Which do you prefer?

When i will eventually look towards a turbo for whatever car I will get, I think I'll go for a water based one.

I can run higher boost with a lower intake charge.I get a pretty constant intake temp.I don't have to run with a big hole in my bumperNo one will want to steal my FMIC. (or car)

It can be more expensive though, but not my a ton.Water or Air?

So how are you gonna keep the water cool? Ice? Another radiator? Seems like alot of hastle. Would be sweet though. A/W intercoolers are marvelously efficient.

Oil cooler's radiator which can be hidden justa bout anywhere.

The Water doesn't get constantly heated since the turbo only spews out mass amounts of heat and air during WOT. All other times the water gets a chance to cool.

Instead of cooling air with air, you are cooling air with water, which in turn you are cooling with air. What's the point of going through more than one medium inbetween, when your final cooling source, is air in any case? The air/water IC plumbing and routing issues are more complicated, and the setup is heavier (due to another ~1-2 gallons you'll be routing in addition to the radiator). The water setups are usually used when air to air intercooling is impossible/inefficient; due to space constrictions or engine design. Our cars provide ample space and ability for air to air intercooling. Water intercooling is efficient the first few minutes (if that) of use on the track, and then it becomes just as good as your radiator, which as you know is REALLY hot when you touch it after having the car on for a while. This is why it is more often used in cars which require large (but short) bursts of cooling, i.e. drag cars, where ice can be added to the water tank, to provide for very efficient (but shortlived cooling). The water gets heated anytime you are under anty kind of boost, obviously the more you're boosting, the hotter things get, but it does get quite hot even if you are not mashing the pedal, but just simply making the turbo push some amount of air into the engine. This is not to say that it shouldn't be done under any circumstances other than drag, but just that to make a air to water IC system work for our 240s will require quite a bit more effort and money, in order to equal/surpass currently available air to air intercooling options. If you do decide to go through with it, good luck and keep us updated.

sil80

Well GMC had down with the syclone/typhoon. They used a bilge pump and tapped the radiator for coolant. GMC also used a relay to turn the pump on at a certain temp and then turn back off after intake temp was lowered. Most of the Syclone boys use a bigger bilge pump from Walmart like one to pump water out of a boat and they lose the relay so the pump comes on with ignition.

you made some good points sil80.

If you will be drag racing the air to water would give you a great advantage over air to air.

For street driving you have to weigh the simplicity and cheaper price of the air to air against the consistency and shorter pipe run in many cases of the air to water.

For top speed highway duty with the constant high air flow the air to air wants it would be the obvious choice.

I would go with air to air. Like TMS said, if your not drag racing and aren't going to use ice water then there isn't any cooling advantage.

However, if you use a FMIC with a N2O spray or Cryo spray your charged air will be extremely cold and effective. This will allow for a colder denser charge as well as being able to run more boost.

WD

WERDUP. Spraying the IC is prolly the best idea since sliced bread... and silicone implants.

sil80

I would do a Air/water just because I can have MUCH, MUCH shorter IC piping for better response, I would put it where the stock airbox is, have the compressor outlet attach directly to it and then it's just 1 pipe straight over to the TB.

The only thing is that I don't want to have to deal with all the other stuff, water reservoir, small rad, pump, PITA.

If there was a way that I could mount a air/air IC there where the airbox is, and box it in from the heat of the engine bay, and have a scoop or something getting air to it, I would do that.

why r u so set on avoiding the front mount? if ur afraid of getting things stolen, well, put an alarm into the car, or rent a garage, or do something, because the best bet for performance as of right now for the s13 is an FMIC, no matter how u look at it, when not dragging. The shorter piping of a side mount/water to air is a small benefit compared to high efficiency and ease of installation/use of the FMIC. There is a reason you don't see people use the water to airs' more often, when they don't have to. And the often occurrence of the upgrade from sidemount to front mount., also has some logic to it. That reason is the efficiency of air to air intercooling, and the comparatively smaller headache you will have to deal with, with air to air. Sorry I sound a little ticked, but... come on, just cuz it sounds cool doesn't mean it's the best way to cool down air for the turbo.

sil80

air to water for a street car is to consuming unless you dont have any room for a fmic. I agree with you sil, nothing as simple and as affective as a fmic.

I prefer a good air-to-air for simplicity, but I wouldn't rule out water-to-air. It has it's merits. Even aside from using ice to get 100% efficiency levels. FMIC's tend to airflow to the radiator. Small radiators will fit almost anywhere and you can even use multiple small radiators. Should be able to get better efficiency than a small SMIC, particularly at higher boost levels. Water is a great heat exhange medium and would not be as bad as one might think.

As far as N20 or cryo sprays, I'd prefer a simpler water spray. Not that they dont have their merits, but If I'm going to spray N20, I might as well spray it into the motor. Water is cheap and easy to find. And has great heat absorbtion properites as it evaporates.

i prefer jelly to peanut butter cooling... very efficient at making me drool.

sil80

I guess a water sprayer that used ice water would work ok. I'm still a big fan of Cryo and N20. For cooling and internal injection.Maybe a liquid container that incorporated dry ice and water...that would cool things off a bit.

WD