water to air intercooling

**mooshie** · 14-01-2005 12:10 PM

Hey guys looking for some opinions here, I have a '91 integra with a B18C and am currently looking to turbo one question thet lingers in my mind is- intercooling. now benefits would include, less intake tract length= better response, still cools well while idling or standstill, no huge shiny fridge in the front bumper attracting cops and, its too ****in hard to figure out how to route the piping into the front bar. on the other hand not as good because-more expensive however the piping is simpler=cheaper, more complex(if you are an idiot), heavier not that it makes much diff with the extra power, and no big shiny fridge in the front bumper attracting oohs and ahhs...! my only doubt is the cooling capacity, but since this type of intercooling is used on a lot of serious drag cars it must be ok right? any opinions people?
btw, i intend to run 6-8psi at first and hoping to bump that up with a rebuild in the future and i was thinking of the pwr barrel coolers which are about $1200 for the right size kit for my car which includes everything but piping. Thanks!

**LO_N_SXC** · 14-01-2005 03:27 PM

I Know what you mean! I'm at the moment trying to get my mind made up if I should Turbo or not??? but if you do I would go for the Water to Air Due to many Reasons wich you have Already Explained, and like your self I also own a DA9 and if you ever get the chance to look between the front Bar and the Radiator it doesn't look like you have much room for a cooler anyways!!! So I would go for the Water to Air may cost more but the car will look much cleaner without a BIG Fridge Sticking out the front!!!

**Weq** · 14-01-2005 03:33 PM

if u want 6-8psi, just get a small sidemount, similar to that run the on the stock nissians. much cheaper.

**LO_N_SXC** · 14-01-2005 03:41 PM

But he is thinking of bumping the boost up later on, I rekon that if he has the Water to Air now he wont have to change stuff around, yet again it depends on how much $$$ Clolones he is willing to spend??????

So y dont you tell us our friend! How much are you willing to spend and how far do you see your self going with, such setup????? like are you going to build it with fully done internals and all????

**poid** · 14-01-2005 03:49 PM

i would think for drag racing it would be fine, but for daily driving unless you have a way of cooling the water down it would heat soak quite quickly and then not do much in the way of cooling your intake charge.

If you size the FMIC pipes correctly and size the FMIC properly there wont be much lag anyway

**shecomb** · 14-01-2005 03:50 PM

Im with Weq on that 1. Get a second hand supra,skyline,180 cooler and mount it somewhere off to the side. Will be good for 10psi easy. Save alot of expense there

**Ronin 09** · 24-01-2005 11:02 AM

Plus an R33 / R34 skyline side mount can be had for about $100!

People have fun up to 14psi through these coolers and have been fine on the 2.5 nissan RB sixes

**urtwhistle** · 24-01-2005 08:58 PM

hey alll check out the lextreme webby which im a member of because im actualy gonna join the very humble boosted toyota v8 bandwagon as sooon as i can get my loan.
there is a huge amount of knoledge on this website
http://www.lextreme.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2298

also the heatsoak problem with w2a is mainly solved buy using a very small water radiator in the front bar

**poid** · 24-01-2005 09:57 PM

Originally Posted by urtwhistle

im actualy gonna join the very humble boosted toyota v8 bandwagon

lol you arent alone there, planning my project as well

yeh i've thought about the small radiator as well, just not sure whether or not the cooling capacity will be the same as a good FMIC for normal applications. Most of the documentation i've seen suggests that the air to air will outperform in the situations we usually drive in. At speed or on a circuit, simply because it is difficult to keep the water as cool as an air to air cooler can get.

The data ARE suggested is about what i have seen as well, with around 22 degrees ambient i was seeing 31 degrees intake temps. I think thats pretty good considering the cooler i have isnt the best shaped out there, and this reading was after quite a bit of fanging around on boost.

Not sure the air to water would get that cool, even with the radiator keeping things cool. However on a drag car i would certainly consider the air to water, as you can use artificial means to keep ther water very, very cool for a single run.

**LO_N_SXC** · 25-01-2005 12:21 PM

LOL might as wel attach some kind of FMF (Front Mounted Fridge) LOL just kiding!
I'm still with the water to air and yes the water radiator in the front bar sounds very good, I think there seem's to be some sort of equipment you can buy from the states but I forgot where I saw it??? I shall post with details as soon as I find out for yall.

**PhatSol** · 25-01-2005 01:10 PM

I don't see why a large frount mount radiator can't dissapate as much energy as a large FMIC? And thermofans are always good at sorting out heat soak when you stop at the lights, etc....

**crx_16x** · 25-01-2005 06:30 PM

Originally Posted by poid

i would think for drag racing it would be fine, but for daily driving unless you have a way of cooling the water down it would heat soak quite quickly and then not do much in the way of cooling your intake charge.

If you size the FMIC pipes correctly and size the FMIC properly there wont be much lag anyway

The PWR kit comes with a radiator thermofan etc.

http://www.pwr.com.au/pwr/index_new.html