why if the water to air coolers are better; are not more people going onabout them ? surely it's not just the cost . i see plenty of money being tossed around (impressive market) . so i gotta wonder if the water to air aren't just a little overrated.

 

Expense, installation complexity and the fact that they aren't really all that advantageous on a street driven vehicle.

 

I disagree about that...

They make a huge difference on the street. They virtually eliminate heat soak. Air-to-air intercoolers are only effective when air is moving over them. Water-to-air are constantly effective...I would say a water-to-air is more advantageous on a street car than anything.

 

Water to air intercoolers run a radiator to cool the fluid. You ain't movin' you ain't coolin'
You just get a lot of hot water that actually takes longer to cool than an air to air.

Look into it.

 

But you have a fan blowing air through the radiator, right? I guess I figured that would make front mounts less prone to heat soak, even when the car is stationary.

 

Another problem with Water to Air intercoolers is that once they become heat soaked, they take a long time to become un-heat-soaked... In air to air, and more specificly, M7's DFIC, recovery from heatsoak is very quick to instantaneous.

 

THAT makes all kinds of sense.....I'm sorry to admit.

 

hah. Sorry about that... I kinda haven't slept in a long time

 

slow down ...i've sat in alot of trafic in boston in all kinds of radiator cooled vehicles. they still work better than none at all.look at the harley guy he just shut down for a while to cool his bike.

 

are they taking the cores just for the end tanks or what? hopefully they're not just wrapping cooling tubes around the stock i/c and selling it back to the customer .the lack of finning gets me thinkin' that may be the case. wouldn't finning plus water tubes be the best of both ?picture a dfi/c but with water tubes as well .

 

There's a temp controlled fan for the radiator. There isn't one for the water to air unit. Not the ones I've seen anyway. Mainly because they're intended for the track. Not many stoplights there

 

It's just a jacketed version of an IC core. On some it is just the stock IC.

 

The water adds mass. Takes longer to heat, takes longer to cool. Like everything else, it's a two edged sword. If you're a drag racer, they can be king! Fill the resivoir with ice water, and get much higher thermal efficiencies than any air to air. Depends on design, cost, and use.

One nice thing is that it's pretty easy to route the water flow to a radiator that is more optimally located than the IC on the stock car. And unlike FMICs, having the water take a bunch of turns doesn't sap power like having the intake charge run all over the place to get to an optimal IC.

Matt

 

That's a very good point.

Where would we be with out the Dr. to enlighten us like that?

Never even thought about that, but yeh, where do gintani and minimania mount the radiators for the W2A ICs?

 

It's just such a nice fit, and the part is made by Mini with those nice mounting bosses. I've seen people make engine oil coolers out of them as well.

Matt

 

yeh actually come to think of it, i know a guy here in aus who races his car in the targa tasmania who uses the CVT cooler.....

 

minimadness has a front lower mount unit

 

ah. Thanks....

 

John Petrich has been doing that for quite a while as well. Seems very happy with it which is a big thumbs up in my book.

 

yeh, robbo mcs on M2 (the guy i was talking about) is also happy with his, says it works like a charm...