charge cooler setup

[vr6turbo 27]

after running my car for many years with an intercooler i got sick of saxos and other cars

wanting to race me.

i decided to go stealth and fit a charge cooler

the problems have been keeping the water cool in the system even though i have a 20 ltr tank in the boot

a track day ended in very high engine temperatures where i had to stop every few laps

so i have made a custom charge cool radiator up from a cinquicento radiator and 2 x 7inch fans

£20 rad

£17 each for the fans

£15 for silicon hoses

£10 for wiring switch and relay

plus digital temp sensor £25

so £87 all in

i plan to have a digital intake temp readout in the dash somewhere and a switch to control the fans on the charge cooler rad

heres some pictures

http://i457.photobucket.com/albums/qq295/scrimpop/vr6turbo008.jpg

http://i457.photobucket.com/albums/qq295/scrimpop/vr6turbo009.jpg

it will be a 3-4 weeks before i get the car back together so i will let you know how i get on

[FishWick 21]

Nice!

How long has your VR been turboed mate? I take it the IC was external and easily visible then?

Mine's been a daily VRT for 2.5 years with a discrete chargecooler and it's been great. Water is brilliant for absorbing heat and I get very stable and low intake temps.

I'd say if your 20 Litres is getting hot, it's definitely a radiator issue.

Mine is 20" x 1" x 6" and the water in the tank (boot mounted) is always cool.

I'm also going to use a VR Air con radiator as an additional radiator when I get round to it, which should be awesome!

Keep us posted!

[vr6turbo 27]

Iva had the vr turbod for about 6 years its been on and off the road a few times due to engine failure

lead foot syndrome, started with SPA kit from brasil

6psi no intercooler

then moved on to an eip kit and made up an intercooler,

i sold all my old stuff to jim potter

i have seen your thread from the beginning to end so know how much effort you have put in

more respect for people who have done all their mods themselves,

you are right the radiator for the charge cooler is too small so i hope the cinquicento one works, i also got a digital temp meter so i can keep an eye on intake temperatures form the dash,

http://www.evolution-r.com/charge%20temp.html saves setting vag com up to monitor them.

i had a look at the aircon radiator and feel the pipe diameters could be a little resrictive when it comes to water flow

matt at c2 has an air con rad i took it off yesterday and its not in bad condition, could do with a paint

[FishWick 21]

That's a fair while then, good stuff.

Yep, expensive and hassle, but worth it in the long run. I have no interest in cars that don't keep me occupied and have no tuning potential.

Yeah I considered that too regarding the AC rad being restrictive, but I managed to score a brand new rad from VW for £75, so rude not to try it. I think it will do a reasonable job.

I would really like details of your Cinquicento rad though, in case the AC one doesn't work out!

I have a little display on the dash that tells me everything the ECU is reading and controlling which is very handy. Saves having a laptop on the passenger seat and driving down ditches reading it....

[technoveer6 0]

Kev,

Where would you mount the AC radiator? Is there space in front of the water radiator? Is it a Golf VR6 one, cos it's pretty big?

Good to have fresh ideas on keeping a running VRT cool.

Kong

[FishWick 21]

Hey Kong

No it's a Corrado specific VR6 A/C radiator and the cross member panel has mountings for it in front of the main engine radiator. It's a very tight fit, even as a factory install. Only a few mm clearance between the two radiators and the slam panel.

The water channels in the AC rad I've got are roughly the same size as the ones in the Setrab cooler Schimmel sells with his Air - water setup, but the inlet and out hoses are smaller. But the main benefit will be keeping intake temps cool in traffic because it will get cooled by the fans.

[john555 0]

sorry to hijack your post but im just wondering if yous think this will work i have my cooler setup with allard charge cooler, range rover rad and water pump and a 2 ltr water tank

but i still have a spared rad off a bike and water pump off a subaru legacy

would i be better just having one rad and pump into the cooler

two rads one pump and cooler

or one pump rad and thecooler in one circuit and adding the extra pump and rad into a seperate circuit into the tank

[vr6turbo 27]

not sure till i see some pics

i am suprised you can fit a range rover rad infront of the vr one

here an update on the charge cooler rad so far

some pics for your perusal

[vr6turbo 27]

and some more of the re rebuild

[john555 0]

sory i didnt mean a range rovers actual radiator i ment the ones that you get on a range rover sport for there charge cooler setup like the one below

