I just got a good look at the data log from the track. As some may be aware, for kicks and giggles I reinstalled my original heat exchanger in front of my supercooler. I used a 45º piece of metal I had laying around and bolted it the H/E and then to the bottom of the bumper support. This was without removing the fascia. The water returns from the supercharger to the supercooler, exits the supercooler and enters the stock H/E, exits the stock H/E and enters the intercooler pump. It only cost me some machine and sheet metal screws, a foot of 3/4 heater hose, clamps and a couple of 45º plastic elbows. Oh, lots of fiddling time but I had the time to fiddle away. Results. Humm. Fail and win. The peak IAT's are the same as before. (fail) The recovery is faster. (win) As the water temperature rises so do the peak IAT's. You must realize what I'm trying to achieve. Reasonable IAT's for up to 20 minutes of racing. Possibly a higher flow pump could help some. Now I'm of a mind that the under the supercharger intercooler can't cope and there's little that can be done about it. If I come across a bargain I may try a higher flow I/C pump.
An interesting observation. Going to the track and returning it rained cats and dogs. (In the mountains) And the IAT's were 10º over ambient while normally they stay at 20º over ambient. One of two things happened. The cooling effect of the water spraying the heat exchangers or water mist entering the supercharger. My dual filters are well oiled but at 60 mph in a monsoon, maybe? It makes me think a squirt of water before the supercharger to help the intercooler may be worth the bother. IE water injection pre throttle body. Thoughts?

Les

 

Spraying a mist of water over a radiator is an old trick used in RV's. As the mist hits the radiator it evaporates and cools the radiator surface. It is meant to be used in extreme temperature conditions like driving through a desert or driving up a long hill. It would probably be easy to rig up a bottle, pump and spray nozzle and experiment with it. Spraying a fog into the intake has been used in the past to bring down combustion temperatures in order to prevent pre-ignition when using low octane gas in a high compression engine. These devices were made when the country changed over from leaded high octane gas to unleaded lower octane gas. I think someone more educated than me could explain the ramifications of doing that. Its not something I would recommend playing with as the potential for damage is pretty high if you get it wrong. Good luck

 

Can't do this on a track....no fluids... You leak, you get black flagged... In drag racing, you are done... Meth kit...Les... I will let you know what we do this winter... I will photo the install...

 

The spray would work but 20 minutes of spray is a lot of water, and must be done just right to keep from wetting track and getting disqualified.

Math: The Iat is the heat of the air plus the intercooler heat that the water does not remove. You cant go below ambient for the air or the water temp going into the intercooler. The intercooler has to be above the ambient as it absorbs heat from the intake charge, which is probably running 300 to 400 degree after the supercharger so there is some necessary temp rise, and even with the water being cooled by the ambient air at 100 MPH, the water has to be above the heat exchanger to conduct heat into the aluminum of the h/e.

Yout IAT is 20 degrees hotter than the ambient, The intercooler is probably hotter than that so lets estimate its 25 degrees hotter, the water is about 30 degrees above the air temp. So if the water is 30 degrees higher, the heat exchanger is about 25 degrees higher than the air and the air does its best to hold the temps.
Youll never get ambient IAT and air is a terrible medium for cooling, note that hot pizza does not cool off when you blow on it.

One pound of air(about 16 cubic feet) has like 1/4 BTU of heat per degree of temp change, 4 degrees per BTU. Water is one degree change for each BTU of heat added or removed. Water is the densest material for temp change per pound, ie specific heat of 1.0:
Materials commonly used for thermal mass
Water. Water has the highest volumetric heat capacity of all commonly used material. Typically, it is placed in large container(s), acrylic tubes for example, in an area with direct sunlight. It may also be used to saturate other types material such as soil to increase heat capacity.

How to cool the car better, ie the answer.

1.0 Make less heat, drive slower

2.0 Evaporate distilled water by spraying either the intercooler or the H/E, dont even think of regular water. Why; thats for the student. I would do the intercooler -supercharger cause they are the hottest and would loose the most heat. To cool something you need to get the most heat possible and that is at the hottest part, ie after the s/c.

3.0 Use colder air, or water with a cooler ice tank but remember that 30 seconds will melt all the ice in a cooler if the heat is being adsorbed efficiently. Gotta remember that the car is like a small hot air balloon for heat output and the radiator is about 1/4 of the heat being rejected. THere is the exhaust gases and radiation taking a bunch and the last 20% is going to the tires as torque.

4.0 dont worry bunkey, the exhaust is some 2000 degrees and colder inlet will only increase the density of the inlet air a percent or so. 10 degree colder air is about 1% more power out...........

I have done most all of the cooling things and the hood was the last cooling upgrade, taking the air out of the back of the radiator to increase cooling and intercooling alike. Remember a cooler radiator cools the engine even more. IAT is just one parameter to consider here.

Be happy, Woody

 

This thread is a fishing trip for information and to share observations. Thanks for the responses.

Water/Meth is accepted at the track as long as it's a 50/50 mix or less. I'd trigger it at 10 PSI and a rate of 3 GPM to start and most likely 100% water as I'm running a touch rich already. A buddy of mine installed a Snow Meth injection kit on his E55, after the intercooler. Yep, he pulled it apart to get it as close to the exit from the intercooler as possible. He lost a boat load of power because no one locally could tune for the methanol.

Regardless, water/meth is in the thought stage. My next modification is fitting a high flow fan that I bought. 3300 CFM. What I want is to keep peak IAT's around 140º, not in the 170 to 180 range. If the high flow fan and some shrouding does the trick the injection idea will be unnecessary.

Les

 

Here is some tech information for review. Woody

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_injection_(engines)