Anyone ever mess with an intercooler spray?

[ZiG]

I'm thinking of adding this so I can get a little more out of my SMIC.. I'm thinking kind of the same setup as the WRX STI. I guess it would come on at full throttle and spray the intercooler with water.. I searched here and ka-t.org and didn't find much relating to it.

[s13rb25det]

in sport compact magazine a few years back dave coleman put a intercooler sprayer on his silvia. what he did was route it through his windshield sprayer. it was pretty goofy but it worked.

[ZiG]

Yeah, I was thinking of using that but I decided I'd like to have a separate tank that I can fill with ice water. I had something similar hooked up to a switch in my trans am, it sprayed bleach on the rear tires for smokey burnouts, so I thought maybe I can apply some of what I did there...

[WDRacing]

I have played with IC spray, Alky injection, water injection and just about anything you can dream up when it comes to sub injection, be it fuel nozzles or fuel injectors.

A DIY IC sprayer isn't really that good of an option. Full throttle activation is OK, but you're not on FT or boost for that long of a period. So you end up going through a lot of water and it's cooling effect is "ineffective" since the water is either not on long enough or it's being sprayed when it's not needed. It would work on long full throttle blasts, but really how often are we under boost for 45 seconds to minutes at a time?

I'm guessing you'd like to add a few lbs of boost, but your SMIC is suffering from heat soak. If this is the case, then a very small nozzle and a boost activated water pump is the best option as far as cheap and easy goes. Alcohol with a variable controller is obviously the best.

I started with a single stg water injection kit at first like 8 years ago. It worked very well and can be made for about $75 using mostly new parts. It only takes a small amount of water to drop combustion temps by 250 degree's.

Another thing to consider, you can't use any type of external spray if you run at the track. Unless it's a Nitrous bar or something along those lines.

If you can weld then I have a pretty cool idea for you. Take the SMIC, enclose it, add two bungs, run a water pump to an icebox and you have your very own water/air intercooler. Which is just as good as almost any FMIC setup if you actually do some research. Since the water is going to take a long time to get heated any more then the outside air temp. But with ice or dry ice, the air charge will be up to 150* cooler then with ambient air alone.

WD

[ZiG]

Woah, thanks for the info WD!

I was thinking about water/alcohol injection, and although it's more effective, I was thinking about just trying to spray the intercooler first, 'cause it'd be safer. But I didn't know about that rule about no external spray at the track. That's really where I was thinking of using it.

I like the idea of making my sidemount an air-water intercooler. That would be great, because I'm also trying to keep the car looking completely stock on the outside. Double bonus because I could potentially make my ac condenser function as the heat sink. I'm okay at tig welding, too. Not great, but not terrible.

Geez, that's a really good idea, thanks.

[neverlift]

funny you bring this up, looks like wd beat me though. kinda.

you need a temp setup rather than boost or wot. you want it to work via a temp sensor that is open below and closed above x temp. that way it keeps the ic at a certain temp or close,and its always ready for abuse. On a toggle switch duh for only when needed ocassions. But again as wd said track and stuff like that doesnt go together . best bet is laky/water injection it does better than an IC imho IF you get small enough droplets of water/alk. same applies to the ic sprayer finer mist = best effect. Your looking to make the water atomize.

I played with water injection some a while back it definately brings temps down both engine and intake. I'll be adding a small cheap setup to my car soon one of these days also wd speak more of this water to air IC! I saw somehting on the web but didnt have time, basically an ice chest with water ice thats pumped over/around the sealed IC? sounds great.

[WDRacing]

Using a temp triggered kit will use a boat load of water...it;s also a lot harder to set a temp sensor up. Not that this method doesn't work, it's just ...well like I said, all the methods suck IMO...lol. As far as water injection being safer, or alcohol for that matter. You'd have to ingest more water then any single nozzle can put out for a motor to hydro lock.

The added benefits are steam cleaned combustion chambers.

Everything you ever wanted to know about DIY intercooler spraying

[eazye2000]

I can never get enough of WD's insight.

[WDRacing]

Smartest forced induction guru on Nico without actually having a running vehicle...LMAO.

I miss my 240 more then sex sometimes...

[neverlift]

Smartest forced induction guru on Nico without actually having a running vehicle...LMAO.

