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The leatherface24 V-Mount...with a/c!

So Ive been working on a V-Mount setup for my car for about two months now and after a temporary ghetto rig that phil (levnubhin) and i setup as an after thought to what i was originally gonna do, Its just about finished. The hard part is over and now its just little things.

A little over a month ago and the idea started when i wanted to get the shortest intercooler piping possible and still keep the stock location for the radiator and the a/c. Ive done my time with cars and no ac in florida and so i was determined to have that working again.

I came up with some p shops of what i wanted and then went and bought an intercooler:

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1.../photo-163.jpg

After i got it i realized that it wasnt going to be so easy because it was about 2 inches too short to fit the way i wanted it to. Basically one side right to the throttle body and the other to the compressor outlet tube.

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1.../photo-171.jpg

I made it to Phils job after work at 5:30pm. Started taking the stock intercooler piping out and all that jazz and then re installed the stock radiator mounts that i had customized, put the radiator in, then tried putting the intercooler in. Then it happened. The "oh crap this isnt gonna work like this" moment. The worst part was that I had cut the stock rubber intercooler hoses to get them out of the car so i was between a rock and a hard place now. I had to drive the car home. That night.

And then it happened. "Dude, we're gonna have to ghetto rig a V-Mount."

I pulled the radiator out and tried getting a decent angle for it to sit to allow me to put the intercooler in place.

And then it happened again. "Dude, ugh, Im gonna have to take the a/c out. Crap."

Out came the ac in all its polluting glory..making me depressed at the same time. Wondering how the hell i was gonna get that back in, I said screw it, we gotta move on. Out came the aluminum piece I had. We mesured, cut, and came up with a strip of almuninum and the stock upper bracket for the bottom:

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1.../photo-172.jpg

Then we rigged up some couplers and old radiator hose and got that out of the way. Then the issue of how the hell we were gonna mount the intercooler came in. The piping was priving to be VERY difficult given what we had at our disposal. It was already past 9pm and stores were closed. So we made due with what we had. A mix of the stock ic hoses and a silicon hose i bought.

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1.../photo-175.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1.../photo-174.jpg

This horrid mess got me home at 2am and performed great for the month i drove around with it on. But I wanted to do everything right. No ghetto-ness. So I went to my friend Rick whos a ridiculously good welder and fabricater. Since time was short the day I went to see him, we did the intercooler piping first and came out with this:

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1.../photo-177.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1.../photo-178.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1.../photo-180.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1.../photo-181.jpg

A few weeks passed and I got my CXRacing radiator from ebay in. Great rads as ive used them in the past with no issues at all. Finally Rick and I's scheduals agreed with each other and we got crackin on the radiator and the a/c.

Friday night we started at 5:pm and didnt go home till 2am. Car stayed at the shop. This was both of our first times doing a Vmount to this extent.

Saturday back in the shop at 1:00pm. LOTS of deliberating and measuring and thinking and this:

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1.../photo-185.jpg

and this: http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1.../photo-184.jpg

and finally the outcome:

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1.../photo-188.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1.../photo-189.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1.../photo-191.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1.../photo-192.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1.../photo-191.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1.../photo-187.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1.../photo-186.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1.../photo-190.jpg

Better pics will be up later on today but damn, it was totally worth the time and the money. My coolant temps are 200 when it starts up and 190 or less when im on the street or highway. My ac works better then when it bought the car, and the pimp factor is through the roof. Would i do this again, hell no lol. Too much time involved but its totally worth it. The radiator is angled at 30 degrees which is working great. All i have left to do is make a new intake and shrouding and a vented hood. The hard stuff is done.

gay, wheres the complete pic.

(u still didnt come to the track (gay))

I've been waiting for you to post these up...

Why not a longer/squater IC that could make the V-angle?

where is the ducting?

its not complete yet but the ducting will be there soon and reasoning for the ic the way it is is because i had to work with it the way the old radiator was setup. Its no big deal though as it works great as is belive it or not. Ill get some better pics up in about 2 hours of everything.

Quote:

Originally Posted by leatherface24 (Post 445888)

All i have left to do is make a new intake and shrouding and a vented hood. The hard stuff is done.

^^^^^

Quote:

Originally Posted by hustler (Post 445895)

where is the ducting?

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plus the thermostat housing in the front prevented me from going any further of an angle. Now that i have a coolant reroute, i could feasibly do it but i dont want to now. once the ducting is in, then itll be perfect.

this is what it was like originally with the old radiator

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1.../photo-173.jpg

Ha when I came by you insinuated it would be a quick project.

Looks good though.

yeah cause i wasnt expecting to go vmount that night lol

heres the temporary brace holding the intercooler up now

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1.../photo-193.jpg

the water neck is now here

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1.../photo-194.jpg

and where my meth is going

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1.../photo-195.jpg

Someone's very good at TIGing aluminum. Nice!

Damn Jared, looks good!

Leatherface24 V-Mount Complete with Ducting

And before anyone says anything, no air escapes on the sides or anywhere for that matter.

No PB at work FTL :(

Oh yeah, thats a swirl pot on the side also

Quote:

Originally Posted by leatherface24 (Post 463694)

Oh yeah, thats a swirl pot on the side also

It looks like its half swirl pot, half header tank. If so, I'll buy one right now.

J-Looks well done.

Is your coolant reroute EGR friendly? If so, what hard parts behind the head did you use?

Quote:

Originally Posted by hustler (Post 463699)

It looks like its half swirl pot, half header tank. If so, I'll buy one right now.

thats because it is. Ill see if my welder would be interested in making another one

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ben (Post 463700)

J-Looks well done.

Is your coolant reroute EGR friendly? If so, what hard parts behind the head did you use?

