How far away from the radiator should I mount the intercooler? What are the consequences of mounting it farther/closer?

 

ive seen people mount em right against the rad..im not sure as to pros/cons of this though

 

I'm sitting in the same boat. I've SEEN them mounted all over the place but never read any tech on why.

 

just mount it were ever u have the room to put it. mines is about 3 inches infront of the radiator but i also have a huge intercooler mine measures 32x16x4

 

It isn't a matter of where I have room. I have room to mount it 1/4" away from the radiator or 10" away from the radiator. I could mount it parallel to the rad or offset on an angle. I was hoping someone had an idea of what would change if it mounted it differently.

 

I think that the closer or more sealed against the radiator the better the fans can PULL through both, making more efficient cooling of both i.c and radiator. Mine hpwever is about 3" away

 

Mines farther away but it had lower IAT when it was on this angle and had the airdam to really work when its needed most(high MPH boosting)


I have 1/4 inch brakets on the back of the airdam to ensure it has a little curve to scoop the air up as well as it can for a little intercooler. Im sure you all know those airdams are bent way back from years of abuse and really dont do much unless you straighten it out or curve it forward. those screws were replaced with bolts to secure it once I got the angle the way I wanted it.

 

closer should restrict airflow less, I'd go wherever it fits best.

 

mine is forward enough to allow the stock radiator and air dam to work like stock, moving air from being in motion cools my IC - like project89 said, when you need the cooling is when your boosting (you wont be at a stop for the most part)

 

Restrict through the intercooler or through the rad?

Side note, I'm amazed you can fit your downpipe below the kmember and not annihilate it.

 

i couldnt find better pics of mine but this is were i mounted mine
the only thing diferent now is the bottom is pushed foward so air can also get up behind the intercooler into the radiator

 

one more
those were the tempoary brackets i used to hang it from the top

 

Yea, a budet build at its best. It doesnt hit but I know its close on those bumpy coutry roads. Thats something I need to change over the winter.

 

Mine is the opposite of fasteddi. It is closer at the top and tilted forward from the radiator at the bottom. It was the only way I could get the coolant temp to stay reasonable with the AC running. IAT's are 10-15 degrees higher this way, but I was also able to put the foglights and foglight trim panel back in so the car looks stock from outside.

I ran over a piece of newspaper this weekend. While I was at a car show this weekend, a friend called me over to see something. The newspaper was wedged up against the radiator, so I know I've got good airflow into the radiator!

 

Here are some pics of how i mounted my intercooler.

 

This.

Too close to the rad will cause the rad to heat the intercooler to near coolant temps of whatever the rad is at. This isnt good since once you go into boost, your using a hot cooler to cool hotter air. Leaving it off the rad, far enough forward to allow stock airdam to cool the rad will keep the IC at ambient temps. Then you just need to get air across the IC. Easy for a camaro with the open grille Birds may need to get abit more creative.

 

No stock airdamn, no worry about air circulation.


It sounds like some of your are saying to space it out so air can go around the intercooler/through the rad by itself?

 

Like I said before, I mounted mine in a way that leaves the stock radiator/air dam as "stock" as possible. When moving the air dam creates a high pressure in front of it, and a low pressure behind it, which results in air flowing through the radiator from the high pressure to low pressure side. There is also some scooping effect with the air dam but thats really just another function of the high/low pressure gradient across the rad created by the air dam.

I have the intercooler parallel with the radiator but about 3.5" forward, the "ram air" coming in through the grill cools the intercooler, while fresh cool air from under the car cools the radiator. Also the gap prevents heat soaking the IC form being right by the intercooler. I do wonder if the high pressure on the back of the IC form the air dam prevents flow through the IC but I have not data logged enough to see, my IAT's are hovering around 120F but thats heat soaked as hell, on super low boost (90% vacuum), and the IAT sensor is metal so it gets hot and stays hot while the intercooler pipes are 70-80 degrees with a laser thermometer. heres a pic of my set up (sorry its not the best)



how are you planning to develop air flow with the setup you have^ you need something to make the car "breath" from the bottom

 

A lower lip/scoop and a huge hole in the hood. Does how I develop airflow over the cooler affect how the airflow functions?



I'm thinking this is about as low as I can go without risking scraping it on everything. The radiator is bent because it's a spare I'm using for mockup.

 

not really flow is flow, but flow through is 100000x better than across the front of the IC (obviously). So unless your pulling hot air around in a circle or something stupid like that flow is flow...

 

Kind of my point.

 

I mounted mine right in front of the stock radiator, at an angle that matches the hood latch bracket going down from the latch to the lower radiator support. I have no cooling issues with this setup, as least in temps up to 85 degrees. That's as hot as I've driven in so far.

 

Looks good. I'm still building mine but this is how I did it.

 

this is what i did and the spacing is about 1/2inch. i wanted the rad fans to help pull air through the intercooler.