water to air intercoolers

julian · Post by **julian** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 7:24 pm

I am addicted to keeping cars cool and would like to fit an intercooler to my new ea82t powered soob before the adelaide summer starts. Not a big fan of chopping into bodywork (ie roof scoop) so would like to know if there is anyone out there that has any advice on water to air intercoolers, or knows o people in adelaide to talk to.

MUDRAT · Post by **MUDRAT** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 7:41 pm

Can't offer much advice based on personal experience but ARE might be able to help.

Liquid-to-air intercooler will always have a higher heat transfer rate (that is Watts per square metre) than air-to-air.

Cozmo · Post by **Cozmo** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 8:28 pm

get one off an rs liberity / legacy, (i picked one up for $50 from a mate here in nz), prerad cost me $20 from another mate, just need a pump and some piping now to get it all going.

youll need to get a few things fabricated (pipe or two, or you could just use intercooler hose) to connect it all up to the turbo / existing throttle.

other than that, yeh pretty simple. great results i hear... (stil havnt done it myself lol)

mattw · Post by **mattw** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 6:56 pm

yeah, as Cozmo just said, an RS lib intercooler will do the trick. I'm getting bits together to do it myself. in Adelaide, you can get bits and advice from Subareck (main north road) and steve_rising_sun is no end of help for suby fans (main north road / grand junction road intersection)
the water to air cooler is a good approach as it doesn't need a scoop (hole in the bonnet) or long piping to front mount, and keeps the inlet tract short (keeps lag to a minimum). I'm getting some mandrel bends tomorrow and some pressure pipe or silicone joins to hook it all up. I'll let you know how it goes and pass on what I have discovered.

Suby Wan Kenobi · Post by **Suby Wan Kenobi** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 10:49 pm

As alreadt said use the RS liberty one. There are already some holes that tha pump bracket will bot to under the guard and you will only have to enlarge the hole the AC pipes run through to run the water hoses through. You will also need some extra hose as the steel pipes of the liberty will have to run close to body and you will need longer connecting hoses. The mounting of the radiator is straight forward it fits to the drivers side (with AC) or in the middle without drill 2 holes big enough to take the locating lugs on the base of the IC. You will need to trim back the rear of the grill and remake the bonnet release stay to allow room for the IC radiator.

subanator · Post by **subanator** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 11:23 pm

Looking at doing the same for mine, sussed out a Legecy WAIC and equlivalent radiator for $200 from a wrecker. What have you guys been paying for them in SA? Complete or part only?
I was advised also if using an alternative radiator to be around 5/8 hose size, and not to use aircon evaporators as they will overheat the WAIC.

Suby Wan Kenobi · Post by **Suby Wan Kenobi** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 11:28 pm

With an EA82T there is no need to put in a larger Radiator. 5/8 hose is the stuff. I paid $150 with everything about 3 years ago

subanator · Post by **subanator** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 11:36 pm

I meant the radiator/cooler for the WAIC, refering if it doesnt come with one, possibly a small radiator of a little car etc?
Just trying to find a complete setup is hard to find due to front-cuts being damaged etc.

mattw · Post by **mattw** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 7:42 pm

yeah, $200 isn't bad, but I'd be trying to get the water pump and anything else you can get in the deal. got mine cheap from a former RX driver, (now in an rs lib). It came with a motorbike rad, but I think fitting it will be problematic, as the pipes are at 90 degrees so stick out. Not sure on its thermal capacity, but its off a 250cc, so should be ok. I got my mandrel bends today, and Mr Pirtek is getting some hose to use (who needs blue silicone rated at 5 bar). the only thing is a reduction piece for the I/C outlet (over $50 for a Turbosmart piece to suit)
The only complication on tubing is that most exhaust shops use (and most sizes in general are) imperial, which doesn't help when 3 of the 4 ends are straight metric (50mm, 60mm, 70mm) but its easy enough to go back to the exhaust shop and get them to expand the ends as needed.

julian · Post by **julian** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 8:27 pm

Having thoughts about this setup.
I have found a full setup from and RS liberty as advised, but is it actually worth doing? Power gains are not my primary concern (although there are evil thoughts scheming in the back of my mind), is it worth doing to prolong longevity of my motor, especially as longish runs and a bit of light(ish) 4wdriving are on the cards.
If anyone with experience of intercooling ea82t's can offer their two cents it would be greatly appreciated.

