23/12/05

Early Christmas present - had my first test drive today. It works!

The pre-rad and associated plumbing were literally thrown on the front - no point wasting lots of time fitting it, if it doesn't work.

Here's two datalogs, both taken with an ambient temperature of about 10'c, in fact I believe the non intercooled run was done at 5'c

Off boost temps are down from 50'c to 30'c. On-boost temps vary between 35-45'c, down from 85'c non intercooled.

I think there are better gains to be had by simply insulating the coolant pipes from the massive amounts of radiated heat in the engine bay. Also the unseen aluminium steady bracket underneath conducts alot of heat from the engine. With the car idling and the pre-rad fan turned on, inlets temps remain at 31'c

Things made a bit more permanent, with the coolant pump placed in the inner wheel arch and the water inlets moved around on the rad. And brackets added.

Last two photo's showing installation:

Chargecooler Fabrication Tips:

Here's what I’ve learnt from all of the above fabrication:

1)Clean the radiators cores very thoroughly - you need bright metal

2)Keep all welds seams WELL AWAY from any part that has been brazed - namely the part where the tubes meet the end tanks.

3)Aim to butt weld the tanks, rather than overlapping like above.

4)Use dowel rods to tie the charge tanks together - I only used 2 dowels, should really use 4.

5)Clamp the assembly when welding the dowel rods in, the metal warps when it gets hot.

6)Dont weld yourself into a corner. Think about how you are going to get the torch into each weld.

7)Warpage; The large round carb hat still warped because the weld was too close to the finished edge, despite it being 6mm thick.

8)Mocking everything up in cardboard avoided mistakes when cutting the panels out.

9)submerse in water and pressure test the water jacket before moving onto the charge tanks.

10)Keep all joins to be welded clean 11)Consider 3/4" water fittings for high flow/power chargecoolers

12)Consider making the water compartments separate rather than as one and dividing them later on