Intercooler upgrade or clean and improve efficiency ....

[Twinturbo]

Since I don't have the time to go onto a turbo upgrade atm I've decided to work on a more efficient intercooler setup, I'm tossing up straightening fins flush/clean the fins and core and setup a low parasitic amp draw fan to help draw air into the top section of the intercooler and help with efficiency while standing still, anyone got any experience doing any maintainance like this or mods to help keep the efficiency optimum? So far I have sourced 50% larger Apexi intercoolers in stock location yet there is bugger all room in there as is so I'll see if a viable upgrade is possible and keep it looking oem otherwise I'll have to go down the maintainance route and add a fan to help draw and let u guys know the before and after temps and photos ect. But yeah still interested in if anyone has done anything along these lines before? I live in a hot climate so intercoolers are vital to reliable power and longevity

 

[Boomerang_GT]

I personally don't believe electric fans would help much since they wouldn't improve the airflow that much in times when it's really needed and that's at high speeds.
I could do some improvements last year when I had the front bumper down. From looking at the intercoolers I could see that one third was blocked with dirt and this after only 40k miles. Mainly in the upper part that doesn't get that much air anyway.
Then I noticed that the gap between the intercooler and the air duct was too big. Later versions have this area sealed with rubber foam tape. So that's what I did too. I would say this improved efficiency by at least 30%
But a real upgrade would be necessary in my opinion. I was thinking of two additional straight intervoolers in the front that continue from the oem intercoolers and end on the opposite side in the exit of the other oem intercooler.

 

[hukent]

Cold water spray, intercoolers love cold dense air..................

 

[Twinturbo]

I personally don't believe electric fans would help much since they wouldn't improve the airflow that much in times when it's really needed and that's at high speeds.
I could do some improvements last year when I had the front bumper down. From looking at the intercoolers I could see that one third was blocked with dirt and this after only 40k miles. Mainly in the upper part that doesn't get that much air anyway.
Then I noticed that the gap between the intercooler and the air duct was too big. Later versions have this area sealed with rubber foam tape. So that's what I did too. I would say this improved efficiency by at least 30%
But a real upgrade would be necessary in my opinion. I was thinking of two additional straight intervoolers in the front that continue from the oem intercoolers and end on the opposite side in the exit of the other oem intercooler.

There is such minimal room in the stock location there's no room to improve size without major modifications, I'll be looking into room for another inline one but that won't be easy having 2 of everything from both sides but if there's room I think it would be a great idea I wouldn't mind a bit of extra lag too to be honest , the inlet hole size to the oem coolers is a 1/4 of its size too which isnt ideal

 

[mjheathcote]

Cold water spray, intercoolers love cold dense air..................

Yes, adiabatic cooling, used in industry on cooling water radiators when the ambient air temperature gets high, also used in motorsport, I can remember the Ford RS500 for one.
How about changing the intercoolers for water chargecoolers instead.
Direct water injection also.
Lots of options.

 

[Twinturbo]

Cold water spray, intercoolers love cold dense air..................

Was thinking of this but then thought if it drips a bit out on road and hits the back tyres it could create a negative also would drips straight under fronts, I'm still searching for a spot for another inline cooler atm, water to air intercooler would work but at a lot of expense and engineering looking for another radiator and pump ect, looking for reversible simple solutions first

 

[mjheathcote]

It's such a fine spray I don't think i would worry about any skid risk.

 

[Twinturbo]

It's such a fine spray I don't think i would worry about any skid risk.

If I can’t find a way to add I’ll go down the spray route and can always make a drainage system ect, I have found a spot for an intercooler now Though just gotta figure out how I’m gonna plumb the whole lot and still use the stockers without making it look too much like a bowl of spaghetti

 

[hukent]

Try this.................

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmzLaaFQjiQ

 

[voicey]

if it drips a bit out on road and hits the back tyres it could create a negative also would drips straight under fronts

It's for this exact reason you should never use your windscreen/headlight washer jets when driving fast.

 

[CatmanV2]

It's for this exact reason you should never use your windscreen/headlight washer jets when driving fast.

Umm, seriously? Fast being what?

C

 

[mjheathcote]

Umm, seriously? Fast being what?

C

He's not been serious, I hope!

 

[CatmanV2]

He's not been serious, I hope!

I hope not, too. I trust him, though

C

 

[Twinturbo]

Plumbing diagram , was trying to avoid joining with y adapters and possibly causing bottlenecks so keeping seperate the whole way seems like the safest for flow,this is one idea enough to cool 1000hp so more than a supplementary upgrade and extensive cutting and pipe work required,I've cleaned the stock intercoolers and fin straightened them by degreasing outside and inside, compressed air blowing bugs and debris out of fins and washing the outside so the aluminium contacts air for better cooling instead of having an insulting oil and dirt layer minimal impact on performance but a great maintainance job to do,just gotta do further measuring to make sure this is achievable and then order all the parts required.

