Intercooling

[1KWIK72]

I see pretty much everyone making big power is running an air to water intercooler. Looking at the cost and complexity of the deal I wondered is air to air an option? The other concern I have is adding ice between runs on a typical heads up race this isn't an issue but If I decide to do some bracket racing and go a lot of rounds over a 2 or 3 day weekend that could get downright expensive buying ice at the track! Also if I do any street driving with it would that be an issue? I am looking to get my 3200lb car into the high 8s. it currently has a 800hp 18° SBC the tentative plan is to lower the compression and bolt on either a F1R or a F2 with some type of intercooler. I am just doing some research at this point and wanted some opinions

Thanks
Craig

[OLDHEAD]

If you only want high 8's you don't need a cooler or a big blower, My drive everywhere 3520 Malibu goes 8.7 at 157. It has a Vortech YSI,no cooler,23 deg.heads and is 400 ci.....Now it does have 150 of nitrous,But you 18 degs. heads and 300# lighter should make up for the nitrous......Have fun....:) :) :) :) OLDHEAD

[Eddie Wilson]

I say do it once! Go air/water. Why limit your hp capabilities with a A/A? 18degree heads you will make sick power! 8s should be EZ! Pick up a used a/w intercooler from someone updating and save some money. Do it yourself and save there also.

[Mike Coffey]

Run it on methanol non intercooled. Thats what my new 377 sbc will be running. $2.50 a gallon. Motor will run cool on the street. Just have to keep an eye on the fuel system. You can make big power on methanol!

[Bigtime]

Go with A/W unless you have a real big fuel cell for the alky. I ran my 442 street car with a 355, 23* heads and 16lbs of boost on 92 pump fuel. made 1080 at the crank and pushed my 3600lb street car to 9.20@148. When i was cruising around i just kept water in the coolent tank. make sure if you drive it on the street you have a blow off valve as it will bypass most of the part throttle air.

[1KWIK72]

I don't think I want to go alky my fuel cell is only 10 gallons and has a sending unit and foam that are not alky compatable. I could remove both but just another thing to do. I also dont want to be spending a small fortune changing oil. If I end up racing as much as I did last year I will put close to 300 passes on my motor. All my bracket racing buddies that run alky change their oil on average at least every other weekend and most of them have sponsorship deals that allow them to get their oil at cost or free. The only reason I was looking at the air to air is I figured it may be more consistant if I was going rounds bracket racing. I may be way off base here but say I went rounds and had an A/W cooler if he water temp ended up getting warm the E.T.s would most likley vary and it could possibly get into detination right? If I end up making 14 passes in 1 day how many pounds of Ice would I be going through on a typical 90° day? I know nothing about this at this point I am just looking to you guys for opinions.

Thanks
Craig

[Maliboost]

while I was in Orlando, I talked with a few guys & some of them said that they would go through about 2 1/2 bags of ice each run. once they had a bad oil down & had to change the ice in the staging lanes.

I have an A-W setup for my car, & am concerned about the ice problem. as Monty put it, "@ least when I ran Nitrous I could take the unused nitrous home with me, the ice you just throw away".

If its TOO much of a PITA, Im going to get rid of the A-W setup & go with an A-A with either CO2 cooling tubes or water/Alchy injection or both. I would do it now, but getting a A-A IC in the front of my car would be a MAJOR undertaking. I will have to move the radiator & probably split it into 2 smaller ones in front of the tires & all kinds of BS.

Bob

[dizope]

Mailboost, that was very informative - thank you!!

[mrtbolt64]

Alright here is my take

I am doing a car for street and drag strip fun, engine is a 393 ford with Novi2k. All I would like to do is run in mid to high 9's. I went with the air to water intercooler for the simple fact that when I am at the track I can keep it loaded with ice. Out on the street I may start with ice but water will be fine as I am not going to be on kill with boost.

I am sure that any intercooler is better than no intercooler at all, there is charts out there that list different boost temps with relation to how cold the water is. Where are......i dunno have to search

[Rick_R]

IF you plan on street driving much you may need to add a rad to get some of the heat out of the water in your intercooler, once the ice is gone the water temp will rise until it is as high as the incoming charge

[allshownogo]

I run a/w ic and use 2 1/2 bags of ice per run and run straight water on the street. I also run a f.a.s.t. so the ecu comps for air temp though.:confused: 1KWIK72.... You can run high 8's with an F1 and no i/c.:)

[blownzoom440]

i have a 8-71 w teflon and ran 14lbs past a A/W IC from the blowershop and melted about 10 lbs of ice each run.there are a lot of veriables with inlet temps,cooler temp,final temp and hard to say you would have detonation problems with ice or just water.yes the cooler the better.i use a 3 gallon fuel cell in the rear seat with a washdown pump from depco pumping 5GPM at 40psi 3/4" hose.i have no final results to say how much it helped over non IC w/8lbs i ran before. 440,8-71,8lbs of boost 4000lb car,10.46/129.that is about all the info i have .maybe checkout CORKY BELL BOOK ON SUPERCHARGING.

[2angry]

is it possible to run dry ice, instead of regular ice??

[OLDHEAD]

Hey Burnout Box are you sure you need a cooler you should try without,My SBC 400 had a 871 in a 4120# Monte Carlo with limited traction( 9" slicks ) went 10.50s at 136...OLDHEAD

[Turbo Monte]

One thing to consider. With a A/W you have good cool air from the starting line, with a A/A the car needs to be moving. If your car is street driven much I would say A/A for sure, If it is race only and you are looking for the most power go A/W.

[TheMyth]

while I was in Orlando, I talked with a few guys & some of them said that they would go through about 2 1/2 bags of ice each run. once they had a bad oil down & had to change the ice in the staging lanes.

I have an A-W setup for my car, & am concerned about the ice problem. as Monty put it, "@ least when I ran Nitrous I could take the unused nitrous home with me, the ice you just throw away".

If its TOO much of a PITA, Im going to get rid of the A-W setup & go with an A-A with either CO2 cooling tubes or water/Alchy injection or both. I would do it now, but getting a A-A IC in the front of my car would be a MAJOR undertaking. I will have to move the radiator & probably split it into 2 smaller ones in front of the tires & all kinds of BS.

Bob
Hey Bob, what do you know about the CO2 cooling systems?? I was doing some reading up on what looks like a nice set up through a place called Design Engineering www.designengineering.com (http://www.designengineering.com) It all looks good and sounds like it would work, but I just have not seen anybody using it yet. Been seriously considering a system to cool both the inlet tube before the carb and the fuel lines.
Greg

[Maliboost]

Sorry Greg, I did not see the post. check your PM's

Bob

[TheMyth]

Sorry Greg, I did not see the post. check your PM's

Bob

No biggie Bob,
I tried sending you another PM, but it kind of got mixed in the middle of your previous quote. But my response is in there, check it out and let me know what you think.
Greg