Water to air intercoolers...

[cudvig]

I was just wondering about reliablity issues with them. Like are they only good at the drag strip, or could i use them as a DD. Do they require more money to mantain? I know inital costs will be hefty, but in the long run I would like to see less knock and better spool, since the piping would be maybe 2 feet? Could I maybe take out the battery and place the intercooler there? I dont know much about these, but i would like to learn. Please put in your $.02 for me, thanks.

-Colin

[EclipseGST]

I have yet to see a nice water to air intercooler that you can use on a daily driver. They are mainly for drag purposes so when used on the street they tend to heat soak easily.

A couple that I have seen use a chiller box that you can fill with ice and the water will run through it by using a electric water pump. Then it gets run through the intercooler in an attempt to cool down the charged air. When using this setup on the street its hard to keep enough ice in the chiller box so that the water stays cold.

I've heard of people using separate radiators for them but personally I would think that would heat soak just as much. There are many different opinions of these types of intercoolers, mine is stay away from it if the car is a daily driver. Good luck.

[TGPilot]

The last model of the All-Trac Celica used a really nice "Rally" designed water to air intercooler. It was the same design from the Carlos Sainz(sp?) celica and worked awesome for all around use. It had a radiator for itself that mounted in front and had a seperate water pump to circulate. I had heard of guys who tried front mount air to air on the late model all-trac and immediately switched back. Using "engine ice" coolant in place of water lowered intake temps dramatically from an already extremely efficient charge temp cooling system.

I have never used one personally, but from what I could gather from some of the all-trac guys they loved them. They are very hard to find because of the limited build of the last year of all-tracs.

[JET]

Stick with air to air for street use. You can make an air to water work, but it takes a good sized radiator for it. Then you have all the extra weight of the water. The only thing short piping is going to gain for you is spool up.