Intercooler Sprayer, Is It Possible???

[MazdaspeedZOOM]

Well we're all kinda looking for ways to help keep temperatures down in our engine bay's, and on the intercooler. Now turbo cars like the STI and EVO have a water sprayer that you can use to spray the intercooler to help keep it cool. Would this be a possible mod for our car's, wouldn't somthing as simple as just rerouting the waher fluid sprayers to shoot at the intercooler help keep things a little colder. Just a thought, let me know what you guys think.

 

[MemphisRacer]

it is very possible!!! It has been done and I for one thought it made a pretty big difference. I have used nitrous to spray my intercooler with and as high as the humidity here in memphis is, it's a noticable difference. Water will have very similar affects. I have been toying around with the idea of designing and selling a water sprayer kit for our msp's. Anybody interested?

 

[unwrittenLaw]

So spraying the intercooler with water won't damage any components under the hood?

 

[MemphisRacer]

not at all bro, your "misting" the intercooler from the front, now if you took a fire hose to it, sure, it would cool it off, but youd have to pick up the pieces later You just want enough water on it to evaporate the heat off of the intercooler and this can be done with a very efficient and fine mist.

 

[unwrittenLaw]

cool...would it be something you could easily remove to go back to stock setup?

 

[MemphisRacer]

definately, as far as i can tell, the hardest thing to remove would be the switch that you use to activate it The means by which you attach the nozzle can be as simple as a zip tie or as complicated as a bracket mounted spray bar.

If you go the nozzle route, you would usually use two nozzles, one at the bottom and one at the top, both angled to spray from end to center.

If you were to use a spray bar it would attach to the intercooler and would spray out of very fine holes onto the entire length of the intercooler. These are generaly alot more expensive and arent a whole lot more efficient. It really boils down to what you are going to use as a cooler; water, nitrous, Co2, all of these things will work nicely considering the size and position of our factory intercoolers.

 

[unwrittenLaw]

Sound like it could be a good mod for those of us who want to keep the stock intercooler...

 

[Scott]

Windshield washer fluid mixed with water supposedly works better.

Or Alcohol, that works too.

 

[MemphisRacer]

true, alchohol works great, just har trying to keep it from evaporating before you get to use it all. I havent tried the windshield fluid, sounds like a sticky mess to me

I'll just have my assistant strap himself to a foglight and spray the intercooler when i tug on the rope tied tightly to his tail.. see demonstration below....







(YANKs rope)






(piss)

 

[PHRiSCo]

The shop doing my FMIC say they would like to take a half used NOS bottle and spray NOS on the intercooler while driving

 

[Scott]

I havent tried the windshield fluid, sounds like a sticky mess to me

I haven't been able to verify it for sure as to how well it works. This is what one guy I autocross with uses on his new Evo8.

 

[DistantTea]

At autocrosses we use a $10 garden sprayer filled with clean water. After every run and right before the next I give it and the radiator a good misting down. Works quite well for us.

 

[BacDoc]

I thought about a sparyer setup on my Talon years ago. Thought about using a windshield washer resivor with pump installed in it from the junkyard. Cheap and not too diffucult a project but wasn't sure about the gains I could get from just water. Really need something cold!

 

[DistantTea]

The fact is the energy dispersed by water evaporating gives just as high a yeild as most of the tricks with alchohol, ice, or combinations. Its been beat to death, then we've reincarnated this particular horse, just so we can beat it to death again, then beat it when its dead, then start all over...

Just water (regardless of temperature) is fine. Cold water is slightly better... Alchohol takes ALOT of liquid to get the same effect as water, but can drop the temperature more if you just keep going for it. But unless you road race you don't have to worry about heat soak in our cars. I do it simply to lower engine temps while idling at hot autocrosses.

The engergy difference in 70 degree water and 33 degree water is minimal... its all in the evaporation and the 33 degree water dosn't carry enough energy to get up to 70 degrees to matter much. Now if you have an intercooler that isn't currently hot, its not currently being heated... say at a stable ambient temp, then alchohol can be misted (even chilled alchohol) and the ambient temp of the intercooler itself can be dropped considerably. Even moreso with NOS misters which can downright freeze the intercooler and really drop the charge temps like nobodies business. But for an autocrosser to take advantage of that they would have to mist/freeze right before they run and immediately shut their engine off after a run... I just don't see it helping that much.

Just a good garden sprayer filled with clean water will keep the radiator and intercooler nice and cool... and keep the car from cooking at idle. Drag racers... well those guys do all kinds of crazy stuff just for that extra 10th. More power to them.

Although it really wouldn't be that much work to run a new pump to put a switch inside the car I just don't think its neccessary. You'd get alot more use out of a small fan or an intake path sent to your intercooler in my opinion.

 

[KYREDP5]

I haven't been able to verify it for sure as to how well it works. This is what one guy I autocross with uses on his new Evo8.

Yes but if they see you doing it on the AutoX surface you will be disqualified. Depend on how strict they are I guess though.

 

[Kooldino]

I've been thinking of this lately as well. You just need some lines, some windsheild sprayers, and I guess a pump and switch.

 

[ArkosP5]

http://www.autospeed.com/shop/category_705/browse.html

 

[AGR]

Just to know.......

In the AutoWeek test; the intercooler sprayer on the STi was worthless, but they did note; that it made a little difference on the EVO.

 

[TURBO3WAGON]

Its 100% possible!


I used one on my 323GT in its early stages and It did work well, especially with half a dozen ice cubes in the container. I used windshield wiper jug from a passat and if I remember correctly it was a 3L jug with the motor attached at the bottom of the container. I picked it up dirt cheep at a Junk yard in Miami. The only pain is to constantly be refilling it. Its a good cheep mod..

 

[MazdaspeedZOOM]

http://www.autospeed.com/shop/category_705/browse.html

This is neat, but for a little over $400.00 bucks I can find better things to buy then somthing to spray my intercooler.

I still think it's as easy as sacrificing your window washer spray, reroute the tubing to the intercooler, attach some sort of nozzel to the end of it and you have yourself an intercooler sprayer with switch. Yes I know now you can't clean your windshield, well I don't know about you guys but in the summer I wash my car about every 2 days or so, so the odds of my windshield actually getting dirty are slim to none.