 

[mjheathcote]

With all that additional plumbing isn't there then a problem with pressure drop and potential air leaks with the additional joints?

 

[Twinturbo]

Correct on both comments MJ, but hear me out a bit Our turbos ihi variable
Vein ball bearing turbos are quite well equipt and robust so I’d say we are already experiencing a pressure drop of around 2psi and what I’m going to add will probably add that again but this also means I can run lower boost and create the same power so the engine psi to power ratio will be improved and I think significantly , aftermarket chips boost stock turbos up to 17-18psi on the stock intercoolers which would already be struggling at 15psi on a sustained pull on wot so by me adding extra pressure drop and running a lower boost should be equivant to chipping it on the turbo side but the engine won’t see anywhere near the temp
And boost required to make that additional power that’s my goal , and yes there’s greater chance of leaks but I’ll be going newer silicone hoses all round with superior t clamps and trust me when you get an intercooler pipe leak it’s very rarely small
If ever it will blow off completely so it a case of leak or none, small psi leaks are almost exclusively from vacuum hoses gaskets
Or cracked rubber intercooler joins from my experience. Please Don’t shoot me down for style ,choice or modifying I have an issue I just need to tinker with my cars but I’ll show you a couple of pics anyway of my lotus I did including a custom air to air intercooler system
I made in engine bay as it came intercooler less , it was a triple welded core force fed cold air by an electric supercharger from outside and straight onto the intake manifold for extra cooling it netted a drop of 40 degrees Celsius in summer and worked quite well apart from additional lag of course

Before and after pics of what the lotus looked like not my exact car but exact look
Purists will vomit but we are all different and I like to customise my cars for me, since I do all the work myself and keep all stock parts I can always undo it all apart from that rear window which blocked all rear visibility but buyers always decide to keep as is so I’m lucky so far not having to undo it all

 

[mjheathcote]

Yes can see that cooler temps offset the reduction in boost due to the pressure drop with the extra plumbing/intercooler.
Adding an intercooler to the Esprit was certainly a good idea, didn't realise the early ones didn't have one.
My dad had a S4s that was chargecooled, still in the family currently owned by my brother in law.

 

[Twinturbo]

Slight update while I wait for parts I decided to do some basic testing on the stock intercooler setup I thoroughly cleaned one intercooler and sealed the ducting this included straightening all fins blowing out debris and degreasing as much internal oil from intercooler as I could do then blowing it out again after this pic is only half the oil
And dirt that came out of 1 intercooler on my car that has done 96,000kms

Note most the liquid is high octane petrol used to clean out internals

Ambient temp 28.7c
Temps are taken once settled on idle straight after not peaks as too erratic to calculate on my own while driving sorry guys
Once car got warm enough I did 2 light runs from 60-100kph 17psi
50 turbo outlet
36 right clean intercooler
38 left intercooler


Heavy 3 runs from 60-140kph 17psi
76 turbo outlet
48 right intercoolerclean
50 dirty intercooler

Heatsoak
80
54 left dirty intercooler
50 right clean intercooler

Looks like cleaning the intercooler and sealing the shroud had some minimal benefits in cooling

 

[Tamariini]

Since I don't have the time to go onto a turbo upgrade atm I've decided to work on a more efficient intercooler setup, I'm tossing up straightening fins flush/clean the fins and core and setup a low parasitic amp draw fan to help draw air into the top section of the intercooler and help with efficiency while standing still, anyone got any experience doing any maintainance like this or mods to help keep the efficiency optimum? So far I have sourced 50% larger Apexi intercoolers in stock location yet there is bugger all room in there as is so I'll see if a viable upgrade is possible and keep it looking oem otherwise I'll have to go down the maintainance route and add a fan to help draw and let u guys know the before and after temps and photos ect. But yeah still interested in if anyone has done anything along these lines before? I live in a hot climate so intercoolers are vital to reliable power and longevity

I cleaned mine this weekend and it was time well spent! intercoolers were almost completely clogged with dirt...

 

[rockits]

I know there are upgraded charge cooler mods that the AMG guys often do on the 5.5 V8 supercharged motors. You can get heatsoak really quickly on these when running a few burst of full throttle. I suffered badly from it at Llandow last time in the E55K.

They have split systems with a new upgraded cooler but with cold cooling from a container in the rear boot. I am guessing cold or refrigerant based cooling. Many guys into gaming do it on their graphics cards as well. Maybe liquid nitrogen?