Just a question about placement of the intercooler in the front of an 82-92 F-Body. I've read that some of you have experienced a hotter than normal coolant temp when placing the intercooler in front of the radiator. I realize the intercooler is giving off heat, and it would directly flow towards the radiator, thus the resulting increase in water temp. My questions is, how did you mount the intercooler-horizontally, or parallel to the radiator (perpendicular to the ground) OR perpendicular to the radiator (parallel to the ground)? I've been told by Larry at ASSC that it should be the latter, which would force more air thru the intercooler, and would not "stack" the hot air right on top of the A/C condenser as well as the radiator. I looking to make well over 1000 fwhp, and I'm pretty sure the best intercooler ATI sells just ain't gonna cut it. I'm think I'll have to follow in Monty's footsteps, and utilize a much larger custom one . By the way, if you're reading this Monty, where in the hell did you stuff that HUGE intercooler???? How big are the inlets and outlets? Does the vette still run A/C, and thus a condenser?? Any ideas what Willie's twin intercooler set-up flows, or the size of the inlets and outlets? I really like the placement on that set-up, but I wonder if those two intercoolers can flow enough to support my application?

 

Will this be street or pretty much raceonly? If the latter, look into air-water coolers.

 

Actually, the largest ATI air-air is larger than monty's cooler lol

The reason why ATI cars here have been overheating is because they want you to mount the intercooler horizontally in front of the air dam and it causes the car to overheat at high speeds because the air dam is pretty much the major part in how the radiator gets airflow. F-bodys are bottom feeders and that is why i argue with people that you can stuff a huge cooler in front of your condenser and not worry about too much as long as you have the stock plastic air shrouds and the air dam intact

My friend with a single turbo LT1 had an overheating problem. I asked him if he had his air dam and his plastic shrouding to the radiator on, he said no

I told him to put it all back on (mind you this is a large sheetmetal ATI intercooler he has on in front of the a/c condenser) and after he put it all back on, wala no more overheating

hope some of this helped

 

This will be a street driven race car. I'm looking at one of the largest off-the shelf cores Spearco makes (3.5"Dx20.8"Wx10.5"H without end tanks), and will support 1000+ HP. Besides, air-to-air is the only logical choice as long as I still have the air conditioning in tact. Didn't build it to trailer it.
So am I to unerstand that by mounting the intercooler directly in front of the A/C condenser and parallel to it solved your friend's overheating problems? Basically the intercooler being mounted at the base of the air damn (and horizonatlly) forces all air to move thru it, and at slow speeds or idle, blocks the airflow thru up to the radiator and condenser?

 

What is wrong with a liquid/air intercooler on the street? Seems to work pretty well in the sy/ty. When I save enough, i plan on going the turbo route, with an liquid/air intercooler, and a small heat exchanger (oil cooler?) to keep the water temps down.

A water intercooler can be much more compact, its more versatile in mounting options, it isnt reliant on airflow to do its job, and the specific heat of water is many times more than air. They are great for absorbing small bursts of heat, as you would likely see in a street driven application. The only possible problem might occur climbing a long hill, or other constant high engine load situations.

 

I do have to admit I have reconsidered my choice of using an air to water intercooler. The A/C and all of it's components were removed this weekend. An air to water intercooler will be mounted at the passenger's feet, and tubing will be run thru the firewall where the A/C stuff once resided. I just could not find an air to air intercooler that would keep up with the cfm flow of an Procharger F-2. I think I will probably follow your wisdom, and run both an ice box container as well as a small heat exchanger up front, which will be far easier to mount than an oversized intercooler. Plus it will still leave room for a transmission cooler. Have you picked out a heat exchanger as of yet? I was considering a smaller dragster radiator, and found one made by Griffen that was 17-1/2" x 18". Only problem is it has the regular hose ends, so I am sort of hunting for one with 3/4" NPT fittings instead. Any ideas? I was unaware that the SyTy's were using a air to water cooler. Is the coolant used part of the cooling system, or was it a completely separate system from the engine cooling system? Any ideas on a different heat exchanger?Thanks for the info.

 

The IC system on a syty is self contained, but the cooler is kind of inefficient for anything but stock operation. Heres the stock sy-ty piece:


I plan on getting either a new IC core, or cut up a small OE air-air unit, and tig welding my own end tanks and fittings on. No specifics yet, however

Heres a good source for a bunch of original equipment intercooler options

 

Thanks for the link-very interesting. A question about using air to air cores for and air to water set-up. Are they just as effecient? Are they the same? If not, what are the differneces? How much HP/CFM are you looking to cool? I need a unit that will flow no less than 2700 CFM. Know of any stock intercoolers that be made to flow these numbers, even if you double them up? Unfortunately I think I'm stuck with a custom Spearco or other unit based on the flow needed. I'm hoping that I can find a used one from a race car being parted out, because new ones ain't cheap!!! Any more ideas?

 

Truthfully, i can't tell you very much about making an air-water unit; i have little experience there. I have seen it done, however. I plan on routing the charge air through the large face that would normally see outside air. The water will flow across one of the smaller cross sections. This will give a large cross sectional area for airflow, and hopefully minimal pressure drop.
but. . . i am concerned with the efficiency of a design like this. Although a larger area will give a slower airflow through the IC, there isnt a whole lot of thickness for it to travel through. much experimenting will be in the future.

my earliest thoughts on my setup are aiming for about 500-600 rwhp from a single turbo and liquid-water IC, regular pump gas is a must. It will be a daily driver (excluding a 50 mile commute to work).

 

that syty unit is inefficient? in flow or cooling capacity?

 

I've never had my hands on one, but i would imagine they run out of flow capacity, due to the small inlet and end tank. its possible that the problem may lie in the IC coolant pump being unable to provide enough water flow, but that would only neccessitate a new pump that flows more.

again this is just what i have heard/read . . .

 

I'll give you some insight.I have a 1993 typhoon. The stock
system needs alot of help. I rerouted and insulated my
hoses. I have installed a jabsco rv pump to increase flow.
I use a very large trans cooler to flow extra water. Driving
around on a 80 degree day I see intake temps (without
driving it hard) 120 degrees. If i take it to the track, every run
it slows down at least a .10 to .15 unless i chill it and wait.
a couple of hours. The last time I turbolinked it, on my first
pass outside air was 86 degrees, when I went thru the traps
I was 135!
This winter I will be fabing a Air ti Air.

 

biggtime:

if im not mistaken, the stock system is a loop directly from IC to cooler, and back to IC, right? I wonder if adding a water tank to hold even a few gallons would help give the system more capacity to absorb heat? Maybe you've tried this, or know someone who has. What do you think about it?

 

I was going to ditch my abs unit and fab a ice box with
another cooler in it. But since building my other car
with a air to air and it works so good I decided to go
the same way with the Ty.
FYI My other car is a stealth ramed, 350 with a ati procharger,
spearco charge cooler, 20X10X3.5, DFIV7 in a Gbody.
Bob

 

I have the ATI air - to - air and was overheating very very badly with it mounted their way.

I went to lowe's bought some elbow's and clamps and flipped my intercooler so it's now posititioned vertically. Air is definetly getting to the radiator now and the setup up looks mean through the front grill. I'll see if I can get some pics .