i am helping a friend drop a 13bt in a datsun 510. he wants this car to be as much of a "sleeper" as it can be. we are planning what we want to do and how much we want to spend before we start work. well, i suggested a front mount intercooler, but he said he would rather try somethign else if it was possible. he would like to mount the wart/air unit somewhere where it is either hard to see or totally unseen fron the outside fo the car

now what i need to know is if a water/air intercooler is feasible? how does it work? and would it be better or worse thatn an air/air intercooler

 

water/air intercooler circulates cold water from a separate container through something similar to an air/air intercooler... it's feasible... but it requires a separate resevoir (water is HEAVY) and will only last for a short period of time... (even ice warms up eventually... just ask my drink ) ...so if this is gonna be a drag race car, or he is willing to run low boost at most times, it is entirely possible, and could probably be mounted out of site....
...but if your friend does not feel like stopping at every 3rd seven-eleven to refill his ice....
then maybe he should consider a small air/air intercooler (small enough to mount behind the stock bumper) and just conceal it somehow (Swain's Black body emitting coating (I think ) will make the intercooler harder to see (black) and more efficient...

 

would it be feasible to go with a air/air unit mounted out of site with en elec fan pulling air through it?

 

Why doesnt he slap a grill on the front of the car and have it front mounted? just a suggestion

 

i suggested that to him and he said he didn;t like the idea. i don;t know why, but he didn't. that is what i would do

i think we are going to go with the water to water system. but we are going to get a second oild cooling unit and use a smalle electric water pump to keep the water kewl. should be able to mount that much smaller oil cooling unit in a place that is harder to see. and maybe the moving water will stay cool enough to be effective.


could coolant be used instead of water? woudl that make it more efficient?

any ideas, help, or suggestions appreciated

 

water / air is a better system if you do it right, but it's alot of parts and very heavy. it'll add 75-100lbs to the car. brain cain is running one on his FC putting down 410hp at the wheels. you just can't stay on boost too long, once you let off the water cools itself down again as you have another rad just for that. so either way you have to mount something in the front, either the FMIC, or a rad for the air/water IC water.

I talked to brian a while ago about his setup, and almost planed on doing it myself with an air/water, but it's just so much more work with more complacated parts and more stuff to fail. he is using the stock IC but with metal welded around it to seal it. a 4 gallon or so tank in the back, with hoses running up to the IC and rad. with an eletric water pump.

what i'm going to be doing is mounting the FMIC about 6-12" back, infront of the oil cooler, and painting the end tanks black. you probbaly won't even see it. I wouldn't paint the fins, probably make it worse at cooling.

 

Go to the Spearco web site, and order both the Spearco Catalog and "All About Intercooling". Even if you are not interested in a Spearco intercooler, it is worth the $13 to learn a little bit about intercoolers before you spend a lot of time and money on anything.
http://208.55.223.137/spearco/index.html