DIY Air to Water Intercooler setup for $350 to support 600hp

How to build an AIR to WATER Intercooler setup for ~$350

intercooler 700hp core

intercooler 450hp core

intercooler 450hp core compact.

Notes in cores: bigger is better for cooling, but you'll see more pressure loss aka less overall boost and more lag. But cooler charge air temp means you can run more timing and therefore more power. I recommend the largest you can fit.

Heat exchanger.
$200-

motorcycle radiator - eBay has these in singles.

Honda half radiator- when you really need to cool down a lot of water. 750+HP

Notes: Anything will work, it's just a matter of if it will work enough. If your racing you need a big exchanger to dissapate the heat. Drag racing you almost don't need one it you have a big enough reservoir or ice box. Street you mainly just need a small one to dissipate the heat between pulls. I recommend starting small on the radiator and watching your water temp or IAT.
BIG NOTE: Keep your heat exchanger far away from radiant heat like a engine radiator or condenser. if you draw in heat you'll loose a lot of the benefit from an A2W setup..

Pump -

Bosch pump

VW pump

Prius pump

Temp controller

Notes: Use a relay. lots of these on Amazon and similar. They all perform the same task and typically read in celsius.

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[winstonwalker]

Why have more people not seen this information? This is good stuff. Even after being in the game for 15 years

[martinultimatevw]

Prius inverter 2009 pumps are good also in flow, and OEM quality

[iancharles]

I'm extremely relieved I've found your channel.

[MinionnitrousBHPtoBHP]

Gr8 vid.
Your right out the pump .there's always a cheeper way just got to find it.
I used a 130psi max water pump £19:00 . And used it for a M&w kit with a 1st solenoid to the spray then I just used a cheque one-way valve worked fine. Love the vids👍

[rollinwithreese]

I'm holding on to this video. I think I may need this for my build. Thanks!

[tommylyeah]

Built Not Bought
Sub'd, LOVE tech talk like this.

[patonbike]

I have one of these setups with a "350hp" type 13 exchanger (Car makes about 500 crank hp), fairly large, thick radiator with good airflow and Bosch pump.. my post IC IATs are in the 80s-90s Farenheit at max boost though (Note, relatively low vehicle speed - about 60mph @ max boost because these are test runs on the street) a little hot for me. There is a pump called a Davies Craig 9040 which has about 2x as powerful as the Bosch. It is also brushless. It is a little expensive ($200) but my theory is opposite yours, I think the more flow, the better. So I will see how it goes when I get a chance to try this pump.

[TexMag]

First time, subscribed. I now can start on my air to water setup

[WholesaleTurbos]

You need a pump that can handle some pressure, even running a hose on the end causes flow drop because of the extra load. Each heat exchanger is a restriction, water needs to move up/down, through bends etc

[baselplays]

I’m building hidden turbo setup your video helped me out thank you 🙏

[radstar]

Thanks for the info. I'm looking at a2w for my mrs turbo project the motorcycle radiator is a good idea.
The fan idea is a bit tricky as I'm not to good with wiring stuff in the car lol. Cheers

[cjsawinski]

I might try this and use some old computer rads I have lying around!

[vintagespeedshop]

So-called air to water intercoolers only have two advantages and that is size and placement. They are much smaller than a traditional intercooler and are easier to place in a tight engine bay. The negative is they are less efficient and suffer heat soak in traffic. They are great in boats that have a constant supply of cold water or drag racing where you have a water tank full of ice. In a road car they are still an air to air intercooler, water is just a carrier of heat from one heat exchanger to another. The problem with this is as the water heats up (especially in traffic when there is low air movement to cool it) it becomes less efficient and takes a long time to cool back down.
The manufacturers that use this system generally use it on supercharged cars because it can be fitted in the inlet manifold under the supercharger saving space. They also have thermostatically controlled fans to help with heat soak when the water gets too hot. Some even utilise the air conditioning to keep the water temp down.

[LowBoostFilms]

Great video, I’m contemplating adding an air to water intercooler potentially in addition to my air to air. However I am hoping to make around 800 hp so I’m probably gonna need some thing that flows well

[milllllllI]

Learning how to design my A2W system for my MR2, and realizing that it's exactly like water cooling my computer.

[mrbuddahz]

Dope dope dope thank you for this info

[captnjaygreybeard]

Very cool video, I like the low price version with the option of upgrading, and you added parts, cheers

[trumanhw]

because when the can of 'dust cleaner' was compressed, it probably got just a little hotter than how cold it gets (relative to ambient // 'delta' ) whence you released the air. :)

[david-zwom]

I was thinking of using an AC condenser as an heat exchanger for my car. Since my car doesn't have AC I can fit the condenser just like if I had AC.
100$ for the condenser + 160 for the biggest epman barrel intercooler.

[Club]

Just subscribed, thanks for the info 👍🏻

We're planning a Mercedes turbodiesel swap and they're known for running hot so it'd make sense to run an a/w setup and leave more space for the engine radiator up front.

I was always put off the idea of an a/w setup on a diesel turbo engine under load a lot of the time as I thought the coolant water would get hot quickly and stay hot constantly.

Is this generally the case if you're on boost a lot of the time and can it be remedied with a big heat exchanger and radiator setup?

Thanks a lot 🍻