As I understand, the KB Cool Runner has passages for cooling the intake manifold. It seems to me that running engine coolant (at 160 degrees or so) through the intake won't cool it enough to make a difference. Or, am I wrong? I would think the best way to do it is to run ice-chilled water through the intake manifold. I remember hearing about a setup like this- a car had an ice chest and a circulation pump, and somehow it circulated ice-cold water through the intake manifold. However, it seems to be that since the air has a minimal residence time in the intake manifold (maybe 1/4 second?) that it would not significantly drop the intake charge air temperature before it hits the intake valve. Does anyone have any experience that contradicts my theory? If it is effective to super-chill the intake manifold, maybe it would be a better alternative to chill it with nitrous oxide (-128F), or more economically, carbon dioxide (-80 F). That approach would probably make better sense since the most of us don't carry ice chests in our trunk, and cooling in the pits would probably wear off by the time we got to the staging lanes... Any real-world results? -Bob Cunningham
Hi Bob Jim W dynoed a 600 hp motor with a cool runner and then hooked up ice water to it ,that's what it was meant to do.Jim picked up something like 12-14 hp ,if i remember correctly it drops the intake temp down under 100 degrees,from something like 180 .
I don't think chilling the intake is the greatest idea, because the fuel will not atomize as well, resulting in raw fuel entering the cylinder which will wash away the oil and cause accelerated engine wear. That intake already has fuel drop out problems at lower RPM's. Bob, If you do it with your Fuel Injection you might see a good gain, because the atomiztion problem would be eliminated. But you would also need the inlet air to be at least as cool as the intake, so the computer will add the appropriate amount of fuel. There is a company (in the ricer magazines) that has cryogenic cold air systems, on late model cars it keeps the airbox cool with compressed gas, not sure if it is Nitrous or not, but I am assuming so. Also, on late model cars there are kits to add nitrous injection in the air inlet, helps to keep the inlet air temp cool, and not as hard of a hit with plate or direct injection nitrous. Lastly, I saw a while back that Ford was fooling with a setup off of the air conditioning to cool the airbox. Dave
Bob, As Todd said, I have done this test a couple times in the dyno cell.. both times cooling the intake from 140 degrees to around 90.. Both times, it was worth exactly 11 HP, and about that much torque. We will give you a real world evaluation shortly, Tim Hol just finished installing the water system on his Regal, and yes he has a cooler in the trunk...
Here's my personal observation on this. I have done it both ways and tested it completely. Problem is this, cooling that intake is beneficial, HOWEVER... it changes the jetting requirements due to the density change of the mixture, to maximize the benefit. You waste your time doing this upgrade, unless you jet around all the time, for the density/cooling change. If it's a dedicated race car with a small cooled tank and a small bilge pump to circulate the water, then you'll see some gains. Is it worth it overall?? prolly not, for the plumbing and hassles involved. JH
Since I didn't want to bother with the cooler/pump/plumbing, I put a big funnel in there with a drain out back and pour ice water thru in the staging lanes sometimes....but I would rather have a setup where I can cool the intake to the same temp for consistency. Another thought is to turn a pump on and off to get it to a moderate temp (gauge in intake) then after leaving the line (no bogs) put it on full chill...... Probably just keep using my garden sprayer with icewater in it for now though...... If I work at it I can pick up a tenth by spraying....but have to towel dry before making a pass.... Bruce
If I had a strip only car, I'd run a Moroso fuel cooler packed with ice and an r.v. water pump and let it run.
Some of the heads up guys will super chill the intake just before a run. As Mr. JH stated it will screw up your jetting. It also has caused a big stumble if the RPMs arent brought up enough before launching. As Bruce stated you have to also make sure everything is dry before you pull into the burnout box. I have seen improvements chilling the manifold in a drag racing situation, a lot of work for minimal gains but when you are running heads up Just great gave away all of my GSM secrets for the BPG event! ou:
http://www.nhra.org/2004/sportsman/news/july/070602.html "The NHRA Technical department has noticed a number of Stock competitors spraying intake manifolds with an aerosol can, more specifically computer cleaner, which can reduce the temperature of the manifold to 62 degrees."
....Ford fit the SVT Lightning concept with an all-aluminum, 5.4-liter DOHC supercharged and intercooled V-8 engine conservatively rated at 500 horsepower and 500 foot pounds of torque. And while they were at it, they invented and patented a speed secret for those times when even that much power just isnt enough. Fords patented SuperCooler technology cleverly provides a special burst of power for the SVT Lightning concept. Traditional intercoolers dissipate heat from the supercharged air by circulating coolant through a front-mounted, air-cooled radiator. With the SuperCooler system, the vehicles air conditioning system is used to chill a small storage tank of coolant to about 30 degrees Fahrenheit. On demand, the SuperCooler system switches the intercooler flow from its normal circulation and dumps the chilled coolant into the engines intercooler. In turn, the intercooler dissipates up to 20 percent more heat from the charge air resulting in a denser air charge.
