Intercooler fan
 

Anyone tried? I have an extra miata cooling fan. Thought maybe it could find a home sandwiched between the intercooler and radiator (well, condensor I suppose).

The V8 guys have reported amazing success in using fans in front of the radiator (pushers) and behind (pullers).

Fans are typically needed at slower speeds, when there is not much air moving threw the radiator. I would expect an intercooler to need air flow more at higher engine speed and high boost levels which typically mean the vehicle is moving at a decent speed. At speed I believe (no hard data) that the fan in front will restrict air flow more then improving it. Just my 2 cents.

unlesss the said intercooler is massive, then in theory the fan would pull more air through the I/C for the radiator? not 100% sure on that, just makes since to me..

Depends it would help on heat saok conditions but i am sure at some point it will become a restriction.

I'd say it'll restrict both flow to IC and rad, maybe try IC spray instead?

Indeed explore more liquid options.

It doesn't seem to offer much on a air/air setup, but on a water/air setup it will seriously help prevent heat soak in the staging lanes at the drag strip. I run one on my Lightning and it does wonders. At speeds it hasn't shown to hurt flow either, but in a Miata it could be different.

Yes.

I have the 18x12x3 core intercooler. After doing the highly scientific experiment of holding the core against a box fan I was shocked at how restrictive the IC core was. If sandwiched and sealed to the condenser or radiator it would severely block airflow.

I mounted it as far forward as possible. There was metal and plastic cutting involved. The IC is flush with the air intake opening.

There is a relatively large gap between the IC and condenser/radiator. The heat soak back to the IC is near zero.

To get air to the radiator the undertray is modified so there is a short 2"-3" lip sticking down. Attached to that and hanging down another 2" is a $2.70 piece of cove basing from Home Depot(enough material for 2).

So the current setup:
-vented hood
-electric fan on intercooler, cockpit switch that turns on IC fan and driver's side fan
-using the windshield washer with spray nozzles on the IC and condenser, using the washer switch WITHOUT having the wipers actuate
-cheap, flexible lip underneath to force air into the radiator

Between drag and autox runs everything gets very cool.

DVCN, lets see the pics.

It's an ugly install, do I have to show?

We're a DIY community, it doesn't matter how ugly it is. If it works most people like it because you took the time to do something functional not just pretty. So quit pussy footing around and post that shit.

+1, i've always eyeballed ic sprayers so hurry up

craig, please do. ugly = cool

rich, I'm not ruling out WI. I'm just looking for another neat-o free/nearly free DIY cooling mod. I already have an extra fan and relay.

Poor pictures but here they are.

Had to cut out the steel bumper support and notch out the plastic bumper. I just remembered that I welded in square tubing to replace the piece I cut out, except it tucks inside the inner recess of the plastic bumper so there is no interference with the IC.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...0816071559.jpg


IC in 'bling' state, odd things on the face of it is the fan mounting hardware.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...821071929a.jpg


This is now covered up but you can see the gap between the IC and the condenser/radiator. Fan not wired up yet. 30A relay used. Pulls 8-9A steady state. Way more airflow that what is necessary for this setup. Fan is sealed to the IC. Slit tubing around outer edge, aluminum duct tape to seal the tiny overlap on the top and bottom. This IC is probably half heatsink and half heat exchanger and for the duty cycle I put it through, it works fine.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...0821071930.jpg

I'll have to take some pictures of the sprayers, don't have any. I found some very cheap $2 sprayers at HD. I need to find something that gives a finer spray, more like a heavy mist.

After driving in 95° temps, parking for a while and heat soaking the condenser, it's nice to hop in the car, spray down the condenser and have ice cold air, even at low speeds.

Civilized street hood. ~70% of the function of the 'race' hood. Vents from http://www.genright.com/Search.aspx?Keyword=louver
These were bare aluminum and $4.60 of paint at Advance Auto was close enough. The black powdercoated vents would have looked 100% better but not as stealthy.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...0822071632.jpg

The race hood and autox trim as of yesterday. It's somewhere on this page bleow Andy Hollis' STS Civic and the Exige but before the GT3.
http://public.fotki.com/bear1962/auto-cross/
Note the IC in stealth mode, the tiny orange tipped sprayer, the radiator lip way under there and a fully functional front license plate. Cost of the race hood was a 12 pack, 5 minutes with masking tape, 3 minutes with a cutting wheel and 2 minutes with a pair of linesman pliers.

Your race hood is crazy, I actually like the nice one with the vents though.
Now that is some nice DIY stuff man I love it.

Water injection nozzles produce more of a mist i believe, you should look into trying one of them out. Someone on the forum might have one too big for them that they could offer you.