for putting a 3" IC on these systems ... the pressure drop when the 2.5" flow hits the 3" zone causes the air to expand and lose heat (which can be readily transported away)
 
#14 ·
I picked it up last night....this thing is pretty tiny but what the hell....it was cheap enough that if it doesn't work I can just re-sell it to the pocket rocket crowd and get my money back....
 
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#15 ·
My measurements show the 'core' of the intercooler to be 7" long X 4" wide x 3.75" deep.....too small?...
 
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#17 ·
More pics....
 

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#20 ·
Rofl....
 
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#21 ·
The plan is to get this thing installed with a huge heat exchanger and a good pump and recovery tank so that if (when) I find that this core is too small I can just get a bigger WTA core and leave everything else plumbed in....

Worse case scenario is that the IATs don't change from the installation...no biggie...
 
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#23 ·
lol....keep your mouth shut Dave...
 
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#24 ·
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A
#25 ·
Hi Chris,

You don't need a huge water resource to keep it cool... Place 2 oil coolers in the font in a series and then a circulation pump like a Meziere pump (or similar) and a small 1 liter expansion tank and then you are just fine.

I've 3 liters of fluid in total (water, antifreeze and water-wetter) with the tank, hoses and the coolers and it's works just fine.

Just remember to put the drain valve at the hi-spot so you get ride of the air in the system.


//anders
 
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#26 ·
Thanks ankan....I have read about your WTA intercooler....do you think mine is big enough to to an adequate job?

How do you run your pump? I am thinking of wiring mine up with a relay so that the water pump runs whenever the lift pump is running....
 
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