water to air coolers

[Guest]

im thinking about putting an old water to air cooler set up from an older rs legacy on my wrx, anyone with experience wanna tell me pro's and con's to this??

[Pappu1]

from what i have read - they are really good..

some extra weight due to water and piping it along bit generally good for a fair bit of power too

[Guest]

Cons.

water to air is not as good as air to air

It weighs alot more - water, piping, radiator and an electric pump

Not as reliable

[Joker]

pro's sometimes use them for dragsters soley due to the instant benefits of an Ice-box

air to air doesnt work when ya launching!

[Pappu1]

 Qwerty said:

Cons.

water to air is not as good as air to air

It weighs alot more - water, piping, radiator and an electric pump

Not as reliable

depending on what ur driving is like - if u sit a lot in traffic then water is way better than the air to air (especially if u like to boost strait after)

reliability i gues wud be that as long as u have good and not leaky hoses - i have not had much else fail except the water pump but the car had done over 220km so i guess it was abt time....

if it was not the bling factor of the sti intercooler i wud personally go for the water to air solution and keep the water pump just running all the time hahaha pumps last long enough and are not that expensive

[Guest]

Water takes a long time to heat up but conversely it also takes a long time to cool down.

So get it hot sitting in traffic it will take longer to cool down.

Drive somewhere and park up - heatsoak will nicely spread into the water. Then drive off...

Water pump fails = no intercooler.

[zarnah]

 pappu']

[quote name='Qwerty said:

Cons.

water to air is not as good as air to air

It weighs alot more - water, piping, radiator and an electric pump

Not as reliable

/quote]

depending on what ur driving is like - if u sit a lot in traffic then water is way better than the air to air (especially if u like to boost strait after)

reliability i gues wud be that as long as u have good and not leaky hoses - i have not had much else fail except the water pump but the car had done over 220km so i guess it was abt time....

if it was not the bling factor of the sti intercooler i wud personally go for the water to air solution and keep the water pump just running all the time hahaha pumps last long enough and are not that expensive

price up a genuine one through subaru and let me hear you say that again......

[Guest boostcut]

fuck the factory pumps, a decent pump transforms the standard cooling system.

[Pappu1]

haha wat subaru genuine part is cheap lol

as boostcut said - aftermarket pump ftw

anyway its not like they fail often.. only time i saw one fail was at 220km and frankly thats expected haha

[Guest]

hmmm you got me thinking now guys

might use the original water to air cooler but maybe upgrade the pump and a bigger radiator up front.

wonder if some kind of heat wrap around things will avoid heat soak or paint it in heat proof paint hmmmmmm thinking thinking

where would i get a better pump that can hook up to 12 volt system

could i hook it into my cars cooling system?

[DRFVDR]

 98_STI_WAGON said:

hmmm you got me thinking now guys

might use the original water to air cooler but maybe upgrade the pump and a bigger radiator up front.

wonder if some kind of heat wrap around things will avoid heat soak or paint it in heat proof paint hmmmmmm thinking thinking

where would i get a better pump that can hook up to 12 volt system

could i hook it into my cars cooling system?

search on trademe for a shurflo pump me thinking these would be best

and no hooking into your cars radiator would be bad,the one on my legacy never got above 50 degrees,where as the radiator runs at about 100

[nt_a_foz]

I wouldnt be doing it myself to be honset.

If a factory wrx/sti air to air top mount ebgins to cause problem with detonation and heat above 200kw, how is a water to air going to handle it???

[zarnah]

 nt_a_foz said:

I wouldnt be doing it myself to be honset.

If a factory wrx/sti air to air top mount ebgins to cause problem with detonation and heat above 200kw, how is a water to air going to handle it???

I have read of setups tuned to 230-240kw using the water to air setups with no problems

[Guest]

 

and no hooking into your cars radiator would be bad,the one on my legacy never got above 50 degrees,where as the radiator runs at about 100

Is that the water or the air ? - be nice to have some real world testing data

[Pappu1]

 zarnah']

[quote name='nt_a_foz said:

I wouldnt be doing it myself to be honset.

