Thread: air to air intercooler idea

Water to air is more efficent, yeilds better results and is easier to configure. Air to Air would be a waste of time IMO. WTA you can get Below Ambient temps with Ice boxs.

To Vet: when you actually build something that can make it to the track, you personally LET ME KNOW your times...until then....I LOL.

Originally Posted by matt5112

should be 18.

His tune is hilarious though.

18* is delgated how?

Last I checked it was at 21*...on a 3.0". Granted the tune is pretty rich...so I'm sure I could've changed it...but who cares...not my problem now

Originally Posted by darkhorizon

I would guess that means that if the normal person was to see the "tune" they would laugh at how poorly done it was. This is also implying that it is just so bad and far off that most people would not have any self control and would just end up looking like a douchebag while laughing at it.

Thanks for clarifiying...no one had any idea what was being implied.

So about those core pictures from the OP?

Originally Posted by bluegtp91

So about those core pictures from the OP?

I wouldn't hold your breath... hes prolly mad now

Originally Posted by darkhorizon

"boost loss" is not what you kids think it is... The problem with air/air intercoolers is the fact that the air is mechanically tumbled through the exchanger, where it is cooled better than just blowing by a straight fin in a w/a, but in turn the intercooler itself consumes energy and creates a restriction... which is measured by "boost loss".

An air/air would probably offer more cooling (aka more efficent), but really the extra cooling is just going to let you run less octane at the end of the day... it will not show big gains in power.

I would not have any problems trying to setup an air/air on a whipple... It really kills 2 birds with 1 stone on those setups.

Okay some good news finally. I am not doing this to run 87 octane just want to cool my air down to get more boost and timing. I dont have to money for a water to air and have the skills and brains to machine all my own stuff.

Originally Posted by darkhorizon

"boost loss" is not what you kids think it is... The problem with air/air intercoolers is the fact that the air is mechanically tumbled through the exchanger, where it is cooled better than just blowing by a straight fin in a w/a, but in turn the intercooler itself consumes energy and creates a restriction... which is measured by "boost loss".

An air/air would probably offer more cooling (aka more efficent), but really the extra cooling is just going to let you run less octane at the end of the day... it will not show big gains in power.

I would not have any problems trying to setup an air/air on a whipple... It really kills 2 birds with 1 stone on those setups.

An air to air intercooler wont even come close to a properly designed Water to Air in effecientcy(Proper resevior ect) Air to air is only as good as its ambient temps. Disadvantage is that Water to Air can heat soak far quicker

i know this is a bit off topic of the A to A... but i remember reading in the Maximum Boost book that is floating in PDF out there that for a track car people have run what basically is an Air to Water but instead of water and the heat exchanger, have the inside filled with wax! it mentioned that wax can absorb more heat energy as it transitions from solid to liquid. this wouldnt work for a DD but for a track car it might be worth linking about....

does anyone know what the outlet temps are for the M90? and yes i know temp would go up with boost.... so lets say temps for 8psi 9psi 10psi and 11psi. i had toyed with the idea in my head of using the AC compressor to cool the intake charge! this would be much simpler then building an A-A ... but might need a bigger condenser for the system.

one think i was thinking to make a W to Air IC more efficient is to cut the elbows off the core and make each pass its own pass. cause when you think about it cool water flows in at one end of the core and gets warmer and warmer till it exits... as it gets warmer it isnt cooling the charge as much. if you have more fluid running thru it, it will cool more! would prob need an adapter to merge the flow and a larger volume pump to accomplish this though.


i just figure its worth trying something that has potential to cool better or be simpler then spend time and effort on something just as complicated with less benefit.

I will post them with the prices of how much there are to buy and the results as soon as the plate is just how I want it and can do it in a way that I can reproduce. As well as a thread putting it all on.

And as far as water to air is better, Then why do turbo cars gain a ton when they rip the crappy water to air off and go to a nice front mount air to air

Originally Posted by shawnrandolph

I will post them with the prices of how much there are to buy and the results as soon as the plate is just how I want it and can do it in a way that I can reproduce. As well as a thread putting it all on.

And as far as water to air is better, Then why do turbo cars gain a ton when they rip the crappy water to air off and go to a nice front mount air to air

If you say so....Also they dont have a roots blower...... A properly built W2A is always going to out do a A2A.

why are low 7second cars running W2A ICs at the track? and theyre running 32+ psi on small blocks