Intercooler/intake charge cooling

[Bob1770]

Has anyone here tried one of the systems designed to spray Co2 onto your intercooler or intake air piping for cold intake charge? I was searching for ideas about this(I brew beer and use Co2 to carbonate) because I know how Co2 can cool things down. I found one company that specializes in this type of thing but it the expense is comparable to NOS++! I think I can build a comparable system for less than 1/2 the cost of theirs. It would contain your OVC pipe inside of a larger pipe wich would be injected with with Co2, then discharge the Co2 onto your intercooler or intake manifold. Co2 is cheaper to fill than NOS and you wouldn't have to add additional fuel as with NOS injected into your intake. Thoughts??

[propeine]

im not seeing the resoning for having a larger pipe over your OVCP but the CO2 sprayed on the intake manifold or on the intercooler (actually called entercooling i believe) works wonders on 3000gt's so I can't see why it would do any less on our cars.

 

Tom

[MainstreaM]

see the new turbo magazine they test one on a buick GN.

 

Kane

[artinist]

there are several kits out there. here are a couple of them with a big range in prices. stupid if you ask me to pay that much money. it very easy to make a kit from stuff you can buy at a paintball store and a nitrous solenoid to control the flow.

 

http://www.intercoolertechniques.com/products.html

 

http://www.nitrousexpress.com/productdispl...101&dealer=

 

 

i had one made myself where i used one of those personal misters they sell at the sport shops. used it to spray a mist of 70% rubbing alcohol on the intercooler and i was using three 5" highspeed computer fans blowing air and thae mist onto the intercooler. it worked very nice. it was not an imediate freeze to be used on a drag race but a constant but effetive long term cooling to be used on a road race track. the mix of alcohol also evaporated very quickly so things wouldnt get wet all around and prevented puddles.

[fast89]

This sounds VERY cool. I am thinking seriously of doing this. Does anyone have any input on building one of these? Like what tools and materials to use and what kind of precautions to use? Should I do the NO2 solenoid? Will it help that much?

 

Now I have to paint my paintball tank to look like a no2 bottle.

 

Thanks,

Mark

[Bob1770]

I have seen several companies offering these systems since my original post. Turbo Magazine states that they come in either Nos or compressed air. Compressed air would be worthless, they meant Co2. I am going to make my own system based on my 5# aluminum Co2 bottle I use for homebrewing. Look around at Co2 systems intended for fish tanks, the solonoids are cryogenic and much cheaper than the ones that are marketed as NOS. Stainless tubing would be the ultimate for the spray bar, but copper would work fine and be much more cost effective. I will cool the OVC pipe and the intercooler in my system. I have absolutely no access to a dyno so I will not be able to report on the actual increases realized by this system. I am very skeptical however of the numbers claimed by the commercial systems on the market. I think that there is a LOT of potential in this concept, but don't piss away your money on a commercial system when you could build one for a fraction of the cost. Co2 bottles and regulators can be found cheap on Ebay, but BEWARE, if the bottle has an expired hydro test date, it should be had for a lot less than one that is current. Your supplier won't refill your bottle until you have it tested and certified safe.  

[Kryten93]

another thing that i saw on one of the nissan bords i used to frequent was this little bugger.

 

http://designengineering.com/cryo2_related_items.html

 

or just the bulb thingy

 

http://designengineering.com/cryo2_cryogenic_air_intake.html  

 

It's a Co2 charged unit that fits this little slip-stream expansion bulb into the path of the intake charge.  what its suposed to do is as the liquid Co2 is fed into it it expands rapidly thus causing the bulbs temp to drop very rapidly thus causing the intake charge to noticeably drop in temp. so place it in the intake post intercooler (its just a random figure here) and with an air temp of say 175 degrees right?

this thingy would drop the intake charge temp another 65ish degrees.

now this is according to their website, so im just quoting their max temp difference...

 

and they say it will work with turbo motors, and after looking at it, it could be bolted on just after or before the B.O.V.

 

will this work here, or am i just smokin some hyped up crack about this cryo bulb thingy?

 

more boost =  more honda killing go-go juice..  

 

if it works is it worth the 300 or so bucks they want for it...

 

 

 

me

 

 

kiwi fruit isnt just for eating it makes an excelent projectile if not a tad pricey..

[mikec]

Good idea in theory.  But when I looked at the web links posted, that bulb looks too darn small to do much of anything.  Turbo boosted air is whipping along at a good fast rate in StarQuests and something that small just isn't going to cool much air.  Look at the size of the StarQuest intercooler: that takes 170 degrees (approx) boosted air and cools it down to within a few degrees of whatever the outside air temp is...  that big thing with all those fins to get a good amount of heat transfer since there is such a large volume of air inside it moving rapidly.  Now look at the size of that "bulb" thingy... even if it's super-super-cold from the CO2 expansion, I can't imagine it "touching" enough air molecules to significantly cool the whole airflow.  I could be wrong; thermodynamics isn't my specialty at all.

