Thread: My Ice Box set-up and external PCV catch can

First up, is my external PCV system that I did. One hose leads from just past the TB opening on the GenV to the can and the other leads from the back valve cover, where I have the PCV valve installed there "inline", that lines runs back to the catch can as well. I was think I am getting alot of blow by, since every time I have torn the motor apart, my intake was always pretty oily, and I am thinking that extra oil is messing with my fueling. I could be wrong, but it is worth a shot.

Some pics of it mounted up:








For about a year now, I have thought about doing a ice box setup, and I finally got around and doing it, after have bought the cooler over a year ago. This is only for the track and is completely removable, install the passanger seat, to be able to drive the car on the street if I want.

Anyways, First up, the cooler:





The hose leading to the back floor board is the drain, which is mounted about 2" from the bottom of the cooler, so that I don't drain out too much water and get air in the intake line. I used a rubber grommet already in the floor board to drain the water, so I used it to poke out a 90* fitting.





Here is what it looks like under the car:




The inlet coming in from the back.



Inlet in the cooler:




The outlet that leads to the pump, mounted down low to prevent sucking in air in the system:





Here you can see all three, inlet, outlet and drain:



Now I took a knock out tool and made two hole in the floor board to lead all the hoses out of the cabin, here you can see how that turned out. The oulet hose, I covered in a refletive sleeve and also covered both hose with a 1" hose to prevent rubbing on the sharp edges of the sheild that it passes by:









To keep the hose up and out of the way, I ran them next to the oil pan and wrapped them the same way:




I am going to try and make this short. I am currently running a "open" type of system, so I have a reservior that all the fluid dumps into and then runs to the FMHE, to the pump and to the IC and back around. Now, my cooler acts as my reservior, so I need a way to be able to shut off the reservior in the engine bay, so that the pump, pumps from the cooler.

I wanted to acheive this by NOT taking hoses off and switching them around, So I used 3 way valves, a total of 3 were used along with one with a "T" and a regular type of ball valve. (Was not able to get another 3 way valve in time)

Pics of all the valves, I feel like I need a map to make sure I turn them all the right way:









Here is a couple of shots of under the car, as you can see, I have hoses running everywhere, but you can see where they come out of the floor board, and run around to the driverside of the car to the pump, FMHE and the IC.




The nice thing is, is we were able to do this without any of the hoses dipping lower than the sub frame of the car.





Once I am finished racing, and want to put the seat back in, so that the wife and I can go out riding around, I pull out the cooler and connect the two hoses together, switch all the valves to work off the reservior in the engine bay, and we are good to go.




The result was amazing, I dropped .2 or so off my 1/4 with out any KR what so ever at 22* of timing. In one 1/4 mile, it will melt one 5# bag of ice, BUT my front mount after the run feels like it just came out of the Frig. Very cool to the touch, that is for sure, even on a warm night.

Well, there you go, and thanks for looking.

Originally Posted by scottydoggs

so you have gas in a cooler? or are there coils that are not in the cooler? im lost, looks unsafe. why not just buy a fuel cooler that works with dry ice under the hood? at least you can leave it in and just ice it when you want to.

and why does this seem like ive seen it before somewhere?


edit: its for a ic. ok i get it now.

Yeah, that is NOT gas, it is a mix of coolant and water. This was after I first installed it and not all the coolant was out of the system.

its like a giant reservoir. For all the trouble you did to make such an elaborate system, why not utilize a 2nd heat exchanger inside the icebox?

Originally Posted by Steel Armadillo

Very cool. Any estimate on the weight added?

I would have to say only around 10# WITH a bag of ice in the cooler, but being able to add timing due to ice water running through the system, I am fine with it.

Originally Posted by crazyguy03

its like a giant reservoir. For all the trouble you did to make such an elaborate system, why not utilize a 2nd heat exchanger inside the icebox?

Yes it a giant reservoir. It is all about surface area. If you have a second heat exchanger in the cooler, there is less surface area for the ice to hit, with this setup, as soon as the water goes in, it hit the ice chunks and cools. That is why I put the output to the pump at the bottom of the cooler, to make sure it is pulling the coldest possible water out.

Originally Posted by RegalGS98s

Cool mod. For the ball valves, if they get hot might want to use cpvc valves instead, they should handle the heat better.

They NEVER get hot. After a 1/4 mile run, the water is still COLD, it blows me away as to how well this works. If it is a cool night, there will still be small bits of ice left in the cooler and all the lines running to the IC, are cold to the touch, and the front mount is COLD. And when I pull the cooler out to do tuning on the street, and turn all the valves, there is no fluid running through them. Plus these valves can handle up to 140 degree water temps, so I think I will be fine with them, but good to know though.

This is how it is all routed:

Water is pulled from the cooler
To the pump
Into the IC
Out of the IC to the top of the FMHE
Out of the bottom of the FMHE, back into the cooler

When the valves are turned off for when the seat is put in it is run like this:

Out of the IC
Into the TOP of the FMHE
Out of the Bottom of the FMHE to the pump
Pump to the IC

I hope that makes sence to you, like I said before, when I first installed it, it took me a minute to figure out my own work.

Originally Posted by RegalGS98s

Is that a laptop stand in place of the passenger seat?

Yes, yes it is. A friend of mine runs a machine shop and makes them for the local law enforcement cruisers and he had a extra one laying around. So I put a bunch of holes in it on the mill to make it lighter and modded it to fit. Works great.