I miss my 240 more then sex sometimes...

lol and lol.

yeah it may use a but load but thats if you using a big arse nozzle, I'd go for somehting like a .20 gph nozzle with slightly lower than reccomended pressure so its even less, like I said man the smaller the droplets of air the better the effect will be.I use some **** from homedepot for a radiator sprayer(bsing around) and the temp drop was there I could see the damn stock gauge drop a half notch then climb up to normal. And that was a very unmisted spray at best. I'll be ordering a few nozzles from wtf is the name you know the fitting people lol to do a small water injection setup just enough to aide the smic, I'm also planning to add duct to force the air through the IC rather than just around it to drop temps as much as possible. This will be till I get a fmic that I can slap a small fan on actually it will depend I hear alot of good abou water injection.

hey wd would straight water be good for say an extra * or so of advance? I'm not really into the meth and stuff not knowing all the harmfull aspects of it. I'm soft. I would also IN THEORY be able to use more then 12psi(with meth) effectively from my t25? sorry to thread ninja/whore/jack I too cant get enough

[WDRacing]

The big issue is the T25. But Meth, or Denatured Alcohol, or E85 if it's available are all great ways to raise the boost. I wouldn't add timing though, I'd add boost. But Timing I suppose will work. Keep an eye on the boost level, as the rpms crest 4000 you'll probably see it drop anyway.

For me the perfect scenario is involves a dual stg boost controller so that daily driving doesn't even require the extra injection, whether it be water injection or intercooler spray. But flip it to high boost and you can safely increase the boost 4-5 psi easy with water injection. If you have a variable spray water/alcohol injection kit, you can add 10+ psi of boost without the need to retard the timing since the octane level is so high with Alky, Meth or E85.

[ZiG]

Yeah, I don't really see much point in trying to up the boost on a t25 when it falls off after 4000 anyway. Having a MBC set to 12 psi won't do anything if you're not even making the 7.2 needed to open the stock wg.

Now I need to decide if I want to pursue the water-air intercooler, or the water injection first. Hmmmm....

[WDRacing]

Well, I'd do the water injection first, since you can piece together a kit and install it and tune it in one day. Then get a used SMIC from a MKIV supra if you can and make that into a air/water cooler. I suggest the Supra IC because it flows alot of air.

WD

[ZiG]

Ok, fair enough. I guess I'm still a little scared of the idea, but that hasn't stopped me so far.

Supra intercooler, eh? I guess it would have to flow pretty well considering what it's on. I'll look for one, thanks for the tip.

(Oh, by the way, is there some ideal target manifold air temperature I should be shooting for? like anyhting under x*f or x + outside temperature or something?)

[WDRacing]

I couldn't say off hand...

[Jookmasta]

i was looking into one of the NOS N-tercooler setups but the funds weren't there at the moment. seems like it could work but would only be suited for situations where u think u would be running ur car for long periods of time............aka u attend ALOT of track days, auto x, etc. my issue is the length of ss line required and the costs but i'm definitely keeping my eye for a used setup at the right price..............

[neverlift]

Yeah, I don't really see much point in trying to up the boost on a t25 when it falls off after 4000 anyway. Having a MBC set to 12 psi won't do anything if you're not even making the 7.2 needed to open the stock wg.

....

remember I said in theory! personally I DONT have an issue boosting over 7.2 after 4k! I have my wastegate arm extended some so its more of a 4~5psi wastegate(open at no/low boost ,so it opens more for less boost), I have my boost source after my IC for my mbc/wastegate. I had it turned up to 10psi like this no problem cept me getting skerd for my injectors , other than that all was good, boost spiked to about 11 then went to 10psi steady till redline. Maybe a worn turbo would not do this(mines in very good condition).

[ZiG]

Eh, mine's...pretty good. Doesnt blow oil, no shaft play, etc. I was also looking at the datalogs from my recent dyno run and noticed my 370s are topping out at 82% duty cycle. I think you're supposed to try to keep it below 80, so I think I'd need to invest in a set of 550s first. heh.

[neverlift]

your stressing 82% IDK what to tell yah lmk what you want for them I will say I've been beating the **** out of mine at uber high pressure ,with pretty long dutycycles(IDK exact but I'm running 8.5psi on 270's) for like 1000 miles(stoped counting at 800) when you hit 90 I say upgrade, I'd try an adjustable fpr and up the base psi 10# make them flow over 400cc..... 43 to 50 would get you 395

[ZiG]

Well not really stressing, just being aware of it. But yeah, first the fuel pressure goes up, then I upgrade.

[S13HatchKa24DET]

I don't think anyone mentioned it, but why not run a CO2 spray or if you want to spend a couple more dollars go for NO a little colder? You could easily make a system out of parts from an older paintball gun. You just need a regulator, CO2 tank, trigger, tube with holes for it to spray out of. You could just spray the intercooler down before ever run. The intercooler would be remain cold for a little while, long enough for a run. Just an idea.

[chad_KAT]

it sounds like a great idea but at the same time its not

I don't think anyone mentioned it, but why not run a CO2 spray or if you want to spend a couple more dollars go for NO a little colder? You could easily make a system out of parts from an older paintball gun. You just need a regulator, CO2 tank, trigger, tube with holes for it to spray out of. You could just spray the intercooler down before ever run. The intercooler would be remain cold for a little while, long enough for a run. Just an idea.

Depending on how its used. I have seen heat soaked IC's crack from being shocked from going from so hot to sooo cold too fast. I dont think its a good thing unless its a full race car with a cold ic to start with. just from my experiences because iv had the same ideas.