[vr6turbo 27]

that looks sweet sweet sweet

i like the intake come charge cooler and its shiney

i found a few on line allready made up in the good old US of A

http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/Search?catalogId=10101&storeId=10101&sku=ZX476765F&zmam=73771597&zmas=4&zmac=60&zmap=ZX476765F

they seem very reasonable considering i put mine together this for £82

i would like the fans to come on when the intake

temps reach 50 and go off at 40

[john555 0]

im a bit worried that it might suffer from heat soak off sitting on the rocker cover thats why im trying to cool the water as much as possible, that why im considering running two water circuits one with the charge cooler and another just with the water tank

i like your idea of adding a gauge to keep an eye on the water temp

cheers john

[vr6turbo 27]

heres how i have my system set up

you wont have so much of a problem with heat running a supercharger

[Antihero1981 8]

i would put tank in boot and nothing less than 5ltrs....run pipes under car

[vr6turbo 27]

add antifreeze to the coolant for the winter

[john555 0]

i bought water wetter its like anti freeze but keeps it cooler wont be usin 5ltrs thou probly 2 ltr tank plus there will b 1 in the rad another in the lines and aound 1.5 in the cooler

cheers john

[Phat VR6 3]

i like your awic intake john. what does everyone think of these kind of setups compared to the sri and separate charge coolers. Will it cool just as well or better? you have runner compensation with johns and nice sized runners

will it still do the job of been a pendum (dunno how to spell it lol) even though its filled with a awic?

how much power do you make at what psi

[john555 0]

id like to know this to lol,

the only reason i bought it was becasue i wanted to go stage three with my vf charger and didnt want to loose any boost through pipe work of a intercooler but iv sold that now anyways

havent had my car running with it on yet goin to be trying to run 18psi with a rotrex

[vr6turbo 27]

awesome

:-d how many bhp will that give you?

[john555 0]

not sure realy theres a lad making 430 with this charger and pully on a 2.9 corrado engine with cams so im hoping for around 400ish but not realy sure

[FishWick 21]

i like your awic intake john. what does everyone think of these kind of setups compared to the sri and separate charge coolers. Will it cool just as well or better? you have runner compensation with johns and nice sized runners

will it still do the job of been a pendum (dunno how to spell it lol) even though its filled with a awic?

how much power do you make at what psi

I can't see the Pic of John's but I've seen a stock VR6 intake with a built in chargecooler core. Is that what we're discussing? It was in a PVW or something last year, a black MK3 VRT made by an American firm called something 'industries'? Can't remember the first bit, LOL!

It looked brilliant but I'm not sure how much heat would get sucked out of the head by the intake like a wick? It must work though as Jaguar and Mercedes use very similar systems. It will be interesting to see what the intake temps are like as I'd love to use something like that :-)

[john555 0]

yer its the same as the american blokes just doesnt look as fancy im thinking about getting one of the polymer gasket things that go between the lower intake manifold and head as im guessing that will help abit but ill get it mapped and stuff first then see what sort of intake temps i get so i can see what works and what doesnt

id like the style more if my vr was turboed honist as there would be hardly any pipe work required so look super clean but im still happy with it

here a better pic of it

its pretty close to the bonet when shut lke

[FishWick 21]

I can't see any pics hosed on Photobucket mate, my work block them!! I'll have a look later at home. Sounds interesting though.

Yeah with a turbo it would be a really, really short boost path. Throttle response will be awesome. It just concerns me though a chargecooler being sat between a glowing turbo and a cylinder head roasting away at 150+ deg C externally, but as you say, it's good to experiment with these things!

I've had an infrared thermometer on my engine and there's some pretty scary temps going on in there!

You'll be fine with an S/C though, lower temps coming out of the compressor.

[john555 0]

yer it would be a realy short path im not sure how hot it would get. the other thing is my cooler is after the throtle body will that make any difference

cant wait to get things started so i can see how things realy work

[Phat VR6 3]

that's why i like it. seems to make sence in so many ways. Ive seen people use the oil breather to top up the oil, might not need it but you could get rid of the oil filler and make it a few inchs wider

I see you concern kev. are you saying on a long trip it might start to heat the water though heat soak? never though of that.

what do you think about the pendum (what im calling it now lol) is filled buy the charge cooler