moregrip

iTrader: (8)

(My personal example is a radix)

Lets take a verbal look at the basic system:
1. Coolant Tank, 2. Coolant Pump, 3. Associated lines, 4. HE in manifold that draws heat from A/F mix, 5. HE mounted up front to draw heat from Coolant.

Basically 5 parts. Now looking at this system as a system, what could/would make it a more efficient system?

My thoughts:
larger H/E, higher performing fluid, maybe a different hose material or configuration, pull electric fans (i.e. traffic), alternate mounting locations, larger pump, cooling coils prior to H/E inlet..........

any proven real world experience or theoretical suggestions welcome

F8L Z71

Why bother? Just put a good air/air and call it good

parish8

iTrader: (6)

i am impresed with how well my air to water is working. i really have no experience with an air to air set up for comparison though.

my IAT's on the street on a 75deg day get up to about 115deg at the end of a 1/4 mile run and this is at 16psi or so. not too bad. the only problem i have right now is at the track my starting IAT's are a little higher due to sitting in the staging lanes with the truck running. the one BIG reason for an air to water is the option to run ice water thru it. if you dont ever plan on doing that then the air to air would probably be cheaper and as good or posiably better.

air to water has less presure loss too. not sure if this matters since you can just twist the ****.

moregrip

iTrader: (8)

not exactly what I had in mind.

F8L Z71

You just listed the only advantage that I know of and that is the ability to ice it.

For all out drag racing it is a killer option to be able to dump a bunch of ice in the tank but unfortuantely my only experiance with that type of setup is on a local F-body with a HUGE Vortech blower. He dumps a bunch of ice into the tank and by the end of the run and getting back to the staging lanes all of the ice has melted.

I once knew a sales rep that had a 12sec turbocharged Audi sedan. He used a windshield washer pump and tank to spray water on his intercooler between runs to help wick away all the built up heat on his air/air IC. Worked pretty good on my radiator last night when I was doing something similar. LOL

F8L Z71

I'm just saying I don't see how it can be more efficient since water will never get below ambient air temps unless you run ice and ice doesn't work too well for daily driving. *shrug*

BUT there are companies that do it both ways so there must be pros and cons to it.

redaddiction

iTrader: (12)

For those that are running air to water I suggest mounting a rear cooler in the bed basically a box that has the he fluid running through copper lines than you can put ice without mixing it into your coolant but instead transfering the heat out of the he fluid. If this doesn't make sense than I will get you pics of what I uses on my 03 cobra that also uses air to water intercooler.

Ryan23silverado

iTrader: (1)

Just spray nitrous in the intake stream of air -that'll cool it down

Parish is right, air/water intercoolers have less pressure drop than air/air intercoolers. I have seen some air/air intercoolers that drop something like 0.5lbs at 15psi though (which is hardly any boost drop)

Look up Spearco on Turbonetics Inc.'s website. Or just search for spearco air/water intercooler info with a search engine. You will be able to find very good info.

Air/water is the way to go I believe. There is science. You will find it when you read about it

deezel

Several votes for air/air... but the original poster has a Radix. You can't set up an air/air IC on a Radix. Air/air is nice and maintenance-free, but you can't increase the heat capacity of the a/a system. Whatever size IC is used determines the rate of heat transfer.

For an air/water IC, your best bet is to increase the heat capacity of the IC coolant. This can be done with ice boxes, extra heat exchangers, and increasing the coolant reservoir capacity. The limitation on the Radix system is the size of the H/E inside the blower/manifold.

David Cairns

I upgraded the Heat Exchanger on my Radix using a aftermarket heat exchanger for the Lightning.




Not sure what you have for a bumper, but the SS has a nice spot for the heat exchanger:



It is a tight fit, and took a bit of modification to the heat exchanger.




Payoffs:
*Quicker cool down between full throttle runs.
*The e-fans let you cool down even when stopped at the light.
*Larger fluid capacity gives you more time before the system gets "hot".
*Can run the efans with the engine off to cool the intercooler fluid down to ambient air temp in about 2 minutes.

I am not sure if it lowers fluid temp compared to the stock setup. I did not have a good intercooler fluid temp gauge until after the upgraded heat exchanger was installed. I do notice that the fluid temp runs about 10 degrees hotter than the ambient air temperature on the post supercharger hose. That is with everything warmed up, but not boosted. Under boost the intercooler fluid temps jump up 20-30 degrees (post supercharger).