alistairolsen

I know most people play the safe route and fit a “large” intercooler and then never have a problem again, but say you were strapped for space and therefore had to choose carefully, what size of cooler is adequate for 400bhp?

Which dimension is most important, the frontal area or the thickness?

How much does the radiator suffer from being behind an intercooler?

Cheers!

Stu @ M Developments

iTrader: (12)

We would need more details to answer this really as it depends on the application.

As an example:

• An M5 with no turbo does 400bhp with no intercooler.
• A Sapphire YB with 400bhp on a T34 needs a big cooler as it heats the air a lot.
• A Sapphire YB with 400bhp on a T4 doesn't need as big an intercooler as it doesn't heat the air as much.

So we need to know more about the application we are discussing to be more specific as your havent told us which car or engine let alone turbo.

Chip

iTrader: (3)

IIRC Stu was making 380bhp on his old saff on a standard 4wd cooler, given how similar your application is to a YB, and given the shape of the 4wd cooler (its quite thick which means it doesnt have to be massively high or wide) and given its availability cheaply secondhand (30-40 quid) I would say that was an excellent place to start.

ybturbo

If it is for a sapphire I run 400 bhp with the stock 4wd intercooler T3/4 but I also run water injection depending on air temp/pressure of the charge air. I can't put bigger intercooler because I will have to loose the A/C since I got allready a big Pace alloy radiator. Hope this will help...

alistairolsen

2.3l 5 cylinders, 91 stroke, 81 bore

Gt30, high flow exhaust manifold, but still cast and not equal length.

n/a oe spec cams

front mounted intercooler mounted inline with main water radiator due to lack of space, available frontal are less than 400x400.

aiming to make 300ftlbs torque relatively flat and hold it to just shy of 7krpm.

There will be some pressure drop due to longish boost pipework which might cause the turbo to work a little harder than usual.

cheers!

Graceland

Its all good and well quoting numbers and figures, but you STILL havn't answered the basic question of "what engine"

Chip

iTrader: (3)

What more info does anyone need than this mate?

Its from a volvo T5 though if that helps you at all.

Graceland

With it being 5 pots I had guessed at a Volvo of some description Chipper, but it's nice to know all the same what the car is aswell as the engine - some people on here arn't technical minded and would see the engine size, cylinders, bore and stroke as a bunch of random numbers

alistairolsen

t5 wont tell you what car it is, its going in a seven hence the low frontal area and longish boost pipe runs.

Chip

iTrader: (3)

I doubt he wants replies from people who arent technically minded

costina

iTrader: (1)

Really now thats interesting i also have space issues with the tina hence why im using the 4x4 cooler but i'm going to make directional plates to help force the air throu the cooler

Paul

alistairolsen

I was going to say that but I didnt want to look like a cunt!

Chip has no such qualms

costina

iTrader: (1)

Is the lack of space due to it being a kit car of some sorts?

I would suggest one of the many cooler companys but when i tried to get bhp figures out of them they had no idea
one company who supplies the mk1 and 2 cossie conversion could not even tell me any info other than size

hope you find what u need

Paul

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Costina, yes its a 7 rep (think westy or caterham etc)

Rs1

iTrader: (1)

Think you gonna have to do some of your one testing here dude. Think Chips onto a winner with the 4wd cos cooler idea, they cheap enough for you to try and bin if its no good.
Wit regards to cooler thickness or frontal area preferance wouldn't that depend on how the car is used? I mean if its gonna to see alot of airflow due to continuous high speed runs then you can get away with a thicker cooler whereas in a trackday senario airlfow may be an issue....hence needed a large frontal area??

Chip

iTrader: (3)

400mm wont be wide enough for a 4wd cooler sadly

in fact im not even sure a 2wd one would go in there, if it does then you could always stack two on top of each other and do new end tanks, or get someone like garage19 to if you dont have TIG skills yourself.

Rs1

iTrader: (1)

V mount not an option?

Got any pics of the space in which it all has to go?

wirralphil

Isn't Porkies track car using a 4wd cooler with modified ends?

alistairolsen

hmmm, Have mate who can tig.

4wd cooler is one option, been looking at renault 4 and RST aftermarket jobs on ebay.

IM trying to get a shonky nosecone so i can mock up the available space just now, just curious if I was anywhere close to having enough space or whether Id be stuck with a bonnet vent a scuttle mount or chargecoolr or whatever.

alistairolsen

I got the sizes slightly wrong..

This is the radiator most folk use directly on the front of the chassis:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VOLKSWAGEN-POLO-Mk3-1-05i-1-3i-90-94-RADIATOR-NEW-74918_W0QQitemZ400037466038QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_C arsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM?hash=item5d24174fb6& _trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12%7C66%3A2%7C 39%3A1%7C72%3A1689%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A 1%7C294%3A50

Obviously the nosecone of these sort of cars tapers forward from here.

For coolers id been looking at something like this turned 90 degrees so both hoses come out the top:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Pace-Double-Capacity-Intercooler-Ford-Escort-RS-Turbo_W0QQitemZ220441201722QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_C arsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM?hash=item335351cc3a& _trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12%7C66%3A2%7C 39%3A1%7C72%3A1689%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A 1%7C294%3A50

Or something like this again, turned so outlets are at the top:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/pace-intercooler-from-renault-5-gt-turbo_W0QQitemZ280361584137QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_C arsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM?hash=item4146da4609& _trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12%7C66%3A2%7C 39%3A1%7C72%3A1683%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A 1%7C294%3A50

Both are probably still short on cooling capacity and will block the airflow the the rad a lot!

costina

iTrader: (1)

Try Rally design m8 they have many intercoolers all sizes and there very cheap too

Paul

alistairolsen

that doesnt answer my question of whather the largest off the shelf cooler that will fit in the space will work, or whether I have to do something more novel!

Staffi

iTrader: (1)

Learn something everyday on this site, i NEVER dreamt you could run circa 380bhp on a 4x4 cooler, just goes to show a??

righthooker

long shot , but size wise , i had a xr4i TT conversion many moons ago , to intercooler was narower than cossie but longish, and reminded me of the shape of the front of a "7".
dont know the capabilities but worth a nose around maybe????

Alps Pacino

why not measure the front of the car and then get an intercooler that fits in the space allowed?

Or is that to easy

costina

iTrader: (1)

possibly too easy either that or use a charge cooler set up

As stated before power figures are just a guess and even the experts can't tell you(been there seen it done it on my cortina!)

some of the maltesse cossies run 2 std coolers welded together in ther hot weather and some big bhp too

Paul

alistairolsen

What I dont want to do is spend good money on a cooler to fit the nose
then find out it wont support the power!

Alps Pacino

if you have the biggest cooler possible in the nose and its still not big enough then you need to lower the power to an output it can handle