New IC Tank Design

[BrianBrave]

The fab work for my new IC Tank is done and I thought I would provide some pictures and query the forum to see if there is any interest.

It's made to separate the engine and IC coolant. To allow the IC coolant to flow thru the tank (OEM tank won't). To be able to add ICE, Dry or Wet. No need to move the battery to the trunk or replace with a smaller battery. No need to mount a tank in the trunk and give up trunk space. Uses the stock hoses (although re-routed). Has wide mouth for easy adding of ice. Weighs about the same and looks really sharp. - notice the nice mandrel bends? I can provide them in raw aluminum, polished (as shown) or powder coated.

What do guys think? I will be testing it this weekend and can provide results for temp drop and length of effectiveness. BTW - I have few other mods I have also completed - but I will provide you guys a write-up on them later this week.

[Jeff Cobb]

Wow - gorgeous.

[Kurts]

Brian, if this works as you hope you'll be McGiver's hero! Not to mention, a clean & yes, shiny look too.

[Coyote]

BrianBrave, that tank looks awesome. How about some shots of
the innards?

Coyote

[oledoc2u]

did you polish everything...just caught a glimpse...looks grt...I love chrome....or polished aluminum....

[KrzyFast]

That is very nice looking!

[Moparrbust]

Cooool; literally. Let me know if you need someone to do some REAL hot weather testing with the new tank.

[mrphotoman]

looks great!

[MD SRT6]

Looks awesome Brian! This is replacing the stock radiator-i/c overflow right? And if it is when you add ice how would the ice fit in if its allready full of antifreeze? Is it oversized? It looks awesome and i am very interested just need more details! Thanks for the hard work and r&d. In the sweltering heat of summer those of us who lke to drag race need something like this!!!

[Moparrbust]

Originally Posted by MD SRT6

Looks awesome Brian! This is replacing the stock radiator-i/c overflow right? And if it is when you add ice how would the ice fit in if its already full of antifreeze? Is it oversized? It looks awesome and i am very interested just need more details! Thanks for the hard work and r&d. In the sweltering heat of summer those of us who like to drag race need something like this!!!

Let me first say that these are my thoughts and opinions...and not Brians.

If the tank truly separates the regular cooling system and the s/c cooling system then there shouldn't be ANY coolant in that tank(water cools better than coolant/antifreeze). Coolant is for keeping the water from freezing. On top of running 100% water in the tank, I believe, there should be a drain **** of some sort in the bottom to drain out enough water to be replaced with ice when necessary. Again all my thoughts and they may be horribly incorrect...read at your own discretion.

[MD SRT6]

Originally Posted by Moparrbust

Let me first say that these are my thoughts and opinions...and not Brians.

If the tank truly separates the regular cooling system and the s/c cooling system then there shouldn't be ANY coolant in that tank(water cools better than coolant/antifreeze). Coolant is for keeping the water from freezing. On top of running 100% water in the tank, I believe, there should be a drain **** of some sort in the bottom to drain out enough water to be replaced with ice when necessary. Again all my thoughts and they may be horribly incorrect...read at your own discretion.

This is similar to my thought, I only see one inlet for fluids/ice etc... meaning whatever you put in will involve both systems. And unless you have a drain valve/isolated compartment in the tank how could it not all mix and therefore be full of antifreeze? I'll wait for Brian to explain before speculation, I'm sure he's thought of that!

Edit: or drain the entire system and refill to water everytime you want to go to the track? Because day to day antifreeze does more than stop you from freezing up, it raises the boilover temp( as water boils at 100 c and ethylene glycol boils at 198 c) and acts like a heat exchanger + provides lubrication and anti corrosive properties.

[BrianBrave]

Originally Posted by Moparrbust

Let me first say that these are my thoughts and opinions......and not Brians.

If the tank truely separates the regular cooling system and the s/c cooling system then there shouldn't be ANY coolant in that tank(water cools better than coolant/antifreeze). Coolant is for keeping the water from freezing. On top of running 100% water in the tank, I believe, there should be a drain **** of some sort in the bottom to drain out enough water to be replaced with ice when necessary. Again all my thoughts and they may be horribly incorrect..........read at your own disgression.

Actually - you are right on the money - in the last photo - you will see that I have added a new header/surge tank for the radiator coolant.
According to the OEM maintenance manual and a great write up by stewartcomponents.com, pure (distilled) water cools better then anything else, better than water wetter etc... So I refilled my engine coolant with 1/4 anti-freeze and 3/4 distilled water.

I used 1/2 anti-freeze and 1/2 distilled water for the IC coolant - WHY??

If I am adding dry ice - I don't want the water in the IC tank to freeze. Dry Ice, when melting, has CO2 that needs to escape but won't add water volume to the tank. - Also in the last picture you will see a small 1/4" bung, this will allow for the CO2 to escape while not blowing up the tank. Remember your JR. High science class when you added dry ice and water into the metal film container? Well we had metal ones back in the old days, some kids used them for something else...

Anyway - this same bung could be routed to a plastic catch tank if you were to add wet ice to keep you from dripping on the track - or - I could add one more bung to the bottom the tank for a valve to drain the extra water so you could add more ice between heats...

Keep the great ideas coming..

Here is a picture of the inside - I added a baffle to keep ice from clogging the outlet bung.

[GatorLCA]

From what I know about watercooling (from PCs) any water or Ice that you put in this loop must be distilled water because over time if you use normal water, and even distilled water, there will be a tendency to corrode the inner workings of the pump and/or the piping of the loop (SC and HE). I guess the only way you could add ice to the system is if it was only distilled ice

I would still use coolant since there are anti-corrosives in them whereas pure distilled water does not and over time the remaining crap in the loop will begin to corrode and I don't think there's going to be that much of a performance gain

I was poking around the net and saw some bike guys using Engine ICE.....anyone ever use it?

http://www.engineice.cc/

[splinter]

Originally Posted by BrianBrave

...I will be testing it this weekend and can provide results for temp drop and length of effectiveness...

OE configuration:



Excellent fabrication work, BrianBrave. Kudos for your efforts and innovative approach. We’ll be awaiting your results and its affect on IATs.

[MD SRT6]

Sorry, I did not even see that little tank up by the radiator! I was too busy admiring the big shiny tank!

[BrianBrave]

Originally Posted by oledoc2u

did you polish everything...just caught a glimpse...looks grt...I love chrome....or polished aluminum....

Yes - I got a volume deal - for one low, low price - if I could remove it and bring it to the shop - they would polish it.

[MikeR]

Now you burst my bubble. Here I was thinking of all the time you spent polishing all that aluminum and what a great job you did. Did you at least supervise with a beer in one hand?? Looks great. I am sending you a PM.

MikeR

[tom2112]

OK, maybe I'm blind, or just dumb, but where the heck is the regular old radiator overflow at with this shiny wonder installed?

[BrianBrave]

Keep the great ideas comming my friends - If I can make it better - I will

This is why I installed a IAT Temp gauge and did a ton of data logging before I did this mod....

[PA/XFIRE]

HEY BRIAN Looks like a great setup.Good luck with your testing.Can't wait to see the results. Have fun. ILLCYA