Intercooler Upgrades

[MarvinPrado95 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close MarvinPrado95]

There's a couple of ideas I've heard of other people trying and wondered if anyone had managed to get them to work..
1. A fan placed on the top of the intercooler.
2. A D4 or other larger intercooler replacing the standard one.

If anyone has any info, that would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Paul.

[Guest Close Guest]

You could always try a water spray setup like the WRX's use cools the charge a little bit more.

[MickL Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close MickL]

Have a look on the Patrol forum, Patrols have an issue with air flow into the bonnet scoop when a bull bar/ bonnet protector is fitted.

http://www.patrol4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?p=150107

The Prado set up with it's double skin bonnet/ front air pick up is actually not a bad thing. Good ram air effect at speed and greatly reducing heat funneling up through the cooler at idle.

Thats not to say improvements can't be made.

Have a look here for intercooler spray info:

http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_1840/article.html

http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_2720/article.html

http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_0527/article.html

Here for fan forcing intercoolers:


http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_110214/article.html

http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_2478/article.html




Mick

[MarvinPrado95 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close MarvinPrado95]

Thanx muchly Team Piggy and Mick... both ideas are very interesting and I really like the Patrol forum info, that's been a great help..
I might be off to my local supercheap tomorrow and check out the selection..
Has anyone else tried the 'fitting an intercooler fan' thing...?

Cheers,
Paul.

[waltec Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close waltec]

I would think that the fan would only be benificial at low speeds (like the radiator fan). The advantage of the water spray is that the evaporation of the fine water mist actually cools the air entering the intercooler. And the hotter the day the better it works.

Matt

[hardroad Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close hardroad]

Re: Intercooler Upgrades

Thanx Y'all,
Iv'e been thinking of putting a bonnet scoop from a Hilux on my 90, was wondering if that would improve the airflow to the intercooler....reckoned it could be a good idea seeing as the new V8's have them an all, as do many other "less worthy" turbo diesels, but reading Micks comments about the bonnet and looking at the pics of the fans, I think I might just leave it all alone... Right now I get very few bugs in the intercooler and it doesn't seem to get hot. I also think a fan might just restrict air flow....unless you were doing heaps of slow grunt work.

Has anyone fitted a scoop and seen any difference??

Cheers...

[MickL Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close MickL]

Re: Intercooler Upgrades

Iv'e been thinking of putting a bonnet scoop from a Hilux on my 90

From what I've heard the Patrol scoop is a lot cheaper....

Mick

[DaveO Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close DaveO]

Re: Intercooler Upgrades

There are a few things that I have tried;
a. Fan Assist
b. Improved Intercooler AIr pickup
c. Water Spray


The Results;
a. With high flow fans fitted there was an improvement below approx 40kmh - above,nil to negative because section of the intercooler is blocked by the fan motors.
b. This worked all the time, but was related to forward speed - faster has better effect (but picks up a LOT more bugs)
c. Needs careful jet & pump selection. Consumes a lot of water. Works.

Keep in mind that at low air speeds you are fighting the fundamentals of nature - hot air from the engine rises and heats the intercooler.

Once the improved intercooler air pickup was used the speed at which this occurred was lower .

A larger top mount intercooler will also have the issue of heating at low speed (sand, steep terrain, city etc). Highway speed may be a little better.

The BEST solution is a use an AIR/Water intercooler - expensive. Next best is a front mount intercooler, but it will have a slight detrimental impact on the rate of boost increase due to the larger volume that must be pressurised. This is a custom installation (ie no kits).

NOTE: the GU Patrol with RD28 engine had a fan that operated based on intercooler temp 9but the intercooler is small). The later models dropped this feature.