 

as I said, my opinion only.  I'd want to see temp measurements while 300 to 600 CFM of turbo-boosted hot air is zinging past that little squirt.

 

mike c.

[Kryten93]

well im also not very sure if the bulb thing sorks..but the intercooler fogger would be a benefit in my opinion. i did some lookingins to about the Co2 system i have this to say in its defense.  pressureized Co2's changes from liquid to gas at positive 1atm is -78.5 degrees Celsius thats about -104 Fahrenheit.  now thats pretty cold to me. granted there isnt much surface area to transfer heat, but we do not know just how large the unit actually is. so i dunno either i say go with the intercooler thing.

 

 

me

 

now does a deaf man hear voices in his head?

[marksweet]

I have heard that Ford was using the AC on it's supercharged truck to cool the air charge and gaining 50 HP.I have a post similar to this one a couple days after this one.

[Boosted_One]

I have seen several companies offering these systems since my original post. Turbo Magazine states that they come in either Nos or compressed air. Compressed air would be worthless, they meant Co2. I am going to make my own system based on my 5# aluminum Co2 bottle I use for homebrewing. Look around at Co2 systems intended for fish tanks, the solonoids are cryogenic and much cheaper than the ones that are marketed as NOS. Stainless tubing would be the ultimate for the spray bar, but copper would work fine and be much more cost effective. I will cool the OVC pipe and the intercooler in my system. I have absolutely no access to a dyno so I will not be able to report on the actual increases realized by this system. I am very skeptical however of the numbers claimed by the commercial systems on the market. I think that there is a LOT of potential in this concept, but don't piss away your money on a commercial system when you could build one for a fraction of the cost. Co2 bottles and regulators can be found cheap on Ebay, but BEWARE, if the bottle has an expired hydro test date, it should be had for a lot less than one that is current. Your supplier won't refill your bottle until you have it tested and certified safe.  

 

 

I inject CO2 into my large fishtank for my plants. CO2 can be purchased ~ $1.00 a pound here.

 

Selenoids an be a little costly. I paid $150 for mine.

 

If your interested check this place out for selenoids for fish tanks... www.petwarehouse.com

 

As you guys well know C)2 is VERY cold out of the bottle. Would make an excellent chiller. Have pondered this idea for years since I have been using CO2 in the fishtank.

[Da_Dex]

CO2 is also a very good extinguishing agent; don't let it get anywhere near your engine air intake!

[artinist]

here is another kit. $300

 

http://www.speednosis.com/products.html

[backslider]

This guy makes homemade kits realitivly inexpensive

 

www.intercoolertechniques.com

[backslider]

He also sells indivdual components

[stiggity]

Yes!

 

I am friends with an outfit, who makes them about 2 houses down from where i work! eheh.. they call them "Inter-Freezers". The guy in charge took his equipment to the SEMA Show, and others, including the Carlise,PA Import Show (Which was almost a riot-in-action). I can get pricing, and availability if anyone is interested. And with CO2, there are a few more "Idea's" floating around here,. that will eventually end up in the Magazines.. So dont think the CO2 "scene" isnt going to fade-out.. eheheh some amazing results...

 

-stiggity

[artinist]

these things are starting to show up everywhere. hyping it up like crazy, like overclocking and having 12 fans on a computer. cryogenic my A$$. I can see ricers spraying this thing inside their intake.

 

http://www.designengineering.com/cryo2_related_items.html

[rjf]

For a really cheap IC cooler you can try an idea that was used in

the early days (60's) for water injection when tubocharging a car.

 

Some folks just had a re-sealable container of water/alcohol mix with

2 tubes into the container.  One tube went to the top and one to the

bottom of the container.  A hose was run from the boost side of the manifold to

the top tube.  Another hose was run from the bottom to the intake side

of the turbo.  When the engine was on boost, pressure going to the

top would force the fluid out the bottom tube.  The more boost, the more

flow.  When off boost, no flow.  The trouble back then is that the water

spray used to cause pitting of the intake impeller; but this same

system could be used to spray fluid onto the outside of an IC.

 

Cheap and easy to build and operate.  Failsafe, no valves, no buttons,

and flow in proportion to the boost.  Even if you run out of fluid the

tubing size is so small very little boost is lost.

[artinist]

this is exactly what i was working on, I was going to use one of those plastic garden pesteside containers for it cause they are thick and can withstand the boost. i sold the car before i completed it. i will do that again on my current car. i like the fact that, there is no pump and dont need a pressure regulator on the liquid line.