I was browsing, and found several articles showing how effective intercooling is on a supercharged engine. So, I started looking into intercoolers. Well, now I have more questions than before. What kind should I use. Air/air, air/water, or water/methanol injection system? The water/methanol injection system is supposedly good to 30psi boost, far more than I will go.It also looks to be one of the easist to install. Can anyone give me feedback on any of these? It will be on a Cadillac flathead.
How much benefit you get from intercooling depends on how much boost you're making, type of blower, etc. For a low boost application it's not worth the effort. Over 10 psi, yeah....
Intercoolers are used to intake cool air making the boosted air more dense preventing detonation. Water to air and air to air coolers do the same job, just cost and efficacy will vary. Water Meth injection cool the combustion camber temps. This is a dangerous and dark art that in most of my experience, you will end up with a broken ring glad or a hole in a piston Forced induction is never a reliable modification using carbies. 30psi is very adventuresome on a flat head caddy ( and on most engine for that matter ), but if its hold should be a **** load of fun
Flattie, water/methanol is a great way to go. Don't know how you'd put a hole through a piston with water though.... Water/methanol is good to any boost range. I've put them on diesel pullers making over 100 psi of boost. Most system are progressive and reference boost. If you're making low boost (less than half a bar) I'd just use a simple non-progressive on/off type system. Not to divulge too much info I happen to do water/methanol stuff for a living so shoot me any questions you might have.
Water to air would work good because you can put the intercooler almost anywhere. Air to air intercoolers are usually in the front of the vehicle and will require more piping. How much boost do you plan on running? I don't do much with meth injection, but i hear you should have a fail safe. When you expect the meth to be working and its not, that is when you break stuff. edit: Also there are different types of air/air intercoolers such as bar and plate, and tube and fin. big long read here about air/air intercoolers if your are up for it. http://www.are.com.au/techtalk/intecoolersMR.htm sorry about the hard to read colors, not my site.
You can also spray nitrous on your intercooler. It's the same as spraying water on your intercooler, but more efficient (colder). The import guys do it all the time. Cooling the intake charge to decrease detonation (forced induction's worst enemy) is not the only benefit. Cooling the charge makes it more dense (smaller) which means you can cram more air into the combustion chamber. Add more gas to that equation and that equals more power. It's the same thing the supercharger(/turbo) does. Now a nitrous tank in your trunk and an intercooler under the hood or behind the grill isn't exactly "traditional", but who cares? I'd love to see a blown and intercooled flathead caddy! I used to have an off topic twin turbo and I love the whoosh of the turbos spooling and the phsssshh of the blow off valve! Not to mention the sound of the six with straight through 4 3/4" exhaust piping. I was only running right at 1 bar of boost (14 1/2 psi), but it was enough to make my pants fit funny. But I digress...
air/air is my choice. I have all three and the air/air is easiest. The theory is pressure creates heat so the charge air is heated from being compressed. Hot air is less dense, less o2 per cubic foot. Water/meth injection works but the tank is always needing filled again. I run water/meth with air/air bar and plate ic. water/air may be the best from my experience. I kinda cheat tho. I run ice in the water tank and I can get the water temp to 35*. I run 150psi on a compound setup and air temps never get over 150* on the pressure side. The cost of a nice w/a cooler is huge.
Lots of good advice here, but I want more on your set up. Are we talking a belt driven supercharger or an exhaust driven turbocharger? How much boost? Race car or street car? I agree with Squirrel, under 10 psi is a waste of time and effort.
I guess I should have given more details. It is a belt driven blower, with the target boost being 12-14lbs. It will primarily be a street car, that I will occasionally take to the drags. It is port injected, no carbs.
I'm not familar with how you would use an air-to-air IC with a traditional belt-driven blower that sits on top of the intake. Anything is possible not everything is practical. A water/meth box would be easier in that case but might not be really necessary for your boost levels. But don't get me wrong, it would definitely help. For a VORTECH unit that is driven by a fan-belt or serpentine accessory drive belt, you can easily add an air/air IC and at those boost levels, that's all you really need.
I have a supercharged non HAMB friendly Pontiac V6. I've run a water cooled intercooler that sat under the SC. Basically they cut two billet aluminum halves with a heater core between with a radiator up front and an electric pump to run coolant through it. Then the SC bolts went through the blower and the IC core. In Austalia they have an air to air set up for a roots blower but I don't remember how it was set up. This is small M90 stuff. I think air to air would be better if you can find one that would work with your set up. I know on my GN the air ro air works great.
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