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1G Stock location air to water intercooler

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Alex1993tsi

Probationary Member
17
1
Mar 5, 2020
Port coqutlam, BC_Canada
Does anyone make a stock location air to water intercooler?
If not any ideas on things I should do to fabricate one?
I was thinking of making the intercooler fit right where the stock one is so under the hood it looks "stock".
Has anyone eliminated the need for a water reservoir by making the intercooler Or the heat exchanger hold a lot more water?
 
Has anyone eliminated the need for a water reservoir by making the intercooler Or the heat exchanger hold a lot more water?
The reservoir acts more of a buffer in the system. I would think it's needed, even if under a gallon. Eventually though the temperature of the water becomes static at the best of your heat exchangers ability, which is ambient temperature, putting you pretty much where a big air/air IC would put you to begin with. The setup is complicated, pump puts extra strain on the electrical system, and the weight adds up. It made my IC pipe routing shorter, but otherwise I honestly regret doing it.

On top of that, if you're using e85 I'd say it's all completely unnecessary. One time I was doing highway pulls and forgot to switch on the pump. Oops. I didn't even realize it until going through the logs at home. IATs were almost 200 and it didn't matter. If you're using E85 you can get away with murder.

Best thing you could do is get a Supra SMIC. I know people are making aftermarket ones, or starting to again, but unless the core is hella expensive or OEM, like the Supra's, they're eBay/Chinese tier and just don't work that great and I question their improvement over our stock cores.
 
Does anyone make a stock location air to water intercooler?
If not any ideas on things I should do to fabricate one?
I was thinking of making the intercooler fit right where the stock one is so under the hood it looks "stock".
Has anyone eliminated the need for a water reservoir by making the intercooler Or the heat exchanger hold a lot more water?

Just so you know ( I didn't look at the link somebody posted for you to look at) you said you want to put the intercooler where your current intercooler is under the hood......I'm not sure if you mean in the front bumper like everybody does or if you're talking stock like passenger wheel well......but I would suggest you put the heat exchanger in the front bumper where the air to air intercoolers are usually mounted, and then the actual intercooler will be somewhere in the engine bay where you can make room.....I think you got the two mixed up, the intercooler in an air to water setup will be what the water is flowing through and the heat exchanger will be the dry one in the front bumper that is just cooling the air before it gets to the intercooler......kind of an intercooler pre-cooler if you will! I'm putting my intercooler right before the throttle body, the outlet pipe is only about 6 inches long before it connects to the throttle body. That should give me the coolest intake temps......but I also have nitrous and also CO2 for some extra cooling when I need it and don't want to use the nitrous, so I've got a lot going on under the hood, but your air to water setup should be about the same design. As far as how big your water reservoir needs to be, that has a lot of factors that will determine that. Where you live and the typical daily temperature is a huge factor, but then also a lot of other things like intake piping size, turbo size, vent or re-circ blow off valve, are there any fat chicks weighing the car down, haha J/K.....but you get what I'm saying, there are a ton of factors! The truth is though, it's really not going to matter too much how much water is in the reservoir because when you really think about it, having an extra half gallon or gallon, or hell if you somehow managed to stick a tank somewhere on the car that holds 10 gallons of water, the fact is that the engine and engine bay heat is not going to take much more than probably around 30 seconds to a minute to heat up all of the water to the same temp, 1/2 gallon or 10! The only thing that will help is if you have enough room to pack it full of ice, but even with ice it's not going to stay cold for more than one race or one pass on the track! I wouldn't stress too much over water volume, just have it big enough to pack it full of a good amount of ice like I said for when you take it to the track!
 
