I wanted to try a water to air intercooler so I could maintain a stock appearing vehicle yet handle the power I'm beginning to make. The stock sidemount was killing my power up top with 200* F intake temps along with some major heatsoak between pulls and just plain hot iat's during regular driving or stop/go traffic.
I purchased the FrozenBoost kit rated up to 600hp, I must say I'm extremely happy with the results, my iat's stay within 10* of ambient during regular driving even in stop & go traffic. I can make pull after pull or long pulls into 5th gear and the intake temps haven't gone over 135-140*F on an 85* day with temp recovery back to ambient in about 20 seconds. One of the biggest advantages I noticed was that there is nearly zero pressure drop with this setup, I had to lower the boost controller by 10-12psi over the stock intercooler system to keep boost at 18psi. The spool-up time was also reduced approx 400rpm, I'm now hitting full boost (18-20) at 2800rpm with a EvoIII 16G & supporting mods in my profile.
There are a lot of myths about water to air intercoolers such as, "they are only for drag strip use" but if you build a water circulated system with a dedicated heat exchanger (radiator), electric fan & intercooler core that are sized accordingly the results for street use can be superior to that of a air to air intercooler. There are certainly other ways of setting up a water to air intercooler system such as utilizing an ice box or even a water reservoir within a reservoir packed full of dry ice but I feel this particular way is the best for a daily driven street car. I would like to add an additional 10" electric fan and switch out the Rule water pump for a Ford Racing water pump that came on the 02-03 supercharged Cobra Mustangs in the future but so far the supplied components from Frozen Boost are adequate.
I have around 50 hours in doing this setup but it has been the funnest modification I've done to the car. It certainly is not for the faint of heart yet is very do-able with patience, fortunately I have another car to drive around while I worked on this one. I also like cruise control and air conditioning so I was able to retain my creature comforts as well, enjoy..........
I relocated the battery to the trunk & replaced the factory fuses to the battery with my own fuseblock which will also serve to run the intercoolers dedicated water pump & 10" electric fan.
Made a bracket to relocate the cruise/throttle cable box.
Built a custom cold-air intake to make some room for the IC as well as a better location for pulling in ambient air. Piping is mandrel bent 3" stainless that I scored from an exhaust shop that had pulled it recently off a new Ford diesel truck, I only paid $25 for 8 feet. Required a little cleaning, welding & polishing but well worth the effort. I'm utilizing "Speed Density" based tuning as well so this made things a little easier not having to deal with the MAF.
This pic shows a T-bolt clamp around the pipe that actually has a bracket to allow you to mount it on a flush surface so the intake is securely mounted to the car. You can order these from FrozenBoost as I used one for the water pump mounting too.
Mounted the Rule 500 gpm water pump.
Installed the heat exchanger (radiator) & it's own dedicated 10" electric fan. I made some mounting brackets from 90* aluminum stock for the heat exchanger & electric fan then cut out the center section of the radiator support as well as notch the lower radiator support on the drivers side. Look closely at the first pic and you can see where I cut out.
Heat exchanger & fan mounted.
Water lines installed on passenger side.
Hooked up a couple relays for the water pump & electric fan, this is where having the fuse block came in handy. I simply wired in a couple switches using the accessory 12v switched wire for the radio to activate the water pump & fan relays, the nice thing about using that wire is you can leave the switches in the ON position all the time and when you actually "crank" the engine over it shuts power off to the accessory circuits until the engine starts then powers up those circuits again. When you turn the key off obviously it shuts off the power, I like that I can shut off the electric fan when it's cooler outside and don't need it then kick it on in stop & go traffic or hotter weather or even leave the water pump off to help the engine warm up quicker in cold weather.
Some pics of the stainless turbo & throttle body flanges I made, the turbo flange has a 1-1/2" to 2" cone (purchased from DsmTuners supporting vendor ACE Stainless Supply) welded on then as you will see I purchased a 2" to 2-1/2" 90 degree coupler for directing it into the IC inlet.
Mounted the blow-off valve to the intercooler "cool side" as well as the intake air temp sensor (speed density) which is located on the bottom side 1-1/2" from the outlet pipe.
Here is everything installed, I made a couple brackets for mounting the intercooler solid to the car. One actually attaches to the thermostat housing then goes down to a transmission bolt location.You can really see how short the routing of the piping is, only 18" of total pipe length, no turbo lag here!!
Complete sleeper setup, no huge FMIC to advertise to everyone that you have some modifications done to the car. The heat-exchanger flows air very well through it and I only had a 5*F increase in engine coolant temps. No!!! you cannot purchase those grill pieces from anywhere, I made them from expanded aluminum that I cut out and riveted into the bumper cover.
