Cheap intercooler setup - Anti turbo go bang damage????

[mr1jz]

Pressure will more then likely push it into the intake regardless.
I will try to get photos of my mates ZD30 engine bay. He has all the frozen boost gear minus the cooler/heat exchange at the front.
He spent about 400 just on a Derale cooler and it made a huge difference to temps.

 

[4x4 ST-R]

I suspected it might get pushed through the elbow too. It was just a thought

 

[chule]

Cheers mate, already checked out Joshman's build... he's upgrading his turbo and put off installing the intercooler till that's complete. Know of anyone else?

terra88 has w2a intercooler as well. His is from ARE in Brisbane. Their gear is expensive but all built in house and of high quality I'm told.

Have you considered getting a custom core made? I'm doing a TMIC with thermo fan later in the year & I can get the exact core size, spout diameters & angles I need for about $300. I'm aiming to have the entire setup installed for between $500-$600

 

[4x4 ST-R]

Pressure will more then likely push it into the intake regardless.
I will try to get photos of my mates ZD30 engine bay. He has all the frozen boost gear minus the cooler/heat exchange at the front.
He spent about 400 just on a Derale cooler and it made a huge difference to temps.

I suppose a test could be done. With an air compressor with the regulator set to say 20psi. Taped to one end of angled hose, the same size that would most likely be on an I/C, with water in the bend - seeing how much water actually got blown through. Would something like that replicate air through the induction hoses?

If that test is considerably similar to the induction system, and u have enough room to have that sort of bend in the system, and no water (other than perhaps mists of water (which might be evaporated before entering the engine) then you could instal a water level sensor onto the water reservoir of the water component of the I/C, so once the level drops you will be warned and can shut down prior to disaster.

Now.....how wrong am I? Haha. Not working at the moment so I have lots of time to think and ponder. Lol

 

[mooxie]

terra88 has w2a intercooler as well. His is from ARE in Brisbane. Their gear is expensive but all built in house and of high quality I'm told.

Have you considered getting a custom core made? I'm doing a TMIC with thermo fan later in the year & I can get the exact core size, spout diameters & angles I need for about $300. I'm aiming to have the entire setup installed for between $500-$600

Hmmm... that's pricked my ears up a little!
I don't have anyone in my region that would custom build. (advantages of living in a rural town!) I'm keen for some more info on your build.
I don't have a body lift installed... and don't really plan on it any time soon. So that may limit my options for top mount!

 

[Old.Tony]

Couple of things to consider with a W2A setup when the primary goal is to protect from a disintegrating turbocharger.

As 180degrees points out, the difference is going to be marginal - while a water-to-air IC is going to draw the heat away more efficiently, the water is not going to be much cooler than ambient (plus any thermal energy its own cooling system can't remove from the fluid). A front-mounted air-to-air is at ambient without any additional cooling system, but is not as efficient - liquids and solids are better at transferring heat than air.

The W2A will leak into the air stream if impacted by turbocharger fragments. Remember that the air stream moves very quickly and bends & loops will likely have little impact on it due to the velocity. Normally, the air stream is in positive pressure thanks to the turbocharger, but once the impeller disintegrates, a revving engine will create quite a large vacuum. The fragments could rupture the cores, causing water to be actively sucked into the engine causing the hydraulic lock - and in about 2m of air pipe (that's a long way) it will take around 0.005 of a second to cover that distance into the intake.

If you want to partly cross the gap between a W2A and A2A without spending a fortune, get a misting system that occasionally sprays a mist of water on the outside of an A2A intercooler. Fracture it and the worst you'll ingest is a small amount of moisture.

 

[equipt]

Just go race spec. Get a dry ice cooler in the tub. Lol

Did you ask the question about coolers on the Facebook Navara page the other day? If so I think is was me that turned you off the water to air set ups.

 

[mooxie]

Just go race spec. Get a dry ice cooler in the tub. Lol

Did you ask the question about coolers on the Facebook Navara page the other day? If so I think is was me that turned you off the water to air set ups.

LOL.... why not!
I didn't even know there was a Navara facebook page! Might have to check that out too!

 

[mooxie]

Cheers Old Tony,
I should probably take a step back and remember that my primary reason for the intercooler is to catch the turbo if it goes bang. And that water does pose a potential danger!
I'm actually a bit interested in the barrel style water-air IC's as they look like they'd be a bit easier to squeeze in. Especially as I don't have body lift.
Hmmmm.... more research I think!

 

[jaymac90210]

Just go race spec. Get a dry ice cooler in the tub. Lol

Did you ask the question about coolers on the Facebook Navara page the other day? If so I think is was me that turned you off the water to air set ups.

Yes that was me hahaha but you did raise a fair point that I definitely did not think about, so thanks for that mate.

 

[equipt]

LOL.... why not!
I didn't even know there was a Navara facebook page! Might have to check that out too!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/NavaraD22/

That is the page. Not a huge amount of info but you get to see plenty of tidy D22s

 

[ben85]

Cheers Old Tony,
I should probably take a step back and remember that my primary reason for the intercooler is to catch the turbo if it goes bang. And that water does pose a potential danger!

that was my conclusion

 

[rabbit-chop]

Has anyone ever heard of a water to air intercooler actually failing suddenly enough to cause hydraulic lock?

Just thinking out loud, and someone please correct me if im wrong, but I would imagine that if the turbo grenaded it would most likely be the turbine wheel, not the compressor, sending any shrapnel down the exhaust.

And if the compressor let go, id imagine the worst it could do to the intercooler would be a small leak or two?

The only way i cvan imagine getting enough coolant into the engine quick enough to cause hydraulic lock would be if the welds on the intercooler failed catastrophicly enough that a whole end tank broke off at full noise, which would be pretty hard to do, especially when a water to air is a conventional intercooler inside a jacket, and therfore seemingly twice as sturdy.

 

[bods]

^^in all honesty there is probably very little chance of the turbo punching a hole in the intercooler and hydraulic locking the motor, as you said. the w2a systems don't run at a very high pressure either, so if the core did develop a small leak for whatever reason it would act more like a water injection system, steam cleaning the engine internals

 

[4x4 ST-R]

That's more comforting to hear - w2a is back on the cards then!

 

[jaymac90210]

That's more comforting to hear - w2a is back on the cards then!

I second that hahaha

 

[ben85]

Has anyone ever heard of a water to air intercooler actually failing suddenly enough to cause hydraulic lock?

Just thinking out loud, and someone please correct me if im wrong, but I would imagine that if the turbo grenaded it would most likely be the turbine wheel, not the compressor, sending any shrapnel down the exhaust.

And if the compressor let go, id imagine the worst it could do to the intercooler would be a small leak or two?

I haven't heard of a water to air system failing and causing problems.

Its common enough for the turbo compressor wheel to fail and destroy the engine, thats why a lot of guys want to add an IC to catch the wheel or peices of. Would it damage the w2a IC? not sure.

 

[rabbit-chop]

^ ok so the compressor wheels on these do let go, huh? - i still cant see it doing enough damage to the w2a ic to hydraulic lock the engine. Even if shrapnel went into the ic like it came off a slingshot (which it wouldnt), worst it would do is create a small leak. And its not as if you wouldnt know something was wrong and pull over if your compressor wheel just flew apart!

 

[ben85]

your probably right, i just thought id play it safe anyway, and it seemed a slightly easier job.
save finding a spot to mount the heat exchanger etc.

 

[Old.Tony]

^ That's the other issue with a W2A. The water has to be cooled - so there'll be another radiator mounted in front of the engine's radiator. Plus a pump, hosing - there are more weak points. Is it worth the relatively minor performance gain?