Yes, you CAN use your AC to cool your intake air

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Oct 7, 2004 | 08:44 PM

#1 (permalink)

Jordan Y.

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Yes, you CAN use your AC to cool your intake air

Quote:

I built an air/water intercooler system for it that's incredibly effective - mainly because of the chilled water I use to run thru it. I pump the intercooler system's coolant thru the heater core and use the AC system to chill the water. The system includes a 2.5 gallon reservoir. Once all of the water in the system is chilled, it provides about a full minute's worth of cold water when in boost. The whole rest of the time you are driving it (not in boost) - it's chilling the water for the next time you nail the throttle. This water circulates continuously - cooling the intake charge and also the fuel rails. Both of these really help the throttle response - especially on hot days.

I also use the chilled water from the intercooler system to cool my fuel rails. That works great on the street since I'm generally running the AC system all the time anyway. For trips to the track I have a separate small radiator that I add into the loop of the system. This small radiator sits inside an ice chest full of ice and water. To connect it into the system I use some dry-break connectors. This allows me to hook the truck up to the extra radiator - chill all of the water in the system - then disconnect it and go race... all without spilling any water or dumping ice into anything. When I come back to the pits it only takes about 5 minutes and the system is back to about 40Â° and I'm ready for another pass. The tank and lines are insulated so it all stays cool while you wait in the staging lanes.

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Oct 7, 2004 | 08:47 PM

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DC3S

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dyno results?

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Oct 7, 2004 | 10:03 PM

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dscivicdx

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a mustang concept car back in the 90's had a similar system, but instead of water it used cooled antifreeze or some other fluid.

Oct 8, 2004 | 06:51 AM

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Zate

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sounds like what was proposed for the new Lightning

Oct 8, 2004 | 12:08 PM

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Orion ZyGarian

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Thought about doing something related to that. Wouldnt the gains be outweighted by the fact that it takes engine power to get the A.C. working...? You'd lose power just to have the air cooler.

I'd rather just put the intake in a better location and freeze it, intercooler sprayer reservoir, and the intercooler piping

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Oct 8, 2004 | 12:12 PM

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Stealth

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Quote:

Originally posted by Zate
sounds like what was proposed for the new Lightning

My friend works for Gator Ford and he said they are going to do it... It's a little diff though. You would have a cold air resevoir that is by the intake filter. Your AC would blow into it, when ready to use it turn off your AC, and push the button to open the resevoir to the intake "kinda" like a mini built in N20 system.

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Oct 8, 2004 | 12:41 PM

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Orion ZyGarian

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Oh, okay I know what you guys are talking about, I think the new F-150 has it...uses the same cooling system for the engine as the A.C...heard that from somewhere

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Oct 8, 2004 | 01:18 PM

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flubyux2

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that could work. if you have a cool air intake sucking in ambient air... pulling thru an "intercooler", it would remove the heat from the intercooler and cool the water circulating thru it. then when youre gettin on it, the hot air coming thru the inside would have the heat removed by the cooler water in the intercooler. but continuous beating on the car would heat up the water inside and w/o suffient time to chill the water back down, it would essentially be heat soaked. how long do you drive spiritedly or boost on the streets? probably alot. most people boost all the time, but of course a minute straight of boost would mean youre goin pretty damn fast.

i gues sthe question is, what is the cool-down time to get the coolant back down to ambient temp. cuz then you could measure it in duty cycle. the On-time is about 1 minute according to the author. if it takes 9 minutes to cool the coolant back down, then its only a 10% duty cycle... kinda low.

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Oct 8, 2004 | 01:44 PM

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MSP Chris

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I am failing to see how running the coolant / water mixture threw the heater core would cool it down. The heater core and the evaporater are seperated in the case.

I would use a independent cooling system for my turbo / supercharger. Utilize a extra reservior to hold the coolant and a extra pump to move the coolant threw a small radiator. Then it wont mix with the 212 degreee cooolant running threw your motor.

To the best of my knowledge the current cobras and lightening utilize this currently, I'll go look on some ford site's....

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