Author Topic: Mounting fan on intercooler? (Read 4125 times)

con · « **on:** December 21, 2007, 08:42:46 am »

I have a mk2 GTD intercooler currently in my car, however as everyone knows it isn't in the position to receive any decent cooling draughts. Rather than plumb up a new cooler I was considering mounting a fan face down on the cooler and hook it up so that it turns on with the engine. Would this rig provide decent cooling? Has anyone done it? If so is it hard to wire up/mount etc?
Any help would be very much appreciated :wink:

jimfoo · « **Reply #1 on:** December 21, 2007, 09:03:07 am »

I welded some aluminum tabs onto the tanks on my aluminum IC and bolted a small fan to it. I just wired it to a relay that went to a fused circuit

burn_your_money · « **Reply #2 on:** December 21, 2007, 03:03:25 pm »

You'll be increasing the load on your alternator which will take away some power and some MPG. I'd have it rigged up so it would only come on below 75% throttle for around town and then on the highways you should be getting enough air flow. I don't know much about the GTD ICs though

larry104 · « **Reply #3 on:** December 21, 2007, 04:00:58 pm »

Done that. I have a 150 deg F thermal switch mounted flush to the intercooler surface, proximal to the inlet on my '92 Eco (Giles pump, 2.25 exhaust). It's hooked to a Spal fan that's mounted on the IC backside to pull air through. It's come on once since I've installed it. It's surprising how well the GTD intercoolers work as is.

con · « **Reply #4 on:** December 21, 2007, 05:12:51 pm »

Thanks for the info guys. Would a slight drain on the alternater really effect engine power? I'm just a little paranoid about the effectiveness of my GTD cooler set-up as I'm about to start tweaking the motor and read that a bad intercooler is worse than none at all!

jimfoo · « **Reply #5 on:** December 21, 2007, 05:18:31 pm »

A small fan isn't going to draw that much.

con · « **Reply #6 on:** December 21, 2007, 06:28:01 pm »

Yeah I was thinking of buying something like this and rigging it up:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RSVR-RSV-R-Mille-engine-cooler-radiator-fan_W0QQitemZ220147867897QQihZ012QQcategoryZ78417QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem?_trksid=p1638.m118

So it would be better to mount the fan on the underside of the fan and have it sucking air in rather than having it on top blowing air down through it?

Kudagra · « **Reply #7 on:** December 21, 2007, 06:33:50 pm »

Just rig up a water injection spray on a WOT micro-switch. Or spray a 50 shot onto it.

con · « **Reply #8 on:** December 22, 2007, 03:37:38 am »

Does the water actually do much in terms of cooling?

Slave2School · « **Reply #9 on:** December 22, 2007, 08:29:53 am »

The amount of heat it takes away depends on the amount of water sprayed into it, but water has the potential to absorb mucho heat as it changes to steam.

WWII and a bit later jets even, used water methanol as a takeoff/"military power" enhancement

I talked at a few volunteers at the museum and they said you sure knew when the water ran out on the Argus because temps skyrocketed and you had crap for take off power.

Finding the right amount of water to be injected would likely be the trick (also the ratio of alcohol for the winter/summer if you want to enhance the "military" power a bit

bert · « **Reply #10 on:** December 22, 2007, 10:15:47 am »

That fan looks good con,the mitsubishi shoguns in the uk have a cooling fan bolted to the underside of the intercooler,they dont run all the time,must be a thermo switch on them somewhere.
Bert