They (honda) freeze their fuel down to -30deg C before the race.. made me think..

If we spend time and money cooling the AIR going into the engine - why not the fuel????

Surely cooler petrol is denser - and therefore more bang when its squirted cold - same theory as air from the IC.

If it works for MotoGp - why not our cars? is there a market for Pertol Intercoolers????

Is there any mileage (excuse pun) in this idea or has it been done to death?

Jza

 

actually optimum charge temperature for atomisation is supposed to be 40 degrees c.

cooling the fuel is fine as it gets heated in the pumps and the rails, but I can't imagine there will be an enormous difference on a road car that we need to start worrying about such things.

 

Fuel coolers are used in some cases. Apparently hot fuel can be a cause of detonation. High flow pumps can also cause the fuel to heat up. You can buy a pump controller that slows the pump, during easy use, to extend pump life, and to stop the fuel heating.
I dont know what sort of temperatures are regarded as hot, but the fuel on my car certainly does heat up.
Range rover 4.6 have a temp sensor fitted to the fuel rail as standard, so they must have been concerned about fuel temperature also.

Although completely different, old diesels had usually heated the fuel. I recently seen 2 modern diesel cars, BMW 320d, and a VW Polo 1.4 tdi, and both had fuel coolers.
The BMW one was like a very small oil cooler mounted at the front of the car, with air ducted to it. The VW cooler was a very slimline heatsink type, mounted under the car, under the drivers seat.
Either could be very useable.

 

Even at club racing level we kept our fuel at a reasonable tempeature. My Ducati lost 10HP at the wheel if the bike had been out sitting in the sun! IMHO I think it would work out more expensive than just trying to get the intake charge to a lower temp?

 

I had a similar system on my supercharged Ford Mustang. It helped me get in the 10's at the strip. I might invest in some of this stuff after my swap is done.
http://www.subarustore.com/deicry02taan.html

 

Fitting a cooler wouldnt cost that much. I simple cooler in the return/low pressure line, should keep teh ful in teh tank fairly cool, as it does circulate at quite a high rate.
A cooler in the supply line would be a bit more awkward to fit, but probably a better job, cooling the fuel before it gets to the fuel rails. I see no reason why a small oil cooler wouldnt do the job.
Or even an AC core, if it flowed well enough. Some are big, some are small.. In some of the american catalogues there are a variety of coolers, for fuel, oil, trans fuild. All could be used

But what sort of temp is too hot ???