Charge Coolers ?

[Prof]

Anyone had any experience of charge coolers on the 2nd Gens ?

What size needed for 350-400 BHP, mounting options etc.

Just looking to pick some brains - seems lots of FD\'s but no FC\'s !

Cheers,

Prof :cheers

[sadgoth]

can\'t think of anyone who is using a charge cooler on an FC

[Brett]

IMO A Charge cooler is not always the best option, a decent FMIC (Or maybe even a high flow SMIC with a CO2 spray?) is a better bet.  I\'ve heard stories about charge coolers becoming charge warmers after a long drive....

[John Yorke]

IMO A Charge cooler is not always the best option, a decent FMIC (Or maybe even a high flow SMIC with a CO2 spray?) is a better bet.  I\'ve heard stories about charge coolers becoming charge warmers after a long drive....

Beg to differ my friend:rolleyes:  Run one of these for more than 2 years [on an FD mind but similar sort of setup] never had a problem with intakes [no more than yer FMic or smic] the good thing is when sitting in traffic you dont get the buildup in temps that you do with other options because you are forcing cool[er] air through your water rad thus keeping charge temps down and you see a far quicker drop once you are moving again.
The most important thing is not to undersize the unit and ensure you can achieve a good flow rate.

[Brett]

How is the water cooling system setup on yours though John?

[John Yorke]

How is the water cooling system setup on yours though John?

Inclosed system with its own rad and electric water pump, runs constant rad is \'v\'ed to engine rad, if that makes sence:Hammer

[Brett]

Yep, makes perfect sense
I was getting at the fact that unless you run a custom Rad setup (ie a V mount) then theres no space to run a seperate water system with its own pump, rad etc on an FC.  Was reading about this last year when I was thinking of going for a charge cooler.
 
 Whats the volume of water in your CC system?

[Prof]

What about just above/in front of the oil cooler ?

I was thinking that the charge cooler piping could be kept short and run virtuall the same route as the existing intercooler piping, which once removed would leave a lot of room on top for a barrel or flat water-air cooler.

After all, there is more room in an FC bay than FD bay :cool

[Brett]

Didnt the older style Celica GT4 use a water/air intercooler?

[MikeLMR]

how much heavier is a water to air system than an air to air system?

And surely it\'s a lot more expensive and higher maintenance.  An air to air cooler has got a huge advantage of being rather uncomplicated in comparison.

[John Yorke]

how much heavier is a water to air system than an air to air system?

And surely it\'s a lot more expensive and higher maintenance.  An air to air cooler has got a huge advantage of being rather uncomplicated in comparison.

Weight did not seem to be a problem, maybe 50% hevier, cost wise buy a decent FMIC and you will spend almost as much as a CC, granted you do have mechanical / electrical parts that can go wrong [never let me down and covered over 20K miles including quite a bit of track and drag work] other consideration : a much lower pressure loss as against a FMIC and the fitting is somewhat less complicated than trying to shoehorn in a large FMIC having to remove the front end and shifting this and that.
As to water capacity mine was around 4 pints.
The cooling rad [mine also ran a fan behind it] is maybe 30cm sq. so is quite easy to locate.

[Ricco_04]

Didnt the older style Celica GT4 use a water/air intercooler?

Yes it did mate, top mount

[travellinbob]

i have a sierra cosworth type air to air intercooler that I am haveing a local engineer weld water jackets to so that it will have water instead of air run through it and have purchased a small motorbike radiator from e-bay for the water cooling. Havnt gotten the pump yet but will worry about it when engineer has finished. I have seen fc intercoolers basically had the same thing done to them too and they seem to have worked well.
 Also been thinking about putting the whole thing(except the radiator of course) inside the engine bay under the dash to aviod heat soak. If you look at the lenght of the usual front mount intercoolers piping it is quite long. I reckon that by moving the whole thing into the cabin it wont be much longer and also will benefit from lack of heat.
 But of course this isnt in an fc so hope no-one minds the idle ramblings of someone who needs to get out more.
 cheers, michael.

[Prof]

No worries - all ideas welcome at this stage.

I did think about converting an old air-air intercooler, but from reading some stuff on a couple of other forums it seems that although this works, the cooling is never as good as a purpose designed one.

I also favour the straigt through system, rather than one that has the air pipes on the same side, as it surely must be better for air-flow and reducing pipe lengths.

I didn\'t want to go FMIC route, as in my opinion it totally screws up the look of the front on an FC.  I like what John has done with his Infini IV - but that means cutting up a bonnet to get air flow through.

I will start off with the top mount ARC intercooler which is almost a direct replace (have to change throttle body inlet and piping from intercooler as it exits in the middle and not at the back), and check intake temps with WI fitted.  Just wanting some options should this not be up to the job.

Also considering an intercooler misting system, to keep heatsoak down.

[Carl]

If you do mod and air to air intercooler to work as a charge cooler then you should actually reverse the way it works,the water should go through the inside of the cooler that the air for the engine used to go through, and the boosted air that you want to cool should now go through the part that would normally be the where the air that cools in the old setup.

Charge coolers can "Interheat",i have removed some that did that and fitted convential type air to air coolers for those that had this problem.
It is important on a charge cooler to have as big a volume of water is possible,that is the best way for them to be efficient,of course that also means extra weight.

At the end of the day even a charge cooler has to remove heat by returning the heat to the atmosphere via another air cooled radiator.

At the end of the day,air to air intercoolers are zero maintenance.

Regards
Carl