Just got done with the proverbial Winter projects. A bunch of stuff and I'll put the exhaust system info in a separate thread.

As you know I do a bunch with George at Mini-Madness. He's down the road in Portland and we work together putting the stuff in. As an aside, I do pay for my mods, but I do get a break. We've become friends. Just want to have a full disclosure.

Anyway, with an event in Mexico coming up and the usual trackdays this Summer, I was very interested in an oil cooler. Since I have a water-to-air intercooler I needed to go with the top-mount oil cooler radiator and move my older-style intercooler radiator. BTW, the OC adaptor plate is a work of art.
http://www.mini-madness.com/index.a...PROD&ProdID=219 Easy and proper fitting. It also allows for correct sensor placements for accurate readings, which I'll get to later.

So, the new, larger, lower-mounted IC triple-pass radiator went in with the new improved pump. http://www.mini-madness.com/index.a...PROD&ProdID=219

And the results? First oil temps were consistently between 190 and 220. Was stuck in traffic for a half hour, then drove Interstate for 3 hours and town driving today. Just very steady temps, usually around 205.

Next the IC temps. That's where I was blown away. I have the 3-position temp gauge. I just watch the outflowing air and compare that to my ambient temp readout. My old deltas were 35 to 40 with a usual of 38-39. Now I am getting 14 to 21 with a usual of 17-18. It's great driving down the highway at 85 and see your temps are less than 20 degrees different from the outside air. Even better, I was also getting the same thing in stop and go and traffic. The same consistency was true with the oil temps. Looking forward to results on the track and at the Border Challenge. BTW, ambients the last 3 days ran 42 to 58.

I'm very pleased, since this year's mods were more focused on reliability and durability, rather than HP gain. Though of course, the lower IC temps will translate into power (will dyno on March 18). I think I helped the puzzle. I don't have a real water temp gauge in now, but the Mini gauge was consistently slightly under the mid-mark. I'm thinking that the new oil cooler will also help in that area for two reasons: First, lower engine temps. Second, remove demand on the coolant to cool the oil through the stock double-pass set-up.

I be cool runnings, Mon.

 

I'm confused, both links were for the oil cooler.

 

Sorry Andy, understandably confused. I must have scewed up my copy/paste. Let's try again: http://www.mini-madness.com/index.as...ROD&ProdID=130

 

Wow, that's a big radiator! Any pics of it installed? Any efficiency data to report?

 

Yeah! I wanna see pic on your car!

the site stated that "whopping 25 hp"!!!

 

if the AIT goes above 140 F, you will drop big hp; comparing that worst case to a properly cooled charge (no cheating with ice) at say 75F and there might be 25hp difference.

another comparison would be vs the stock intercooler at a stabilized 50 mph;
another would be after the 50mph run, come to a stop, wait 1 minute and then compare temps.

 

Looks like Webb's air to water IC. Not sure of Randy also uses the stock IC.

 

Yeh, I screwed up on the pics. We were tired and I was just trying to get out and back to Seattle before it was too late. Almost makes me want to take off the from bumper and snap the pic, Almost.

Besides its size, another thing I noticed and liked was that it hung down a few inches below the stock radiator. What with 4 radiators now, I was a little concerned about the cumulative effect of the pass throughs. However, by hanging down a bit, the IC rad has a bit of a clear channel for air flow down low and I imagine then back past the skid plate and gone. This is eyeball stuff, but it looks right to me.

As I mentioned earlier, I am experienceing an average 21 degree drop from my previous water-to-air setup with the smaller top-mounted rad. I have the 3-position gauge. I used to get deltas of 38-39 to ambient and am now getting 17-18, with a low of 14. This is in varied street and highway driving. I will be on the track on the 26th and look forward to checking results there.

Another thing that helps get the lower temps besides the bigger rad is that the new (better placed) pump is higher capacity.

 

Norm,

Looking good !!! Are you doing the ONELAP this year ?

I hope to meet you and stare in awe at your modded MINI

Mine is coming along nicely, Big Brakes to go on soon, as soon as it stops snowing .... Camber plates are the only thing I won't have (That I planned on)

Phil "Red Fury"

 

Hi Phil. I'm leaving it up to you to defend the Mini honors at One Lap this year. I'm doing the Border Challenge www.borderchallenge.com and they overlap.

Disappointed that I won't catch up to you this year. Hopefully next year. Sounds like you're setting the car up nicely. Call me if I can help. Norm

 

Ei = (inlet - outlet)/(inlet - ambient)

 

Duh, well there I go with lack of technical know-how. I was refering to outside temp as ambient. As in, we have an ambient temp sensor in the front bumper.

I'll have to switch the gauge to the middle position to get the reading you are asking about. Of course, since I always watched the temps the other way the drop of about 21 degrees still holds true. I guess I was overly concerned about some of the drastic outdoor temp changes we can get here according to which track you go to and when.

I'll start flipping the switch around.

 

Are you sure about this? Remember the MINI water temp gauge is a partial dummy gauge. By that I mean that middle line accounts for ALL normal operating temps. It may stand for 140-190 degrees for example (don't know the real numbers). If you're not at the middle mark, either you were always slightly below and didn't notice, or your MINI is running below ideal temps.

 

Agreed, that's why I said I don't have a "real" water temp gauge. Was really fruitless to even look at the Mini's gauge or post anything about it. It was basically in the middle, which as you know means nothing.

I was going to put in a real gauge, but ran out of time. It's definitely on the to-do list.

 

Yes, outside temp IS ambient. So, you need the temp of air going into the intercooler, the temp of air leaving the intercooler, and the temp of the ambient air to calculate efficiency.

 

Well then i guess I have that and I'm just not writing it up correctly. I have this gauge: http://www.mini-madness.com/index.as...PROD&ProdID=75

I'll keep flipping it around.

 

The problem with that gauge is it cannot simultaneously display inlet and outlet (only one, the other, or the difference). I have found it very useful to have separate peak/hold gauges (which incidentally only cost $50 for the pair).

 

Wow, that is one costly gauge ... Does it Look COOL at night ?

It BETTER at that price ....LOL

 

You're right. Sounds like Andy has the better solution. Oh, it's also pretty dull at night. Just digital numbers. At the time, last Spring, it was the best gauge we could mount quickly to get readings on the then new unit, while testing at PIR.

 

i use one of those gauges, (blush). it isn't usually hooked up to read ambient; instead it reads combustion air temp in/out of intercooler and differential for the middle position.


andy's handy gauges will also monitor that exhaust manifold pot roast a' foil you're cooking on the drive down to Philly as well as the studel foiled around the header.

 

Andy I've been busting my butt all afternoon wrenching away. Taking off the bumper to get you these pics you wanted.

UH, well actually they are pics from Mini-madness installation instructions.

 

I like your exhaust art you put up on the wall...so creative!

 

I was gonna say, I hope you didn't remove the bumper just to satisfy my curiousity! Thanks for the pics!

 

Andy, did some flipping around on the switch to get some readings the last two days. I will of course work with averages. The driving conditions were mixed, interstate and typical city. No real bumper-to-bumper traffic jams.

Ambient (outside) = 52
Outlet = 69
Inlet = 115

Ei = (115 - 69)/(115 - 52) = .73

Again, for my purposes, to keep on eye on how I'm doing heat-wise, I have always watched the difference between my outlet temps and ambient. Basically, see how close to "ideal" I can get. Pretty close right now. I will however, do some switching at the various tracks later this year to get the numbers when at higher ambients and higher under-load inlets.

 

Am I seeing a 25hp gain from this intercooler?