If a factory wrx/sti air to air top mount ebgins to cause problem with detonation and heat above 200kw, how is a water to air going to handle it???

/quote]

I have read of setups tuned to 230-240kw using the water to air setups with no problems

i think there was this guy pushing like 260kw at wheels or something like that with his water to air from a old school gt..

there was a dyno plot and all that posted to show it was true

the only downside of water is the added weight - well its not that bad but other than that, on a street car its a win situation

[DRFVDR]

 Qwerty said:

 

and no hooking into your cars radiator would be bad,the one on my legacy never got above 50 degrees,where as the radiator runs at about 100

Is that the water or the air ? - be nice to have some real world testing data

Sorry should of made it clear,the water temp in the intercooler did not get above 50 degrees

the normal op temp of engine radiator about 100

[nt_a_foz]

 pappu']

[quote name='nt_a_foz said:

I wouldnt be doing it myself to be honset.

If a factory wrx/sti air to air top mount ebgins to cause problem with detonation and heat above 200kw, how is a water to air going to handle it???

/quote]

I have read of setups tuned to 230-240kw using the water to air setups with no problems

i think there was this guy pushing like 260kw at wheels or something like that with his water to air from a old school gt..

there was a dyno plot and all that posted to show it was true

the only downside of water is the added weight - well its not that bad but other than that, on a street car its a win situation

I bet you if that was changed to a FMIC youd get more....

Most tuners willtell you im sure that a FMIC will be plenty better than a Water or TMIC .

You dont see track cars rocking about with them generally do yah??

[nt_a_foz]

More safely at least i should of been more clear..

[Pappu1]

fmic always for the win hahaah but if i was on a strict budget and needed to be around the 220-250kw at wheels mark than hands down the water to air.. for around 40 bucks u can never ever go wrong with them

for that power level they easily perform as good as fmic if not better

[Guest]

 DRFVDR said:

Sorry should of made it clear,the water temp in the intercooler did not get above 50 degrees

the normal op temp of engine radiator about 100

If thats correct

We can assume from that the intake air coming out will be even hotter than that. Maybe 50-70C ambient intake air which is not good.

[nt_a_foz]

 pappu said:

fmic always for the win hahaah but if i was on a strict budget and needed to be around the 220-250kw at wheels mark than hands down the water to air.. for around 40 bucks u can never ever go wrong with them

for that power level they easily perform as good as fmic if not better

I doubt that whole statement higly to be honest....

Why do you see basically every car at that power with a FMIC ??

[zarnah]

 nt_a_foz']

[quote name='pappu said:

fmic always for the win hahaah but if i was on a strict budget and needed to be around the 220-250kw at wheels mark than hands down the water to air.. for around 40 bucks u can never ever go wrong with them

for that power level they easily perform as good as fmic if not better

/quote]

I doubt that whole statement higly to be honest....

Why do you see basically every car at that power with a FMIC ??

geez, what a fmic fiend! haha, horses for courses, water to air is probably good for a street car with a lot of stop-start driving, fmic wins out on the track where constant airflow is plentifull etc

[Pappu1]

exactly.. i prefer water to air for a street car as it offers more consistant performance at the fraction of the cost.

also see the top level dragsters, many have water to air coolers for the same effect - more consistant chill for their runs..

but yea if the car was a track car then fmic all the wat for sure as its got weight and performance on it side ..

hahaha not a fmic fiend hahahah in fact i fitted a fmic to my v7 once so not saying they bad or something..

;D

just saying if i didnt want the bling of a fmic and had to redo my setup - i wud go water to air simply coz its got better street performance and cost.. hmm my car has seen only a few track days but all the rest of the km is clocked up driving everyday roads...

[Guest]

When you fit the water to air unit to your car let us know how it goes

[Joker]

then c02 cool it...