ICE TANK TESTING RESULTS:

I finished my ice tank project and took it to the drag strip for some testing. It definitely works! The ice tank dropped the intake air temperature 50* F!

The tank holds two “large” bags of ice (22 lb) plus water. I made two passes with just water in the tank (full, 7-8 gallons) and then drained most of the water, added both bags of ice, and made two more passes. There were a lot of cars there, so I only got four passes all day. After two passes and about 1.5 hours of downtime, about half of the ice remained. So I’m thinking 2-4 bags of ice for a day of racing.

The picture below is a typical ¼ mile log for me before the ice tank. The IAT (top graph, purple) was 107* F before the run, and climbed to 132* F during the run. It was 67* F outside. This is with stock pulleys, Johnson CM30 pump, and the cooling systems separated. I’ve seen as high as 150* F IATs on hotter days. (!!)

5-9-121-HX.jpg

The log below is with the tank with water only. Same mods as above plus a 2nd OEM heat exchanger (Thanks 32crazy!) in series. The IAT was 95* F before the run, and rose to 125* F during the run. It was 61* F outside.

Noicerun2.jpg

This log is with ice added to the tank. The IC had actually heat soaked more and was 113* F before the run. When the IC pump kicked on it dropped the IAT to 48* F! The IAT dropped 65 degrees in 24 seconds. The IAT rose from 48* F to 75* F during the run. That is a solid 50* F reduction, and possibly quite a bit more on hotter days.

Withicerun4.jpg

Here are pictures of the tank. It fits on the parcel shelf and under the tarp for the roof (SLK32 AMG). This part of the trunk is hard to access with the roof down anyway, so it is a very convenient spot. I also wanted to retain the deeper portion of the trunk for cargo.

IMG_1091.jpg

IMG_1095.jpg

I MIG welded the tank from aluminum “5-bar” plate. It is like diamond plate, but looks a little nicer in my book. I put a giant clear lid on it with a 10” opening. There are two ¾” NPT fittings on the lower right side for supply and drain lines, one ¾” fitting on the upper left for the return, and mounting tabs on both sides.

The welds are FAR from perfect and beautiful – I’m a hobbyist, not a pro with a TIG budget – but I did pressure test the entire tank and it IS air tight.

I wanted to try this new PEX tubing they’re building everything out of, so I made the lines out of ¾” PEX instead of braided hose. I actually like it a lot, and it is EASY.

I thought that the warmer water exiting the intercooler might still be colder than the outside air temperature and that running it through the heat exchanger(s) would only warm it up and melt more ice. So I also installed a 3-way valve that can bypass the heat exchangers and route the return from the IC directly back to the ice tank. I do not have any intercooler water discharge temperature readings to prove if this is helpful or not yet.

I was considering installing a 2nd Johnson CM30 pump to maintain flow through the extra length of tubing, but after observing the flow rate back into the tank I don’t think that’s necessary.


I have enough material to build two more tanks. So I am going to go ahead and weld them up sometime in the next few weekends and post them for sale. I have to add up my material cost to figure out the price, but I’ll give you guys first dibs.