Intercooler recomendations?

[Blown353]

Gerhard Schruf at Bell Intercoolers is the man to talk to.

They do air-air and air-water.

How is the truck going to be used? If it's going to be a "quick blast then cool" type of thing I would run an air/water and put the heat exchanger & fans in the bed and leave the radiator up front. Size the heat exchanger & fan package correctly and it shouldn't heatsoak under prolonged use either.

[badmatt]

Originally Posted by Blown353

Gerhard Schruf at Bell Intercoolers is the man to talk to.

They do air-air and air-water.

How is the truck going to be used? If it's going to be a "quick blast then cool" type of thing I would run an air/water and put the heat exchanger & fans in the bed and leave the radiator up front. Size the heat exchanger & fan package correctly and it shouldn't heatsoak under prolonged use either.

street driven Daily in the summer spring and fall... so air to air is a must for me...

[FreddyG]

Another vote for Corky Bell (and Gerhardt too)! They know their stuff!

[Blown353]

Originally Posted by badmatt

street driven Daily in the summer spring and fall... so air to air is a must for me...

OEM's use air-water on a lot of their combinations and they are tested & driven under any imaginable condition... think new ZR1 for a good example. It's air/water and I don't see GM putting "special use" conditions in the owners manual concerning the intercooling setup.

What I'm saying is that an air/water will work fine daily driven in any conditions provided you size the heat exchanger combo properly so it won't heatsoak under prolonged use.

Most air/water setups are very drag-race oriented and are only concerned about maintaining good IC temps for a few seconds, thus they're the air/water core, a tank for holding chilled water, and a pump-- that's it. Useless for the street. For longer periods of use you'll need a good pump, a properly sized heat exchanger (i.e. a radiator for the fluid in the intercooler system), a reservoir, and possibly fans depending on the location of the heat exchanger.

I helped on the design & build of a 900hp Procharged 427 SBF in a Mustang that's air-water. There was absolutely no room for a properly sized air/air core, so we had to go air/water. We used an air/water IC from Precision, an upgraded aluminum heat exchanger for a Cobra, a larger Canton reservoir, and a stock Bosch intercooler pump. The system doesn't heatsoak under extended driving conditions and works well, IAT's are usually 25F over ambient air.

Other than being a little heavier and more complex than an air/air setup there are no real disadvantages of a properly designed air/water setup. In fact, it gives you the option of adding chilled water or ice to the system if and when you go drag racing for a few more HP.

[deuce_454]

my money is on an air/water setup... you wont be driving at WOT with a 1600 hp car for many seconds at a time... and the water/air setup will soak the heat anddisappate it over time so the heat exchanger doesnt have to be able to cool it all at once but just have to coap with the average... and if you use an air/air intercooler core as your water cooler the extra volume will provide the system with plenty of capacity

and the water/air IC is small enough to be packaged anywhere...æ you couls even have two in the inner fenders....

here is an inspirational pic

[badmatt]

an air to water is the best for me after looking at all the relocating of the rad' im juts using an A/W small PT1800 5 gallon water tank cobra heat exchanger and a bosh lightning pump got the heat exchanger and pump used for 120 bucks