I purchased the FrozenBoost kit rated up to 600hp, I must say I'm extremely happy with the results, my iat's stay within 10* of ambient during regular driving even in stop & go traffic. I can make pull after pull or long pulls into 5th gear and the intake temps haven't gone over 135-140*F on an 85* day with temp recovery back to ambient in about 20 seconds. One of the biggest advantages I noticed was that there is nearly zero pressure drop with this setup, I had to lower the boost controller by 10-12psi over the stock intercooler system to keep boost at 18psi. The spool-up time was also reduced approx 400rpm, I'm now hitting full boost (18-20) at 2800rpm with a EvoIII 16G & supporting mods in my profile.
There are a lot of myths about water to air intercoolers such as, "they are only for drag strip use" but if you build a water circulated system with a dedicated heat exchanger (radiator), electric fan & intercooler core that are sized accordingly the results for street use can be superior to that of a air to air intercooler. There are certainly other ways of setting up a water to air intercooler system such as utilizing an ice box or even a water reservoir within a reservoir packed full of dry ice but I feel this particular way is the best for a daily driven street car. I would like to add an additional 10" electric fan and switch out the Rule water pump for a Ford Racing water pump that came on the 02-03 supercharged Cobra Mustangs in the future but so far the supplied components from Frozen Boost are adequate.
I have around 50 hours in doing this setup but it has been the funnest modification I've done to the car. It certainly is not for the faint of heart yet is very do-able with patience, fortunately I have another car to drive around while I worked on this one. I also like cruise control and air conditioning so I was able to retain my creature comforts as well, enjoy..........
I relocated the battery to the trunk & replaced the factory fuses to the battery with my own fuseblock which will also serve to run the intercoolers dedicated water pump & 10" electric fan.
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Made a bracket to relocate the cruise/throttle cable box.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
Built a custom cold-air intake to make some room for the IC as well as a better location for pulling in ambient air. Piping is mandrel bent 3" stainless that I scored from an exhaust shop that had pulled it recently off a new Ford diesel truck, I only paid $25 for 8 feet. Required a little cleaning, welding & polishing but well worth the effort. I'm utilizing "Speed Density" based tuning as well so this made things a little easier not having to deal with the MAF.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
This pic shows a T-bolt clamp around the pipe that actually has a bracket to allow you to mount it on a flush surface so the intake is securely mounted to the car. You can order these from FrozenBoost as I used one for the water pump mounting too.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
Mounted the Rule 500 gpm water pump.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
Installed the heat exchanger (radiator) & it's own dedicated 10" electric fan. I made some mounting brackets from 90* aluminum stock for the heat exchanger & electric fan then cut out the center section of the radiator support as well as notch the lower radiator support on the drivers side. Look closely at the first pic and you can see where I cut out.
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Heat exchanger & fan mounted.
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Water lines installed on passenger side.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
Hooked up a couple relays for the water pump & electric fan, this is where having the fuse block came in handy. I simply wired in a couple switches using the accessory 12v switched wire for the radio to activate the water pump & fan relays, the nice thing about using that wire is you can leave the switches in the ON position all the time and when you actually "crank" the engine over it shuts power off to the accessory circuits until the engine starts then powers up those circuits again. When you turn the key off obviously it shuts off the power, I like that I can shut off the electric fan when it's cooler outside and don't need it then kick it on in stop & go traffic or hotter weather or even leave the water pump off to help the engine warm up quicker in cold weather.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
Some pics of the stainless turbo & throttle body flanges I made, the turbo flange has a 1-1/2" to 2" cone (purchased from DsmTuners supporting vendor ACE Stainless Supply) welded on then as you will see I purchased a 2" to 2-1/2" 90 degree coupler for directing it into the IC inlet.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
Mounted the blow-off valve to the intercooler "cool side" as well as the intake air temp sensor (speed density) which is located on the bottom side 1-1/2" from the outlet pipe.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
Here is everything installed, I made a couple brackets for mounting the intercooler solid to the car. One actually attaches to the thermostat housing then goes down to a transmission bolt location.You can really see how short the routing of the piping is, only 18" of total pipe length, no turbo lag here!!
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
Complete sleeper setup, no huge FMIC to advertise to everyone that you have some modifications done to the car. The heat-exchanger flows air very well through it and I only had a 5*F increase in engine coolant temps. No!!! you cannot purchase those grill pieces from anywhere, I made them from expanded aluminum that I cut out and riveted into the bumper cover.
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
