MSP water-air intercooler project

[emespea]

honestly, you should have a res anyway. a cheap walmart container with npt fittings epoxy'd on would work just fine.
you want your pump inlet to be unrestricted and its best to gravity feed it straight from the res.

you put a drain port on your res so after the ice melts, you can drain the excess water. you need somewhere for the air bubbles to go too, since air-bubbles neuter your pump's efficiency.

idealy, you would add a series of valves so your pump can bypass your heat exchanger which are just ball valves. pretty cheap and simple to install.

Res on a DD most definately. At least 2 gallons. also the grav feed from res is also very correct (unless you get a self priming pump), the first pump my friend had blew cause it was in the front bumper and just wasnt low enough to have water at the inlet at all times. his res is in the trunk and the pump is in the rear bumper now so water is always on the inlet. you dont really need to have a drain port on the res though, he put one of those $1 3/4" coolant t's in the line before the pump (and return for flushing), and you can drain off some liquid. it depends on where u have the res but in the trunk like his, a drain isnt feasable (inline works just fine). and as long as the tank is the highest point it will self bleed, he had an inline bleeder but it never needed it as long as the res is above the core, however if its not, definately put a bleeder fitting at the highest point.

why bypass the heat exchanger though? in the front bumper it will be one of the lowest points and keeping the fluid cool is paramount. im a little confused on the bypass part since that would be more parts to leak..

 

[Valk]

Bypass when running ice as the exchanger would work to heat up your ice water.

 

[dmention7]

I guess I can see the points for a reservoir. Still, I personally would only run something like a small coolant can in the engine bay for that. 2 gallons in a remote reservoir just seems excessive to me if it's sole purpose is bleeding air and keeping the pump primed.

 

[HKPRO5]

Yea two gallons seems like alot.

 

[emespea]

its not just for bleeding air, its for keeping the coolant cool. the heat exchanger can only cool so much with its pass. if you never get the coolant to ambient cause it keeps circulating to the intercooler, then it will just get warmer and warmer till it heatsoaks. the resevoir keeps ambient (post exchanger) coolant on tap at all times. it keeps the system cooler and on a daily driver where your taking 30 min + trips it makes a big difference, it takes alot longer for the coolant to heatsoak.

the 2 gallon is not alot. it might seem like it if you dont want to do it, but it makes a huge difference.

 

[dmention7]

Welp, finally got that Bosch pump installed. Used my barely-adequate fabrication skills to whip up a little mounting bracket out of 1/8" x 2" aluminum stock. It's not the sturdiest thing in the world--I think steel would've made a better mount--but it'll do.



I attached the pump to the little bracket using a t-bolt clamp, like-a so....



And hooked up the coolant hoses and wired the pump. The inlet of the pump draws from the lower outlet of the heat exchanger. It's probably not the ideal setup as far as maximizing the pump head, but it's the lowest point in the system, and I would have to re-plumb the whole thing to change it right now. That could be a project for another day.

 

[emespea]

looks good, ours is same mounting cept we used a plate of weld steel (thicker so it doesnt move), and 2 clamps on the body.

nice job sir.