It would have been egr friendly but i took out the egr tube sooo:giggle:

This my envy!:vash:
<-G->

While im at it, I might as well put this out there. Im having a slight issue with the cooling system readings. I cant figure out which guage to trust:

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1.../photo-716.jpg
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1.../photo-562.jpg

I currently have a 160 degree thermostat installed. The temp sensor for the autometer gauge is mounted in the reroute pipe near the intake manifold
http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l1.../photo-941.jpg

Quote:

Originally Posted by leatherface24 (Post 463703)

thats because it is. Ill see if my welder would be interested in making another one

I thought the swirls required a seal though, so using it as a header tank won't work. I can get teh AWR bits for $100 each. Does he care to beat that price?

I paid 80 but i cant speak for him. Just get the 100 one then

anyone care to chim in on teh cooling issue

either the stock gauge is reading low or autometer a touch high :P

Quote:

Originally Posted by leatherface24 (Post 463805)

anyone care to chim in on teh cooling issue

You might need to find out yourself with a multimeter, thermostat, and pot of water on teh stove.

I think the stock sensor is the accurate one. Ill have to do what your saying though Ben.

Awesome work and setup. You really need to merge this thread with your other one.
https://www.miataturbo.net/forum/t38444/

Thanks for sharing.

Yeah, Brain can you merge these threads please thanks

Air pocket? Your stock sensor is located at the highest point in your current system, isn't it?

Its in the back of the head so nope

Quote:

Originally Posted by leatherface24 (Post 463805)

anyone care to chim in on teh cooling issue

too much gay sex?

very cool. And with a few tweaks could actually provide a lot of front downforce too.

im all ears and eyes matt

Quote:

Originally Posted by leatherface24 (Post 463909)

Its in the back of the head so nope

I know. So wouldn't air need to go downwards from there before it went back up to your swirl pot/burp can? The coolant path goes under your IM right?

no under but on the side of it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sixshooter (Post 464159)

I know. So wouldn't air need to go downwards from there before it went back up to your swirl pot/burp can? The coolant path goes under your IM right?

Quote:

Originally Posted by leatherface24 (Post 464197)

no under but on the side of it.

I am going to have to agree with sixshooter on this. Based on your photos it looks like the back of the head could higher then the other parts of your system. It may not the be highest point in the system, but it could be higher then swirl tank inlet.

comment on the cooling system and burping. The installation or the surge tank in my system made a huge difference in temp management. We tapped the back of the head and the opposite corner of the radiator and ran them to the highest point in the engine bay where the tank sat. In your case, in an ideal situation, I would get rid of the tank you have as it creates some funny water passages where air will sit. I would run a pipe from the back of the head to your current radiator, and then do as I did and tap the opposite corner of the radiator and the high spot in the back of your head as bleeders. Put the surge tank near the fuse box, and have the return line off the bottom of it running to your lower radiator hose. Then, if you haven't already, seal the radiator cap and use the surge tank and the pressure release vale as the highest point in your system. Make sense?

As for the aero advantage, think of your layed back radiator as potentially a really ineffiecent wing in the front of the car. Just because some air goes through it doesn't mean there isn't pressure on top. If you were to vent your hood and release the additional pressure that is sitting on top of the radiator out the hood, you would have a pressure differential that would increase downforce on the front of the car. If your car flows anything like mine now that you are getting fresh air to the radiator and intercooler, you will no longer have water temp issues, so you won't mind releasing some of the air without forcing it through one of your cooling cores.

You could go so far as to actually put a small wing in the mouth of the car that deflects the air upwards.

I don't believe you can say you have an issue with cooling until you have validated your sensor readings directly. If they are reading from separate parts of the system cooling (if only through tube sidewall) will be a factor. Why not use the same source for both readings? If you want them to match that is.

This is really cool. You made that swirl pot from scratch?

yeah i know what you mean. the coolant temps are fine either way i do know that at least and i know my swirl pot is working fine.

Quote:

Originally Posted by turotufas (Post 465354)

This is really cool. You made that swirl pot from scratch?

Tah dah.... Autospeed Just find someone who can weld and let them know what you need. :D These are oil specific, but same principle.

Found some other ones on their site as well. Enjoy!
http://autospeed.com/cms/A_110826/article.html
http://autospeed.com/cms/A_1101/article.html

Looks like a pretty sweet setup i may investigate this route aswell considering i too have a good friend who is a good fabricator and tig welder.

Wow dude looks great!

Looks fantastic, definitely different...I just don't know about that hood vent you made, looks to home done for such a well setup car. Why not just do a mini cooper vent or something?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turbo_4 (Post 476612)

Looks fantastic, definitely different...I just don't know about that hood vent you made, looks to home done for such a well setup car. Why not just do a mini cooper vent or something?

lmao, I offered my carbon trix scoop more then once.
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Phil, no hood vent thats being sold now would have been conducive to the setup i have now. Its not finished. Like i said, i need to do a little fiberglass work, a little paint, and the it will look great

Wow Looks awesome, is functional, and you did it yourself!

Keep up the good work. Great idea on using a tire pressure gauge to measure the distance. +1

Great work, before I judge I would like to see the hood finished first. How are your ait's?

Wow!

That is some really nice work.

you going to block off the rest of the radiator from teh engine bay so air doesnt just flow overtop of it?

also, you should really look into a different carbontrix scoop:

http://www.carbontrix.com/store/images/long%20vent.JPG

Nah you guys will see what I have in store for the hood soon. First impresions: Torque is noticably stronger. On the way to work today, I downshifted to 5th and the car lost traction which was a bit unerving to say the least. I wish I could monitor the IAT's but im still on the stock ecu. The i.c is just plain cold after driving. I mean cold so its deffinately doing its job

Looks good but I would have went with a slightly larger ic core. Throttle response is prolbably quite gangster I would imagine.