So how many of you guys have built your own intercoolers?
I have been planning on doing this for some time now, and am preparing to do so soon.

Any advise from some of the people that have done it before, other than telling me to buy a premade kit? ( which I probably should do, but it will be a good experience)

I am going to mimic what Chuck has done on his V mount setup, and was wondering how to choose a core that would best fit my needs.

I am running the GT35 40 around the 15 psi mark for street use, and don’t feel like I will stray from those parameters much.

Is there any way to utilize what I know about thermo to help size a intercooler core for efficiency, pressure drop, charge temperature, and flow rate?

I plan on running the spearco core because I have heard that they have low pressure drop, but I haven’t seen any specs to compare it to anything else.

Any links to help me find more detailed info on the spearco cores would be appreciated. The only ones that I can find on spearco cores are http://www.turboneticsinc.com/air.html http://www.hardracing.com/CARPARTS/Misc/SpearcoInt.htm and a few others that really leave a lot to the imagination in terms of there efficiency at pressures and cfm flow rates.

Anyway thanks for any help you guys can supply.

 

Made mine and it is in a V pattern. I have had only but compliments on it. I will try and post pics a little later and if u wish I can walk you through the whole process ( Lots"O"fun ) no, really. I been toying with a new end tank design I will share with you, It would look AWSOME!!!!!!!!!
oH YA MINE IS A Spearco core too. If u want I can even send you my new end tank design templates. Do you have a tig-welder? And can you use it? If so SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET

 

I did the spearco thing as well, I used stainless piping , the end tanks came seperate I welded them on myself , as it adds a week to the delivery of the core..
The best thing to do is get their catalog which has all the cores and flow rates listed...Works well, I make good power with a turbo that shouldn't be making the kind of power I put down, which I attribute my charge cooling..Maxt

 

Right on a couple of responses!
Well I typed this right before I looked back here so Im posting it!


Well here are some parliamentary figures but only ideal, because I don’t have any of info on the compressor efficiency or even some good numbers to go by.

I am going to take ambient air as 77*F (should I take it as 90 or higher to account for hot days?) or is the average temperature in Oregon going to be good enough for a good evaluation?

State1 P1=14.7Psia T1=537*R Pr1=1.3593 h1=128.34

State2 S1=S2s or S2 in my case because I don’t know the compressor efficiency.
P2=29.7Psia
Pr2=Pr1 (P2/P1)=1.3593(29.7/14.7)=2.746
Interpolating for h2 I got h2=157.0 and T2=658.37*R

State3 I want the temp to be as close to ambient as possible so I will take T3=T1-5 to
increase my enthalpy needed to be extracted to more accurately define what kind
of Qout I would need.
So T3=T1-5*=537-5=532*R
And interpolating for h3=127.143

h2-h1=157-127.143=29.857Btu/Lbmass

So I need to get rid of about 30 Btu’s/Lbm of airflow.
How do I size a intercooler core on these numbers?(assuming there right I did it
very quick)

I know this is a halfass evaluation of what’s going on but that’s why I need somebody’s help to give me a good estimation of things like the flow rate and whether or not when I get to an answer it makes sense.

 

Hey J Oliver what effect does the endtank have on the design of the IC other than resistance coefficients? No I don’t know how to weldL …but I am trying diligently to find somebody that is real good that is close to where I am. Do you have any specs on the spearco cores or did you just size it to what they recommended?



and Maxthe7man you are using SS pipe. Sweeeeet, I was thinking of doing the piping in stainless, but wasn’t sure if it was necessary? What is your opinion on it? Does it seem to not soak up as much heat in the engine bay? I was thinking if I go with the aluminum piping I could coat it with some of that thermal coating like HPC HiPerCoat or that Jethot coating but I would like to here some opinions on it.

 

I "made" a horizontal mount IC for my TII using an Isuzu NPR core and 2.5" inlet and 2.75" outlet relocated inline w/ the core.

Once I cut the end tanks so I could relocate the inlet/outlet I was able to cut out the casting ribs inside the end tanks and polish the inside up.

It is an awsome core. After a 20 psi run the inlet is too hot to touch, but everything else is cold to the touch w/ condensation all over it. And I haven't even put the hood vent on to vent the IC yet- it is venting out the trans tunnel like FMIC. My peak intake temp is 21 deg C under boost so far. I'm sure it will go way up on a hot day on the track.

J Oliver-
I am interested to see how you did your V mount!

EDIT-
This thread starts w/ pics of mine

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...hreadid=145822

 

Nice setup!