Just so you know ( I didn't look at the link somebody posted for you to look at) you said you want to put the intercooler where your current intercooler is under the hood......I'm not sure if you mean in the front bumper like everybody does or if you're talking stock like passenger wheel well......but I would suggest you put the heat exchanger in the front bumper where the air to air intercoolers are usually mounted, and then the actual intercooler will be somewhere in the engine bay where you can make room.....I think you got the two mixed up, the intercooler in an air to water setup will be what the water is flowing through and the heat exchanger will be the dry one in the front bumper that is just cooling the air before it gets to the intercooler......kind of an intercooler pre-cooler if you will! I'm putting my intercooler right before the throttle body, the outlet pipe is only about 6 inches long before it connects to the throttle body. That should give me the coolest intake temps......but I also have nitrous and also CO2 for some extra cooling when I need it and don't want to use the nitrous, so I've got a lot going on under the hood, but your air to water setup should be about the same design. As far as how big your water reservoir needs to be, that has a lot of factors that will determine that. Where you live and the typical daily temperature is a huge factor, but then also a lot of other things like intake piping size, turbo size, vent or re-circ blow off valve, are there any fat chicks weighing the car down, haha J/K.....but you get what I'm saying, there are a ton of factors! The truth is though, it's really not going to matter too much how much water is in the reservoir because when you really think about it, having an extra half gallon or gallon, or hell if you somehow managed to stick a tank somewhere on the car that holds 10 gallons of water, the fact is that the engine and engine bay heat is not going to take much more than probably around 30 seconds to a minute to heat up all of the water to the same temp, 1/2 gallon or 10! The only thing that will help is if you have enough room to pack it full of ice, but even with ice it's not going to stay cold for more than one race or one pass on the track! I wouldn't stress too much over water volume, just have it big enough to pack it full of a good amount of ice like I said for when you take it to the track!
I'm not confused.
I want my engine bay to look as stock as possible.
So I was thinking of putting the air to water intercooler where the stock side mount is and factory ish piping and putting the heat exchanger in the front bumper.
I need a big water tank but again trying to look stock. So I was thinking about making the intercooler the reservoir or the heat exchanger or both
As for that link I have read it a few times in the past and today. It goes over the pros and cons of water to air intercooling more than anything. Unless I missed something or didn't go all the way through it.
 
Without a reservoir the system would need to be pressurized, with a way to get all the air pockets out, and possibly an overflow tank. Quite literally the same as the radiator/cooling system in the car now. It's doable and not a bad idea, just another factor to deal with.

Again, the absolute best you're going to get with the system is ambient temperature. Which a FMIC basically achieves without any of the nonsense.
 
Best thing you could do is get a Supra SMIC.

The supra intercooler doesn't fit. I don't know why this is brought up in every thread about SMIC's. There is one how-to on how to mount one on a 2G, and its an unholy mess of bailing wire and duct tape that made the car look like some tweaker drives it, with the bumper cover all deformed and the car looking like it was poorly repaired after a wreck. A 1G has even less room to work with.
 
I ran a couple different ones on my old car. First was an OEM Syclone IC that I had modified. 5 gallon fuel cell in the trunk, OEM Ford Lightning pump and heat exchanger. Worked ok at lower power, but I ended up changing to a Bell core which worked great. No blocking the radiator, can keep AC easier, looks stock. On the street, they work at least as well as a FMIC if it's sized correctly. W/A will also have less pressure drop and faster boost response. Then when you go to the track, throw in a bag of ice and have charge temps 30-40 degrees below ambient. My next build will be stock appearing with a W/A.
 
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I'm not confused.
I want my engine bay to look as stock as possible.
So I was thinking of putting the air to water intercooler where the stock side mount is and factory ish piping and putting the heat exchanger in the front bumper.
I need a big water tank but again trying to look stock. So I was thinking about making the intercooler the reservoir or the heat exchanger or both
As for that link I have read it a few times in the past and today. It goes over the pros and cons of water to air intercooling more than anything. Unless I missed something or didn't go all the way through it.
Ok, either I misread your original post or you mistyped it! The only reason I said maybe you were confused is because I thought you had said you were going to put the intercooler up front and then something about the amount of water going through the heat exchanger......which would be the exact opposite! Again I might have read it wrong cause I was half asleep, but just letting you know why I said that!
 