Julian

mattw · Post by **mattw** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 8:39 pm

have you ever felt how hot the inlet gets after driving on the open road, or a bit of work? worth it? absolutely, power wise and for longevity. my greatest fear is pinging my pistons in half.....

julian · Post by **julian** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 9:18 pm

thanks matt PM sent.

any other opinions?

schultzie · Post by **schultzie** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 7:25 pm

yes this mod is worth it... i found that after an up hill stint at hightway speeds my intake temp rose to 90+ degrees but on the flat it has been as low as 45deg,and with the waic this will be constantly around 30+ and for offroad it will be excellent... they take ages to heat up and cool down quickly... worthy investment.

julian · Post by **julian** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 7:48 pm

Bought myself a complete setup from an RS liberty today (pump, rad, cooler) and with some priceless advice from matt (ta) i will hopefully have it fitted in a week or two.
Anybody got any advice about control mechanisms/flow rates for the pump or any other advice for fitting?

schultzie · Post by **schultzie** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 8:14 pm

yeha im intereted in this as well as the controll methods go.

also those who get an RS pump pull it apart and give it a clean... aparently in systems that arent well maintained they get clogged up with goop... so by cleaning them u fix problems lol..

BaronVonChickenPants · Post by **BaronVonChickenPants** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 8:36 pm

Apparently the best way to control the water system is have the pump switched on and off by a 35ish degree thermostatic switch in the throttle body.

Even without the pump the IC will cool the intake air and is not really necessary untill you start driving hard with a lot of boost.

Jordan.

Fury · Post by **Fury** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 9:23 am

Mine was on perminantly with the ignition, ( was too slack to wire up a thermo switch)
You wont regret doing this mod, and the peace of mind it gave me to increase the boost pressure was certainly worth it.

.. It just sux that when everything seems to be working well, that something as simple as an old radiator hose can give you grief, instead of the care and attention you give to protecting your investment.

Ah well, the new EJ was still a good choice after that little episode, but still playing with it ( as we all seem to do

)

Craigus · Post by **Craigus** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 10:51 am

. It just sux that when everything seems to be working well, that something as simple as an old radiator hose can give you grief, instead of the care and attention you give to protecting your investment.

I know your pain ...

mattw · Post by **mattw** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 1:41 pm

I've got a few pics of my install, if anyone can put them up for me......
Once they're up I'll give a bit of an outline.

schultzie · Post by **schultzie** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 5:59 pm

Ok the Rs setup runs 5v to the pump off boost, and when boost is on then it runs 12v to it,
so go to JayCar get a 12v/24v regulator (one of the ones you can vary the voltage) i got the 2A one i figured it the pump would not use even this much but at least it won be overloaded. now this is there is gets tricky, you will need to set up 2 relays (one will need to be 5pin) one to run it off the Accessorie power (5v) and then to activate with a boost switchset at 0psi or temp at 60deg to then give you 12v for the pump...

i have not set this up yet but when i do i will draw the diagrams for future reference.

hopefully i will get this all done in the next 2 weeks, am sick of spark breaking up when on boost (only seems to do it when the inlet temp gets above 80deg) but will also close the gap up as well

For those who will go down the thermostat route will the unit be able to go in the air intake (after intercooler) or is there an spesfic adjustable ait temp switch that you could use.

Another thing after watching my intake temp a fair lot of late i have found that under light load the air temp has been sitting at 55deg/ 45 if it is cold, but as soon as boost comes along it will rise to 75 and depending on how long you are on boost for i have seen mine reach as high as 98deg this was up a long hill and 22 deg day... and when we drove the car back from sydney it generally sat on 95 deg (temp 35deg). this is all with out the WAIC, so from this im going to take a gamble that you would want to set it at about 50deg,

but now i think about it the above wont work is the air temp switch is after the WAIC... so if it is before then it will all be good.

(NOTE: if you are running an after market ecu and have the air temp sensor in your intake manafold the it will need to go after the waic so that the ecu will see the colder intake temp and apply the correct fuel settings for it.)

Sorry for the rant but i hope it will help...

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water to air intercoolers

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