I'm going to be fitting an intercooler for the twin turbos in my car, but there's not enough space to mount both it and the radiator side by side...
I've come to the conclusion that the two cooling units will have to be postioned within a duct that draws air in from the front of the car, directs it through one and then the other (with enough space in between to prevent heat transfer through convection) and then out a rearward facing vent in the hood (like in TVRs and Daytona Prototypes).

My question is: which element should receive the airflow first, radiator or intercooler?

I would think that my best bet would be to have the intercooler first for durability's sake (a rock hitting the radiator would be BAD) and also because it will most likely give off less heat to the air than the radiator. On top of that, it would allow me to mount my radiator high enough so that I wouldn't have to mess with a fillable thermostat. The belt-driven fan on my RB26 will have to be replaced by an electric one regardless of what happens, so I thought I might put a blower fan or two inside the duct in between the intercooler and radiator.

Let me know what you guys think, and THANKS
-MR

[Edited on 31/7/03 by mranlet]

check a picture of hicosts car (on his website) he runs an intercooler behind the engine...

Ned.

Most decide that the intercooler should be first so it gets the coolest air available.

The radiator (and hence your engine) will not suffer from the slight increase in temperature.

Do you have enough clearance on top? You could always mount it like a Subaru...

FWIW,
Ian

Mount it in front of the radiator. The subaru position is a fudge and suffers from heat soak when stationary or slow moving due to heat rising off the engine. It does however have short pipe runs leading to less lag.
For big power an efficient front mount intercooler is the way to go.

Thanks guys!

I would mount it subaru style, but the intercooler is not the right proportions for a top-mount (besides, front mount is more efficient). The piping will not be very long at all since the car is so small and I don't think that the strong 6-cylinder RB26 will even have a chance to lag.

Thanks again for the input!
-MR

what about a water to air intercooler
basicly all you will need is a high flowing std intercooler and Tig weld a box around the fins. and run a smaller water lines up into the nose cone and use a tranny cooler or something small to cool the water
all you need then is a electric water pump.

you could use a std water to air cooler out of Subaru Libertys and Toyota Celicas

Holy shit, you're putting an RB26DETT in a locost?

Let us know how you get on, if you live.

There was me thinking we're being hairy putting a rover v8 in it.. woah.

I think the RB's stock air-to-air job will be allright for now (since it does come with the engine), but if I start running higher boost, I very well may add a water-to-air unit for additional cooling...

Blueshift - The respose is classic In all of the chassis and suspension forums, I'm always talking about my frame and how I'm using 2"x2" instead of 1"x1" RHS, and how I've built in thick scattershields and sheer panels and all that business, and I feel like maybe the frame is way overdesigned. Then I think to myself "It may be bigger and heavier, but I'm having the RB26!! If i don't build it like this, it will rip the frame apart!" I will most definately keep all updated on my progress.

Unfortunately, I will be having to relocate into an apartment, but there is a possibility that I might rent out a workshop space and build my beast there while living in confined spaces. Granted, the frame will not be graced by the RB26's pressence until after the car is fully built with a serragate motor (RWD 4G63, SR20DET, Dastun L-series, etc). So, it will be more like building a car with a more mundane engine and then performing a swap with the motor that was intended for it.

You can be sure that I will be updating frequently once construction is in progress.


-MR

Where are you going to put it if you're moving into an apartment?

Or have you not started yet?