Ok, either I misread your original post or you mistyped it! The only reason I said maybe you were confused is because I thought you had said you were going to put the intercooler up front and then something about the amount of water going through the heat exchanger......which would be the exact opposite! Again I might have read it wrong cause I was half asleep, but just letting you know why I said that!
Lol. not a problem buddy I made the post half asleep and half drunk so it probably was me or something
 
I'm doing one soon, Precision
https://www.precisionturbo.net/heat.../details/Custom-Liquid-to-Air-Intercoolers/11

with a small radiator in the FMIC location with a fan on it and Bosch pump on constantly. I'll monitor water Temps though the stand alone radiators junction Tee to keep an eye on the pump etc. Water Temps will be low for track like performance every time out.

It'll run about $1500 with all the parts but the spool up and power gains will be well worth it. A 2.0L isn't really a fun 0-60mph car IMO.
 
Water to Air user here.
After fighting a couple years with high temps I finally got mine figured out. I'll see if I can help steer you in the right direction.

  • My core was undersized. Do not skimp out on core size. (On Frozenboost site, comparing the two, I went from something similar of a type 8, and later went to something similar of type 52, the type 8 would fall on its face after 10psi of boost)
    If you want it to fit in the wheel well, you will have to make, or modify a custom one that will basically fill the entire area so it will be large enough. Definitely do-able, but not with a cheap 150$ universal core you buy online.
  • I also tried without a reservoir, and a small reservoir made from a peanut butter jar. Its a pain in the ass, get a proper one. This also aids in adding ice, and filling/bleeding the system.(that surprisingly was a pain too)
  • If you have a point in the system that is higher than the reservoir, or your lines returning to the reservoir, this can allow air pockets. You may need to add a bleed line that runs from this high point, back to the reservoir. My high point was a corner of the core, I tapped a 1/8npt fitting in the corner and ran a line to the resevoir.
  • If you are not going to change the water out for ice every pass, make sure you have fans on the heat exchanger for when you are stationary. When I did not run fans and after a run, waited in line at the track on those hot days/nights, my water temps would begin to rise in line. I could watch the air temps drop half way through my pass. Ideally you want the temps already low at the beginning.
  • Run large lines. After my long battle of making this work, I ended up with 3/4" lines. Yes, factory cars will run smaller lines and get away with it, but for our higher power stuff, you want as much water in/out of that core as fast as you can.
 
Water to Air user here.
After fighting a couple years with high temps I finally got mine figured out. I'll see if I can help steer you in the right direction.
Awesome thanks for the info
  • My core was undersized. Do not skimp out on core size. (On Frozenboost site, comparing the two, I went from something similar of a type 8, and later went to something similar of type 52, the type 8 would fall on its face after 10psi of boost)
    If you want it to fit in the wheel well, you will have to make, or modify a custom one that will basically fill the entire area so it will be large enough. Definitely do-able, but not with a cheap 150$ universal core you buy online.
  • I also tried without a reservoir, and a small reservoir made from a peanut butter jar. Its a pain in the ass, get a proper one. This also aids in adding ice, and filling/bleeding the system.(that surprisingly was a pain too)
  • If you have a point in the system that is higher than the reservoir, or your lines returning to the reservoir, this can allow air pockets. You may need to add a bleed line that runs from this high point, back to the reservoir. My high point was a corner of the core, I tapped a 1/8npt fitting in the corner and ran a line to the resevoir.
  • If you are not going to change the water out for ice every pass, make sure you have fans on the heat exchanger for when you are stationary. When I did not run fans and after a run, waited in line at the track on those hot days/nights, my water temps would begin to rise in line. I could watch the air temps drop half way through my pass. Ideally you want the temps already low at the beginning.
  • Run large lines. After my long battle of making this work, I ended up with 3/4" lines. Yes, factory cars will run smaller lines and get away with it, but for our higher power stuff, you want as much water in/out of that core as fast as you can.
 
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