Air/Water coolers
 

Why don't more turbo guys use this setup instead of an intercooler? Intercoolers only look good unseen or brand new. Aren't air/water coolers more efficient anyways? Plus you don't have to cut your bumper apart, right? Also, it gives you more of the sleeper status.

Re: Air/Water coolers
 

more expensive?

Re: Air/Water coolers
 

Because they're not good for long periods of time. Eventually the water gets hot and it doesn't cool the air any. Plus they're heavier. Air-to-water is great for a drag car or short runs, not so great for everything else.

Re: Air/Water coolers
 

.. water to air is where it's at. It keeps the air cooled even when at a dead stop, and has the possibility to cool the air far cooler than an air-to-air could even dream about. They are heavy, considerably harder to install (since you have to install the intercooler, the water cooler, the water resevoir if you have one, the pump for the water, wiring for the pump, etc. etc.) and they also usually take up more space under the hood... and they're harder to maintain...

Eng - that's why you run a FMWC (front mount water cooler :) ) Litlespic was running 2 oil coolers off of Cummins Diesel trucks for water coolers and never had a problem on long-term high-boost situations.

Re: Air/Water coolers
 

The term is called "heat soak". It all depends on the amount\volume of water used and the pump (constant flowing will decrease heat soaking).

Re: Air/Water coolers
 

Once the water reaches ambient temperature (read not very long) its not much (if any) better than a normal air-to-air intercooler. You do get the bonus of lugging around all that nice and heavy water though.

Tell me again why I would use one for anything besides drag racing again :p

Re: Air/Water coolers
 

Word. It was just a question I had on my mind.

Re: Air/Water coolers
 

a/w is awesome as stated for a short time period.
pack the resivour with ice water and rip it down the track...
pro's and con's of both to me are:

Air/Air Pro's
easy to configure, throw it on and be done with it, no motors/pumps, not as much junk to toat around, easy install, easy to maintain, very effecient when its not 90+ degrees.

Con's: Heat soak if its to small, heat soak if its to hot, and it can only cool to ambeint...

A/W Pro's: can cool below ambient so if its 100 degrees out with ice water in the resivour, intake temps at the TB can be cooled to restore lost of HP lost to heat soaked FMIC's...
Less intercooler plumbing resulting in possible quicker spool.

Con's:
tons of shit involved, complicated, tough to install, hard to find room in an already clutterend engine bay when it comes to turbo cars, can be hard to find a good place to mount the heat exchanger to effeciently cool the water, wireing up a pump, location of the resivour can be a pain in the ass, having to keep an eye on everything if somehting fails (IE the pump)...
not to mention ice water only lasts so long...
so the a/w works better than an FMIC for only a short period of time.

Re: Air/Water coolers
 

Pros: Extra option if you have a rear engined car, you can put the radiator for the intercooler in the front. You can also use a much smaller radiator core than you can air/air intercooler core, because of the efficiency difference in the two methods..
You can get really consistant performance if you pay attention when spec'ing your system.. I've always wanted to do a head to head comparison on spool up time between the two systems (different plumbing internal volume), that would be a fun experiment..

Re: Air/Water coolers
 

from everything i've ever seen, heatsoak is one of the best virtues of awic's. however, this is all with mr2's where you're using a few gallons of water. what i've experience is the longer and harder you run the car, the cooler the water gets.