Intercooler in engine bay????

Searoy · Post by **Searoy** » Mon Dec 03, 2001 6:38 pm

The turbo won't produce heat that will affect the oil cooler. The exhaust pipe, however, may transfer some heat to the cooler. Two ways to deal with this, and both would be better than one.

- Wrap the exhaust pipe to and from the turbine housing. That should insulate the heat away from the cooler. Add a metal heat reflection sheild nearest the cooler for added protection.

- Add a fan that pulls air through the oil cooler and blows it towards the exhust pipes. The air will be cooler than the exhaust pipe, and keep the heated air away from the cooler pretty well. The fan should be on a 180 degree thermostat to prevent overcooling the oil.

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*** Teach a Man to Fish ***
Searoy

"I tend to lean toward a tighter gap and a
looser skirt....a little slap never hurt." -- Joe of the West

speedwheel · Post by **speedwheel** » Mon Dec 03, 2001 6:42 pm

thanks dude! i really learned a lot from you!!! great help!!!
if you have time though, you might want to check out my beetle in cal-look.com under the members' section. matias is my family name.

Cheers!!! and thanks again!!!

speedwheel · Post by **speedwheel** » Mon Dec 03, 2001 6:56 pm

thanks searoy, yes i have a fan mounted to the cooler, although the direction of the fan is in the push. I think i'll just reverse the wire so that the fan would go the other way (sucking on the cooler) and blow the air downwards to the header and turbo =)

Thanks!!!

Iain H · Post by **Iain H** » Mon Dec 03, 2001 7:59 pm

Speedwheel,
Good luck with your project, and a sweet looker it is too!

All the best
Iain

Searoy · Post by **Searoy** » Mon Dec 03, 2001 11:09 pm

http://shoptalkforums.com/bbs/NonCGI/up ... ngine1.jpg

http://shoptalkforums.com/bbs/NonCGI/up ... 310bhp.jpg


I'll only say this once.

Wow.

Now this is a good example of how an air to air intercooler does not fit well inside the engine bay of a bug. This setup looks awesome, and I think it's pretty well laid out. But the amount of room the intercooler requires is huge, so much so that it wouldn't fit in the engine bay regardless of offset. It takes up the entire width of the package tray for Pete's sake.

So, you want an air to air intercooler? Get an aluminum wing and modify it to hold the intercooler. Way cool.

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*** Teach a Man to Fish ***
Searoy

"I tend to lean toward a tighter gap and a
looser skirt....a little slap never hurt." -- Joe of the West

moggy · Post by **moggy** » Tue Dec 04, 2001 1:14 pm

Because of the additional heat my Eaton blower knocks out a chargecooler setup was essential. Air/air impractical as I didn't see a way of getting the whole lot under the engine lid (I'm not into standoffs and vents).

The air/water is much better in my opinion for both effieciency and practicallity. See the following site, it's where I got my chargecooler from, radiator is small and mounts easily by the gearbox. A 3 core chargcooler unit (which I've got) would have to be a huge air/air unit to cool as much.
www.paceproducts.co.uk

Water/air isn't prone to temp diffs in the engine bay, can cope with temp spikes with ease, is much smaller, and won't start heating up in traffic due to no airflow ( cos the water in the header tank will cope with the intercooling for some time without needing the water itself to be cooled.)

So why go air/air, the only thing I see going for it is simplicity, but to get it to work properly in the back of the bug will make it complex so why bother... go air/water

speedwheel · Post by **speedwheel** » Tue Dec 04, 2001 5:21 pm

Thanks Moggy, but do you think that it will heat up while in traffic? I mean is the engine is in idle and there's no boost, so there won't be too much heat going in the intake. When the boost comes in, that is the only time that the intercooler works. Pls. correct me if i'm wrong with my thinking.

Thanks

Searoy · Post by **Searoy** » Tue Dec 04, 2001 5:28 pm

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by speedwheel:
Thanks Moggy, but do you think that it will heat up while in traffic? I mean is the engine is in idle and there's no boost, so there won't be too much heat going in the intake. When the boost comes in, that is the only time that the intercooler works. Pls. correct me if i'm wrong with my thinking.

Thanks<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Nope. You're exactly right. The intercooler will only cool under boost,. when the air charge is likely to be warmer than the water. However, under vacuum the vaporization of the fuel will cool the air itself, sometimes to the point of freezing (carb icing for example). It is during this operation that the intercooler would become an interheater. No worries though. Under vacuum you are lesslikely to detonate, so your engine can handle the extra warmth.

------------------
*** Teach a Man to Fish ***
Searoy

"I tend to lean toward a tighter gap and a
looser skirt....a little slap never hurt." -- Joe of the West

4SPEED · Post by **4SPEED** » Tue Dec 04, 2001 8:29 pm

Here's a link for some interesting reading. Hope no one's posted this one before.
http://www.autospeed.com/A_0084/article.html

Patrick

Steve C · Post by **Steve C** » Wed Dec 05, 2001 5:19 am

Hi

As Iain H said intercooling plumbing won't leak, but you need to use silicone hoses and good clamps. I made my intercooler pipes using 2 inch exhaust donuts, they give a very nice tight raduis for fitting into the deep recesses of a VW, I also cleaned them up inside & out with an emery wheel. See them here http://www.johnmaherracing.co.uk/jmrsho ... _donut.jpg

I was looking for something else and I came across this site that had water-air ICs http://www.setrab.se/setrab.htm

Steve C

Steve C · Post by **Steve C** » Thu Dec 06, 2001 4:04 am

Hi
This is Iain's setup from 1985 but fitted to another bug, neat. http://www.clubvw.org.au/images/db_engine.jpg
Steve C

Michael Ghia · Post by **Michael Ghia** » Thu Dec 06, 2001 10:26 am

I realise that this is slightly different to having the intercooler in the engine bay, but it's an extended engine bay

I'm installing a Subaru Impreza Turbo engine in the back of my Oval. The motor and trans will be going up by about 5 1/2 inches and forwards by 3-4inches. The intercooler will be underneath the rear window and I plan to use twin NACA ducts in both rear windows to supply it with air. The drain for the air will be over the engine as it is in the Impreza.
My question is... anyone any idea of how much air I'll get through the NACA ducts? They will be the same as the ducts fitted to Mat Keenes '54 Oval in last months Volksworld.
If I can't get enough air in, I'll be going to a chargecooler (water-air) but I like the idea of using as many stock bits as possible in the conversion.

Mike Ghia

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Modification is a form of Art.

speedwheel · Post by **speedwheel** » Thu Dec 06, 2001 5:21 pm

Thanks Steve for the pic. Very cool setup! nice!

Matt Keene · Post by **Matt Keene** » Thu Dec 06, 2001 11:32 pm

The amount of air flowing thru those Naca ducts when placed in the rear window at cruising speed is quite substantial. I took the hose of at 60 mph and directed towards me whilst driving and it is like a gale! They do work!

Tracy · Post by **Tracy** » Sun Dec 09, 2001 4:38 pm

Speedwheel, I have a small Modine intercooler core that will work well for your application, e-mail me if you are interested.