Intercooling my JRSC....

[cnyej1]

Im completely new to this (My JRSC) but I was sitting down the other night with a buddy talking about there being no real options to intercooling the unit. I brought up the LHT or whatever its called where they cut open the manifold and add in the core. Also about the water injection. My friend asked about like cryogen/No2 or Co2. His idea was to: if there were enough room, to take off the manifold from the actual S/C and see if there was a way to run a piece of metal tubing etc through the top into the manifold then back out the top. This would be connected to Co2 etc and setup in a way where at WOT it would make a spray which would freeze the line and then subsequently cool the incoming air. Has anyone ever tossed around this idea etc? I know a big thing would be to have a good seal between the line and the manifold. But anyone see any problems with this? If this is a stupid idea etc dont be too harsh, like I said im totally new to this. [img]wink.gif[/img] I also mad a quick pic in paint to illustrate my idea.

[mgro]

Welcom to the wonderful world of supercharging! [img]wink.gif[/img]

In itself your idea would be technically feasible; sealing the line to the manifold will be the least of your worries. IMO there are two major design issues:

1) The charge air rushes from the supercharger to the inlet runners in very little time, so the exposure to the cold CO2 line would be very short, and only part of the charge would come close enough to the line to actually be cooled by it. The only realistic way to increase intercooling efficiency is by increasing the surface area, so that all charge air at some point touches a cool surface. The LHT unit does this by means of fins on the pipes carrying the cold water (although its not perfect). You could possibly run CO2 through the same cores the LHT uses, but thats when point 2 comes around...

2) When 1) is sorted, you'd need a -huge- cannister of CO2 to make any sense with this setup (ie being able to run it for some days without refilling). And you need some safety device that prevents you from boosting inadvertently when the CO2 cannister is empty- otherwise your engine will quickly ping itself into oblivion!

All in all, I'd say the only possible advantage to your setup would be that with CO2 you can cool the charge below ambient, allowing even more timing. IMO the disadvantages outweigh these by far. It's not a stupid idea btw; believe it or not but there are guys running the LHT that fill the coolant reservoir with ice blocks before a race!

Originally posted by cnyej1:
Im completely new to this (My JRSC) but I was sitting down the other night with a buddy talking about there being no real options to intercooling the unit. I brought up the LHT or whatever its called where they cut open the manifold and add in the core. Also about the water injection. My friend asked about like cryogen/No2 or Co2. His idea was to: if there were enough room, to take off the manifold from the actual S/C and see if there was a way to run a piece of metal tubing etc through the top into the manifold then back out the top. This would be connected to Co2 etc and setup in a way where at WOT it would make a spray which would freeze the line and then subsequently cool the incoming air. Has anyone ever tossed around this idea etc? I know a big thing would be to have a good seal between the line and the manifold. But anyone see any problems with this? If this is a stupid idea etc dont be too harsh, like I said im totally new to this. [img]wink.gif[/img] I also mad a quick pic in paint to illustrate my idea.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">

[cnyej1]

I was thinking more along the lines of running stock boost with this. Also for the amount of Co2 and running out frequently, I meant to have the Co2 come on only when on wide open throttle (WOT) so therefor you wouldnt be using alot. I mean well for me anyhow I dont drive around all the time flooring my car. [img]graemlins/car.gif[/img]

[Tad3d]

no point in doing anything spiffy if you're just running stock boost.

go up to 10 psi, see how you like it,
if you need more, it's time to start thinking
about clever ways of making more power.

[cnyej1]

Still even with stock boost it would cool the charge and then would it not make more power?

[mgro]

Originally posted by cnyej1:
I was thinking more along the lines of running stock boost with this. Also for the amount of Co2 and running out frequently, I meant to have the Co2 come on only when on wide open throttle (WOT) so therefor you wouldnt be using alot. I mean well for me anyhow I dont drive around all the time flooring my car. [img]graemlins/car.gif[/img]

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">The real gain of intercooling is in the increased timing you can run before detonation sets in, thanks to the cooler charge.

Knowing this, you tune your timing according to the lower air temps. But to prevent detonation you have to guarantee the charge air is always cold. If you only engage the CO2 when you go WOT, the time it'll take to cool the intercooler core itself will be long enough for destruction by detonation.

I'm convinced it won't work unless you find a way to make the cooling instant, like water injection is. If you go to the trouble to put tubes in your manifold please do it right the first time! A closed water circuit is cheaper in the long run and cools all the time. Your car will also run better under vacuum (better throttle response as you can run more agressive timing everywhere).

To answer your other post: I estimate that you can gain on the order of 10-15HP by intercooling at stock boost, but I haven't tried that myself.