Im interested to see if anyone is running a water air intercooler setup on a turbo2.
I have searched and have seen the topics on the linsday racing intercooler and also the frozen boost intercooler, yet i was not able to find much first hand experience with them
My question is if anyone is currently using one or has used one and can shed some experience.
Im also thinking about whether or not you could use either the frozenboost or lindsay intercooler with its own radiator mounted in the stock tmic area or if it is better to use a very large engine radiator and hook the water/air intercooler up to that.
Im interested in water/air to hopefully overcome the problem with fmic and cooling.
Thanks any help would be appreciated.

 

FMICs don't really have a cooling issue.

If the fan and cooling system is working properly then it's not an issue. It does depend a bit on the use of the car though. On the street you won't have an issue.

On an autocross course it might be a problem.

 

i have a FMIC, then a 25x30x5cm fluidyne olicooler, then my koyo n-flo radiator with a black magic e-fan. i do have proper ducting...!

even with 30degrees outside and boosting like mad, i have no more the 95 degrees water and 100degrees oil...

 

Air to water intercoolers can work just fine for street use. If designed properly they can work just as effectively as a properly done air to air intercooler under ANY condition. It is a myth that they don't work as well over long periods of time. This is based on system design and many times it isn't always done correctly. Air to air and air to water each have their advantages and disadvantages over the other. Neither system is better or worse. They are just different and it's up to the end user to determine which is better for their particular situation. This actually applies to nearly any aspect of mechanical design.

Water has about 16 times more heat rejection capability than air. It takes that much longer to heat up and conversely that much longer to cool back down. Because of this delay, some people just use a reservoir for their coolant (water) and then not worry about a separate cooler. People aren't typically under boost for more than a few seconds so the temp of the water in the system doesn't get very hot. When not under boost the air passing the intercooler on it's way to the engine is pulling the heat back out of the water. In a system like this, short bursts are fine. Longterm high power situations however will heat it up and it's benefit will go away. It will also take longer to cool it back down. This is why some say it's not good for road course use. It can be though.

The key is to use a cooler in the front of the car that takes the heat back out of the water. If it has less area or flow than the intercooler core taking heat out of the intake air, it will still ultimately heat up. However if this cooler, or better yet radiator, is at least as large but preferably larger than the intercooler core, the heat being absorbed by the water can be rejected at an equal rate and heat soak will never be an issue. You could run flat out all day and be just fine. The key to all of this of course is the size of the actual intercooler core itself. This is no different than an air to air unit though. If the core isn't large enough to dissipate the generated heat quickly enough, the rest is a moot point.

The downside of course is the added complexity and weight of the system. It's something else that can go wrong. An air to air intercooler is about as reliable as can be since there is nothing really to break. The downside though is the typically long piping necessary to accomodate it. This isn't always true either though depending on cooler placement and how much work was done to accomodate it. Nothing is free and even the best system is still a series of compromises. This applies equally to air to air systems as it does air to water systems.

 

Like most people on this forum, I do not consider it worth the trouble and weight.

Yes, it would be better to use a separate heat exchanger. While the stock TII scoop is about the right size for an ALIC heat exchanger, I'm not sure how you would mount the heat exchanger in order to allow the air to flow well through the core. The heat exchanger would probably work better if mounted in the front of the vehicle or in some other area which allows for better through-flow than the stock FMIC area.

What problem is that?

 

I have a cartech air to water intercooler that uses a transmission cooler mounted up front with the oil cooler as the exchanger. It has a small metal tank for the water and an electric water pump to move it around.

 

I'll be running one, only for space limitations.

 

When i was talking about the fmic and cooling, i meant to say the problem with fmic and how they block airflow to the radiator. Not that the fmic doesnt cool the intake air.
At this point i think i will just stick with an air/air intercooler, but i may reconsider later if i decide to turn up the boost.
thanks for the info

 

I'm all about the liquid to air cooling. Here is my setup and results:

https://www.rx7club.com/time-slips-dyno-128/dyno-my-381rwhp-turbo-convertible-tuned-steve-kan-849271/