GavinP

I am thinking about fitting a fan to the underside of the intercooler to assist pulling air flow through the unit.

I have seen an 8" unit with water-resistant motor, thermostat and mountings for £135 in D*mon Tw**ks.

Has anyone tried this ?

I would think that this would have a positive effect (especially in conjunction with a water spray kit ?) on inlet temperature and would be very beneficial in city traffic.

The only downside I can see is your bonnet scoop is likely to become an insect vacuum cleaner !

Thoughts please...

Thanks

Gavin

Lee

Wasting your time...

why do you think cars moved away from using a fan when moving for the rad..cos a fan can no way be anything like the blast from oncoming air. We still have a fan for when the car is idle to stop overheating of course

firefox

Hello..

If you look at the rating of the intercooler, and perform the calculations that state the required air flow to efficiently operate the intercooler (with air, or water - water is a better disapater of heat), then you will realise that you need a very high CFM rated fan. An 8 inch fan will no where near meet this. Dont forget there isnt any effect at the centre of the fan, and due to the small size of the cooler you will realistically only using about half of its surface area.

Cheers,

J.

ps - Nice concept though. One thing I have noticed on my water spray..... When I go erm...reasonably fast (test track)... The water is sucked out of the scoop...and up the bonnet.

DYNT

Need extra cooling.... go for the Aquamist Water Injection System.

Allows U to run higher boost and more advance ignition timming.

Call 01273 581007 (ERL Ltd.) ..ask for Mr. Richard Lamb.

firefox

Hi there,

I fitted the ERL system myself.... I posted a massive article on it...and comparing it to water spray system I fitted too.

Mail me if would like any info (from a scoob owner - and not the supplier)

J.

jay@c-t-l.co.uk

WESTFIELD

I was also thinking about using a thermostatically controlled fan, not to improve the performance of the intercooler but to reduce the effects of heat soak.
When your sitting stopped in traffic for a while everything under the bonnet gets very hot and natural convection will probably cause hot air to rise through the intercooler on its way through the scoop. This is not a problem in itself as once you get going again the intercooler cools off but it takes time and the density of the inlet charge is initially lower than it could be. I would propose using a series of ducts to remove air from beneath the intercooler and around the turbo area to exhaust beneath the car without impeding normal air flow while the car is moving.

Lee

But why oh why ?

Bob found that the intercooler is very efficient and "recovers" well from running hot.

Surely it would only take a few seconds of forward motion before the heat is dissipated ?

Any anyway, if you're at a standstill in traffic and pull away, why do you want the engine to be optimal straight away ? So you can chuck serveral hundred horsepower into the car infront ?

Tuning is about optimising the car when it is MOVING !

pwebb

zero sports do an electric fan kit for the impreza intercooler -
see:

Anders

David Power refused to sell me a water injection kit.

"I would love to sell you it but it knocks back both the power and torque!"

Hmmmmmmm and from a man that could have extracted money from me!

firefox

Dave Power - In response to Anders comment.

I agree water injection can have an affect on power/torque, but this is minimal compared to the "benefit" you can obtain from it. You are a main delear for ERL and have supplied/fitted this system to several Subaru owners. I think this comment by Anders will now worry and concern other Subaru owners to the fact that they may not need it and that it might be decreasing their power/torque.

In my opinion, it is only required if you are run high boost for sustained periods of time (modified car). I would not think it was required on a standard Impreza. Any comments ?

J.

malique

I agree with firefox - Mr J of MiB. We have to be objective about this.

I have seen the ERL system and it works. In modified cars it appears to bring more benefits than losses. Cars which were running an EGT of 950C-1000C were running at 800C - 850C after installation. Surely this leads to more stable performance. The power losses are marginal and bearable - IMHO, a worthwhile investment to maintain long term engine reliability in a car running so many horses, high boost and torque.

I believe most of the rally teams are running such a system.

Next.

malique.
-village idiot-

GavinP

To provide an update, I have fitted a water spray and thermometer to test inlet temperatures.

The DIY water spray is running from the (flushed) windscreen washer tank and uses some "misting" garden watering system nozzles which cost me under £4 (for six) from Homeb*se. A generic windscreen washer pump (£8) provides the supply.

I have a 94 WRX (series II) which has a slanted intercooler and is known to be fairly inefficient.

I don't know about the later cars but the early intercooler does not cool the air significantly after driving for a few seconds - in fact, it took more than six miles of driving at 40mph+ to cool off.

This is probably due to the cast iron tank leading to the inlet manifold which heats up like a heavy frying pan.

I would suggest that any measures that can be taken to minimise the build-up of heat is a good thing (for earlier cars especially).

The water spray does reduce temperatures by about 5 degrees C for a minute or so. This may be improved by tweaking the way I have set-up the water spray (four jets firing horizontally across from the rubber seal under the scoop)so this is not conclusive.

Has anyone else measured the inlet temperature (on later cars?)

Thanks

Gavin



[This message has been edited by GavinP (edited 08-09-1999).]

firefox

Hi again,

I'm not sure about Subaru WRC cars, but I know Ford WRC cars ran water injection, to be exact they ran a four injector system to minimize temperatures.

ERL produce some monty stuff.....right upto 2000 pound PWM systems, that can link into any ECU can that control extra injectors using PWM signals.

Look at their website for info on some of the cars that use there system - very impressive.

For me - I didnt use it to run higher boost - I installed it for reliability. My car was upgraded over winter - lovely cold weather and I was concerned that as summer arrived the ambient temperature would have a "nasty" affect. Hence the injection system.

J. *MiB* 8)

DYNT

Water Injection(Aquamist) works better then Intercooler spray. It helps directly with cooling the charge air.
At WOT it helps to bring down the HC level cos' less fuel being used to cool down the cylinder block ... on boost.
As for Standard Turbocharge car it does help to safe guard the engine from knocking at high rpm and ECU dumping extra fuel.
Find out more about ECU(How it safe guard the engine) when the engine is hot .... then look into Water Injection on how it help to solve the problem.
Firefox - Subaru/Toyota/Ford WRC/Mitsubishi ..runs water injection.
Malique - Are U using it ??