V1 Turbo intercooler plumbing

[Lonny]

Good idea!

 

[Indy Lonnie]

I purchased the new fiberglass heat exchanger ductwork and have it installed. WOW. Good engineering. There is not a lot of extra space in that area. The only thing I added was to add a strip of edge mounding around the fiberglass where it sits on the heat exchanger. I also have the fan from when I originally purchased my kit, but I’m not going to install it since Lonny said in one of the posts about the new kit that it wasn’t needed.

 

[Indy Lonnie]

Does anybody feel that the intercooler "coolant" system needs more volume? I have yet to plumb my intercooler lines but I have read that some have had high air temps. My build will be used for mostly for weekend cruising and the occasional road trip and drag race. Will it be enough? I have thought of adding a 1-2 L reservoir just for piece of mind and seems like it will "finish" off the system nicely. Any comments would be appreciated.

A larger volume of water will cool better when first driving. But... once the water is heated it will take longer to cool down than a smaller volume. The way the system is designed with a small volume is the way to go.
The other way would be to use a system that uses an iced volume of water without the heat exchanger. That would be great for drag racing but the ice would melt fast and wouldn’t be good for longer driving situations.

 

[Brian74]

When the weather gets better we all need to do some similar drives and compare IATs on different set ups and compare notes. It would be really cool to have this data.

I made a thread for that info for TC’s a while back. Hoping more people will post to it as builds get completed.

http://dfkitcar.com/forum/index.php?threads/turbo-goblin-intercooling-and-iat2-temps.766/

 

[Brian74]

What size is your reservoir? I was wanting to add one but want enough volume to really bring down temps on hot NM days. I feel that the reservoir really Completes the system nicely. Do you feel that it will be in the way of the air filter? are you using the kits piping or your own stuff

I believe its a quart or so. I’ll be using the 3/4 blue silicone style tubing. The biggest issue IMO is that small heat exchanger (Arizona here). I upgraded my HE to a Derale Atomic Cool and I will be running it on the upper aft left side above the fuel tank. I’d like to run an additional HE but it doesn’t look like I’ll have room. As Lonnie mentioned, the volume of coolant isn’t nearly as critical as the heat exchanger. I added the reservior primarily for convenience.

 

[Christopher Sanchez]

Heres how I did mine. I bought a rubber cork from ace and a 10-24 bolt with two washers and a turn knob with nut and then you can just twist the knob to expand the cork.
View attachment 6829

Where did you mount the Bosch water pump for the intercooler? I see the DF turbo build mounted it in the front but I am not sure if that has changed or if there is a better location...

 

[Lethalcast]

You should have a little kit to mount it on the oil pan

 

[Christopher Sanchez]

You should have a little kit to mount it on the oil pan View attachment 6922View attachment 6923

Thank you, such a better mounting setup then what’s showed on the turbo build!

 

[Indy Lonnie]

I just finished up my plumbing. I wasn’t happy with how the fill could vent when heat cycling. I found a thread in a BMW website and someone had purchased a Wilwood remote brake reservoir and used it to help top off the system with thermal expansion and contraction. They confirmed that it topped off the system when needed and was a truely closed system. I was also worried about track tech if they would have seen the open vent. The wilwood reservoir was $30 ish off Amazon with a 4oz container. I purchased the 10.7oz container for $11 extra. The filler neck from ZZP holds just about 1/3 cup. I used about 1/2 gallon 50/50 dex-cool. For the whole system. It took awhile to purge the air out. I can still hear gurgling in the heat exchanger up front so I know I still have air in the system.

 

[Briann1177]

I'm confused. The filler neck coolant level appears to be below the intercooler. The intercooler appears to be the highest point in your setup so I don't understand how you'll be able to purge the air out???

 

[Briann1177]

Also, it looks like the fill neck will get in the way of the passengers left shoulder harness belt.

 

[Indy Lonnie]

I was trying to find a location where the filler neck would be able to be tucked under the the rear fiberglass. That was my choice where the swell is located. The filler neck is right equal with the top of fittings on the intercooler. I also left some slack in the tubing so it can be unbolted and lifted up if necessary. There is a gap between the filler neck and the frame. I used 4 coated clamps. 2 for the frame and 2 on the filler neck tubing. I haven't put in my belts yet, so... we will see. The overflow should slowly purge out any air the filler neck captures when it heat cycles.

 

[Indy Lonnie]

I just wanted to show the distance between the frame and fill tube. I can still move one side over about an inch. I can also use spacers to move the filler up more if needed.

 

[ctuinstra]

The belt should be fine. It might be a tad more difficult to adjust and tighten, but it's doable! Flipping the smaller clamps would raise it just a bit if you wanted to.

I like the setup.

 

[Indy Lonnie]

I just confirmed my Corbeau shoulder belt fits in the gap once the right clamp is moved over.

 

[Amack1970]

Question, just wondering the flow of water through the front intercooler. Is the driver side with the T fitting the hot side going into the front intercooler? The driverside, or pump side would be the cooled down coolant going into the heat exchanger? I'm working on a few things to cool my temps

 

[Briann1177]

Are you asking about the flow of water through the heat exchanger that goes behind the radiator or the intercooler that is mounted on the engine? The direction of the flow shouldn't matter as it's just a loop. My only suggestion is to put the water pump on the cold side of the circuit to possibly help prolong the life of it. I don't think the water gets very hot anyways so it probably doesn't really matter.

 

[Amack1970]

This is the df diagram from Lonny. Theres got to be a cold side. Depends on if the pump flows the water clockwise or counterclockwise. That's what I dont know. I think the puko side is the cold side? I think....

 

[Briann1177]

The flow in the diagram is clockwise so the pump is on the cold side of the circuit. It pulls cooled water from the heat exchanger and pushes it up through the intercooler.

*EDIT* I thought the arrow by the pump label indicated flow direction. Assuming flow in that direction, that would be the cold side of the circuit. The pump has arrows to indicate direction.

 

[JBINTX]

Hold on a second, guys.
I spoke to Lonny a few days ago about mounting the pump. I too thought it made sense that it should be pumping "cold" water instead of "hot" water. Of course the temps are relative. He said that the hot temps are not out of the pumps range. He felt it was more important to keep the head of the water (the height of the water column) above the pump so it was never starved and cavitated. My pump has an arrow on the outlet out the radial side. Which makes the port on the axis end the inlet. That means the flow in the above diagram would be counter-clockwise with the pump on the "hot" side of the intercooler. Not sure if the pump could get into a cavitation mode, but Lonny's concern is enough for me to follow his suggestion.