Anyone got pics? Im thinking of doing one on my truck, rather than fighting an intercooler into it. Ive probably got 20x16" or so to work with, maybe a little bigger. Does anyone run just a tube through a box, or are they all cut down intercoolers? Thanks.

 

John Deere use to use water intercoolers back in the old days. A air intercooler is way more efficent.

 

If there's a school bus graveyard near you you might be able to score a genuine Cummins air to water cooler. A tank of ice water in the bed and an electric pump would complete the system.

 

Thats what Im thinking about. Doing research on the net revealed many of them are, say 2.5" tubing through a 4 or 5" tube. I was thinkin fill that larger tube with water and have lines running to the toolbox to an icewaterbox. A similar setup as I read on a couple sites claimed 10-20% cooler intake temps than air to air intercooler setups. Not to mention, the lack of air restriction. Hey wanna, are you talking about an aftercooler? Is that the same thing basically, cause I thought those plumbed into the engine coolant system? I guess you could easily plumb into the icewater box like you mentioned though.

 

Turbonetics makes them, you just have to pick what size you want. I've heard they're expensive.

 

Im building my own so no worries of price. But thanks VERY much for the link, I thought that was about how to do one, and it is. Thanks again jfaulkner.

 

Yep, that was the idea.

 

Thanks will do when I get a chance not so late. Im wanting water to air because of space and rarity.

 

I thought water cooling was more efficient because not many engines are air cooled because it isn't as efficient.

 

I had an air/water intercooler on my 86 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe for autocross racing, back in the 80's. They are more efficient than air/air, but still require a radiator to dissipate the coolant heat, but a rad the size of the stock intercooler would be more than sufficient. With the room under the hood of a Ram, fitting the system should be no problem.

The big advantage was the fact that I could dump a bag of ice into the reservior to really cool the charge.

 

Air cooling is more efficient at cooling...think about it. You have an unlimited supply of 100* air, and a massive blower to force it through the engine...OR, you can have a limited supply of 200* water. Also, in my experience, and comparatively powered air cooled machine used less fuel than the same power liquid cooled machine, with less cooling system troubles.

Obviously, there is more to this argument...such as water's ability to carry heat better, and the fact that it is more common, but in the agricultural equipment we've sold in the past, we LOVE the air cooled stuff!

Chris

BTW, a big problem with a water cooled IC, is keeping the water cooled off to the point where it's efficiency is better than an air to air unit. Cooling 400* Intake temps with 50* water is very efficient, but that water WILL heat up to the point where it's not worth the complexity unless you find a way to cool it.

Bobcat698 (I think) just put a big water cooled unit on his 96 Sledpuller, and with one run down the track his water temps go from about 32* to over 100* IIRC!

 

Water cooling is a double-edged sword. The same ability to hold more heat than a given amount of air when it's colder also holds that heat when it's hotter.

So think of water is a bigger "reservoir". Since you can't dump heat fast enough using the air-to-air CAC at sledpulling speeds, you can "store" some of it in the reservoir of an air/water unit.

For short-duration runs, water cooling with a closed icewater system is tough to beat. Banks used it on their Sidewinder Dakota for the top speed runs-- the water gave them ballast, too. It would also work well for sledpulling, where you are doing a short blast and you can just "park" the heat in your icewater system-- then change it out for more ice before the next run.

Air/water units can also be used if you have a case where don't have any more room for a larger air/air unit. If you use a smaller and more compact air/water unit with engine coolant plumbed in, you are now basically turning your engine's radiator into an additional CAC (which is dumping the heat to air).

The water can't really vent heat-- all it can do is STORE it. At some point, the heat has to be dumped into the air, whether directly using an air/air unit or indirectly using air/water.

A longer duration run with an icewater system can have huge amounts of heat. Rumor has it the bed of the Sidewinder truck was mostly water tanking and ice. I've even heard rumors of dry ice...

Justin

 

Heres my idea, not sure if it will work good. Start with 1, maybe have 2, of these http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BIG-L...QQcmdZViewItem. The tank will go in the toolbox with a pump there. I have a tranny cooler in front of the radiator left over from when I had the auto, so Im thinking pipe the water through that. So the water will run from the tank to the intercooler, then the tranny cooler, if I install another intercooler it will go here, then back to the tank. I realize the water will still heat up, and have considered even installing an aux tranny cooler with fan under the truck close to the tank. The main reason I am considering this is space. Being nonintercooled, the radiator and condenser are super wide. I am unsure if a 2nd gen intercooler will fit around it all. I dont want to block the condenser, cause here in TX I need every bit of help I can get with this crappy a/c. So, how does this long idea sound?

 

Here's some pic of one

It's hell to find injection lines that have to run around it.

I always thought about bolting two of the thang's together with a spacer in the middle so the inlet of the cooler could be mounted directly above the turbo outlet and exit the cooled air directly over the inlet of the head

 

Thats the style that came on the aftercooled model Cummins huh? The fuel lines is why I was gonna install the kind I mentioned above. mount it in the space between the air cleaner and radiator, or move air cleaner and mount it there. Also, could mount in open space on drivers side. My Banks intercooler idea went out, so hopefully this pans out...gonna try it unless someone says its a BAD idea...