Air to water intercooler vs air to air

[Steve]

I am considering building a air to water intercooler for my 10 second WE4. Years ago liquid intercooler set ups were very costly but now a good unit can be put togther for roughly the same cost as a good FM. There in no doubt that an air to water set up cooled with ice water is superior to an air to air intercooler but I am curious to how a air to water set up with a heat exchanger compares to a air to air intercooler. If I build my own set up I will use one of the Fluiddyne heat exhangers that are an upgrade for the 03/04 Cobras. There are many fast big horsepower 03/04 Cobras and Lightnings all using liquid intercooolers and Parish's truck made over 1000rwhp with a liquid set up so how about a Buick? Thanks

Steve

 

[gczarny]

don't waste your money , all you need for turbo buick to run more boost and keep knock to "0" is good alky kit , will do you more good that ANY intercooler upgrade , that's just my opinion but !!! .... I went from stock to Big Neck , to strached to front mount and .......at the end I installed Razor ALky KIt , now it's right with pump gas ! 24 psi no problem !

 

[Dusty Bradford]

I am considering building a air to water intercooler for my 10 second WE4. Years ago liquid intercooler set ups were very costly but now a good unit can be put togther for roughly the same cost as a good FM. There in no doubt that an air to water set up cooled with ice water is superior to an air to air intercooler but I am curious to how a air to water set up with a heat exchanger compares to a air to air intercooler. If I build my own set up I will use one of the Fluiddyne heat exhangers that are an upgrade for the 03/04 Cobras. There are many fast big horsepower 03/04 Cobras and Lightnings all using liquid intercooolers and Parish's truck made over 1000rwhp with a liquid set up so how about a Buick? Thanks

Steve

With the grille area available in the Buicks a good front mount is very effective. I wouldn't waste my time with that set-up for your car.

BTW, I run an a/w on my race car

 

[Turbo6Smackdown]

on a street car or a strip car. on a strip car, theyre great. on a street car...well, what are you going to do when the water temps start to match the ambient air temps? (in like 10 minutes)

 

[DR BOOST]

when the water temp equals ambient, you have the equivalent of a very efficient frontmount.

 

[Turbo6Smackdown]

would this intercooler be in the engine bay? im assuming it would. that waters not going to stay cool, or even luke warm for long. For maximum intake charge cooling, I think a traditional front mount is the way to go though. Theres a lot of options, and its a fairly straight forward install. If a water to air intercooler was soo super efficient/cheap/proven, they're would have already been multiple vendors making these for our cars, and they'd be all over the buick world. Theyre not though. It must be for a reason.

 

[DR BOOST]

would this intercooler be in the engine bay? im assuming it would. that waters not going to stay cool, or even luke warm for long. For maximum intake charge cooling, I think a traditional front mount is the way to go though. Theres a lot of options, and its a fairly straight forward install. If a water to air intercooler was soo super efficient/cheap/proven, they're would have already been multiple vendors making these for our cars, and they'd be all over the buick world. Theyre not though. It must be for a reason.

air to air is simple.. and air to water isdefinately not cheap. i have no complaints.

 

[Steve]

I am not saying that air to airs are not effective but the heat transfer of water is far more effective than air. My thinking is that with a good heat exchanger the water will stay at ambient or close and with the higher heat tranfer rate of water it will be at least equal to an air to air then in the summer when I go to the track I can add ice and be better off than a FM. There is no doubt air to waters work its just a question if the advantages outweigh the hassles. WHen I see a 10 sec Lightning or a 9 sec Cobra I can see that a air to water is effective. AN air to water can be set up around $600 which is not more than a good FM. I never bought into "if it was good, vendors would sell it" because I have been into Buicks for a long time and things constantly change. It wasn't many years ago that if you would have asked a question about going 10's on pump gas and alky people would have told you were crazy and same argument would have been made, if alky worked vendors would sell kits and everyone would have one and now that is pretty much the case.

 

[Dusty Bradford]

When you see a 10 sec L or a 9 second Cobra you see the effects of a big blower on a Modular motor:wink:

Yes a/w is better in the heat. IMO however at your performance level it isn't worth the hassle.

The new front mounts are very good.

If you just want to try it and report back we'll all be glad to see results. Who know's. Maybe you can get 70 degree temps in the summer.

 

[Dusty Bradford]

My liquid

 

[Dusty Bradford]

Try this again

 

[Alky V6]

My liquid. They are more of a hassle, but you can't beat them.

Stays cooler down there too.

 

[CHANCE]

Hey dusty and don can we get more pics im making a liquid to air set up also

 

[Alky V6]

I'll get something together for you.

 

[Alky V6]

Here's another.
The bracket (aluminum) that is presently holding the intercooler should be made stronger. Just thicker around the mounting tabs of the intercooler. One of the items on the long list of upgrades needed.

Notice the tow bar. That came in real handy at the WCN in Vegas.

The intercooler ends up hanging about one inch lower than the bottom edge of the stock front spoiler. Probably not a good setup for you big wheelie lovers.

If anyone is interested in pics of the car, visit my website and go to the GN Page. There are some movies and downloadable slide shows.

 

[Dusty Bradford]

Under the hood. I used a BMR block off plate because it was made of aluminum. The .120 wall aluminum tubing was welded to the plate so there would be no holes in the firewall. I used a v-band connection to connect the cooler to the firewall and used 1 more tab on the side of the cooler to hold it to the roll cage.

In the trunk I have a 5 gallon cell with a 500gph bilge pump to circulate the water. 500 gph is barely big enough for my application. When I make more power I'll be upgrading line size and pump to run 2000gph pump.

 

[Dusty Bradford]

Firewall

 

[CHANCE]

good stuff guys don can i get pics of the piping i like that setup

 

[Alky V6]

good stuff guys don can i get pics of the piping i like that setup

Things are apart right now. Late January, early February it should be back together. I'll get some better pics of the intercooler piping then. If I forget, send me a reminder.

 

[need boost]

my 86 t has the liquid intercooler set up on it. I can't tell you on a front mount as mine had this set up when I bought the car BUT I can tell you that this set up works great!!!!!!!!!! I can run 18-19 lbs or so in the dead of summer here in south georgia with no problems on the street . Daniel Ray