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I have completed the first part of the intercooler installation, and here are the dirty details:

Started with a cheap intercooler from one of the suppliers on the web. After scouring through many webpages and ebay auctions for a low cost unit that would fit reasonably well, I decided on the Type 16. It measures 9.5 x 11 x 3.5, and has a thru design on the in and out.

The pump is an SVT replacement that was also pretty low cost, found on the web.

The radiator is on the way, and is off a particular old motorcycle, and has dimensions perfect for the way I want to mount it. It measures about 17x7, which should let me lay it down in front of the radiator, out of the way, fans blowing down

A new heat exchanger is pretty low cost, but I couldn't find a size that fit what I needed, so I set out to get dimensions and choose a used radiator from a bike. I initially thought of installing two smaller dirt bike radiators behind each fog light opening in the air dam, but decided to go for a single, central location, and do the two smaller one as extra cooling if I decide I need it later on.

The ICV and bypass valve was the only real creative part I needed to worry about. Initially, I got two aluminum bungs that I thought I would have welded into the intercooler, and thread in some hose barbs to attach the two tubes. Well it turned out that the intercooler has mounting bosses in the right locations, so drilling and tapping those with the 1/2 NPT drill and tap I had from the turbo install would be easier and cheaper than getting a weld job. When all was said and done, there was enough room between the intercooler and the throttle body to have a pipe welded up with two tube outlets, just like the TCD charge pipe.



The ICV/BPV interface pipe was welded from stainless 2.5" pipe, and expanded to 2.75" on one end to fit the silicone coupler I found locally. The expanded end on the other side was cut off, and this pipe was made as short as possible. I found an s-shaped hose at the local auto parts store, and used this to attach the BPV. Not sure how the little hose is going to do under pressure. The TCD pipe uses silicone hoses, and as much metal tube to bridge the distance as possible. Any guesses??

Finally, instead of cutting up the nice TCD charge pipe, I also got a piece of stainless pipe that was U-shaped with a small radius, and cut that down to attach the inlet of the intercooler down to the turbo.






Before:



Next step will be cleaning up the motorcycle radiator, fitting it down in front of main radiator, and making some mounting down there. Radiator should be here tuesday!

After looking at the pictures, I realized that the BPV could be mounted directly to the charge pipe, and the use the hose on the non-pressure side. Just need to get a hose in a U-shape.

Any particular reason for the rainbow of colors under the hood? Nice install otherwise.

Initially, I wanted red couplers on the hot side, and blue on the cool

But I ordered all blue with the intercooler...but then plans changed. I got what I could locally on a saturday, instead of waiting till midweek to either drive to a faraway turbo supplier, or wait for another mail order.

So basically, the answer is....impatience. Thanks Todd

Arghhh! I hate our proxy.

Well here is the "heat exchanger" that arrived today. Smaller than I was envisioning I think I have heat exchanger envy. Did Freud write about that?

The core measures 13x6.25x1.25

I do like the dandy filler hose and neck though, not to mention the bungs for the temp sensors.

Any suggestions from the experienced guys on the size of this thing?

Both the intercooler and the heat exchanger are undersized.

Well teach us....I'd love to know what size you would suggest, and what engine and driving factors you are basing that off of....

So now I have to get an IAT gauge

Here it is, laying just about in the intended position. I'd love to find something that took up more of that room.

The intercooler and heat exchanger will be fine for a street car with 300rwhp.

Cool, thanks for the clarification Todd.

Moosehead's comment did leave me wondering if he meant that cooling capacity was undersized, or whether it was airflow rating through the intercooler, which would be a problem regardless of my driving habits.

I am a pretty conservative driver, and this is my DD. Every so often, I have the opportunity to lay it flat out, but I'd say I drive off boost about 95% of the time. The intercooler should have enough time to shed its heat before its needed to cool another hard run.

Since part of the reason I did this project was to start learning about building and tuning turbo-charged engines, I think I'm going to go ahead and install the water/meth injection kit I got, as an added measure of safety and learning.

My car responded well to water/meth from what I could tell from my butt dyno. How are you activating yours?

Ahh, well if you aren't going for higher boost levels, then as Todd says, that will be fine. What you will want to do is place your heat exchanger in clear airflow to increase its efficiency. Also, straight up and down is preferred, again for efficiency, since that will provide the least restricted flow through the device. Fans work to help keep the cooling medium cool at low speed and idle, but ram air is what cools the heat exchanger while you are moving down the road. A small fan simply cannot move the kind of air that the car blasting through the air at 60 can. If you want a bigger heat exchanger, choose a bigger motorcycle (like a liter bike) for your donor, or even a very small car. Lower temps at the heat exchanger mean lower intake air temps, which means more power for a given boost level and less chance of detonation.

My butt is always activated, but perhaps adding the water/meth will help?

My kit has a boost activator, but my local turbo expert suggests boost and throttle activation. Do you know how to do that?

My kit has a check valve as opposed to a solenoid...any suggestions there?

Or I could make it really cool and mount a big yellow button on top of the shifter knob...........

Thanks Moosehead...

I initially wanted the small heat exchanger so I could keep it out of the way of the engine radiator, but it sounds like mounting it vertically and/or getting a bigger one won't cause too much disruption to the ability of the engine radiator to cool? If thats the case, I'll definitely reconsider the size and mounting.

It won't make a large difference in the cooling of the engine radiator. Remember, most E28s have a big, fat AC condenser there.

I remember, and was so happy to chuck it out!

has anyone ever found an aluminum rad. that would fit?

Shadow wrote:has anyone ever found an aluminum rad. that would fit?

I know people that use big boost and Honda radiators. You can find all sorts of cheap universal aluminum radiators. Since they don't run any pressure and run at relatively low temps, any old radiator should last forever.

You could also go about from a different approach. Use a smaller radiator as you planned but use a larger pump to move the coolant through the radiator faster. This would be a trade off, as all things automotive between radiator efficiency and alternator drag to run the larger pump. Maybe a happy compromise exists?

Also a couple small aluminum air control vanes might direct the air up into your horizontal radiator quite well (from the fog light openings). You could then mount the fans below the inter cooler radiator and increase the flow through the main engine radiator at the same time.

Just tossing thoughts out there.

That's not how heat transfer works bro

Lurker27 wrote:That's not how heat transfer works bro

Actually, it is, up to a point.

mooseheadm5 wrote:

Shadow wrote:has anyone ever found an aluminum rad. that would fit?

I know people that use big boost and Honda radiators. You can find all sorts of cheap universal aluminum radiators. Since they don't run any pressure and run at relatively low temps, any old radiator should last forever.

This has always mystified me.
I saw an e28 with the e30 318 (late, I think) radiator with the integral coolant expansion/overflow... Cleans up pretty nice, but I always wondered how that worked...

Lurker27 wrote:That's not how heat transfer works bro

Were you referring to my post? If so please expound.