educate me on water to air intercoolers

Looking to go water to air intercooled on my new set up but I really don't know that much about the subject and I value all you forced induction veterans opinions so please help shed a little light on the subject . first off, how exactly does it work? I'm assuming you have an intercooler, tank full of ice water, and a pump to circulate it. What are you guys doing to keep the tank full of ice water from condensating and dripping water all over the track? Is it possible to mount the tank under the hood?is there a big differencein IAT's vs air to air where can I find a pump to circulate the coolant? Who makes some quality w2a intercoolers that can support 800+ HP? Planning on going twins so would a dual 2.5 inlets and 3" outlet be enough to support 800+? I know its a bunch of questions but I just want to get everything right this go round and not just throw something together. Thanks guys!

For the street it will work about the same as an air to air cooler, however, for the track you can dump ice into the tank and see a major drop in iats. Trick makes a great setup exactly along the lines of what you are wanting. The majority of setups I have seen have all been in the cab.

I don't know much about it, but like kerrige said, Trick has A nice setup. If you haven't seen it yet, it replaces the intake manifold like a roots blower intercooler would. He has pics around here somewhere, ill look for the link.

http://www.ls1truck.com/forums/showt...8&goto=newpost try this

Not really interested in that cooler/ intake . kinda got this piece on my mind http://i1057.photobucket.com/albums/...ps219f1f13.jpg

Very nice

IMO, if it is mainly a street truck I would stick A/A. An A/W uses the intercooler, a water/ice tank, a pump, and a heat exchanger mounted in the front to dissipate heat. There is no doubt for a track setup A/W is superior by far, water cools much better than air and you have very little pressure drop through the intercooler. Bad thing is for a street setup I don't see it being any better than an A/A intercooler. Plus it's more moving parts that can break.

one thing i never quite understood (hence why i never have put ice in mine yet):
how long does the ice typically take to melt in, say, a 1/2 gal tank?
what do you do after all the ice melts? do you then do a coolant flush after so many ice baths due to the resultant diluted antifreeze mix?

Truck will mainly be used on the track with the occasional 10 mile trip to town. I figured I would just dump the tank and refill with ice water as needed.

Once it goes ice you keep using ice....aka race setup

Exactly. A gallon cell of ice and water will last a pass or less. Just depends on compressor efficiency, boost and power.

How efficient would air to air be at the 800 HP level with twin on 3 76mm on 10 + lbs of boost?

Depends on core size and location along with core style how end tanks are located...

I had hell getting my intercooler to fit behind the grill on my first set up. Truck is a 99 model. How the hell did you get your intercooler to fit in your 02 model George?

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Originally Posted by George C

Once it goes ice you keep using ice....aka race setup

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ooooooohhhhhhh.
so why don't somebody just invent a contraption where the reservoir & fill cap are big enough to where you can still run antifreeze/water but drop in some of those heavy duty freezer ice packs? almost as good as dumping a mess of ice in there, but then you can pull the packs out after they've warmed beyond their usefulness and then still have a regular setup to drive home on.

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Originally Posted by jansen

I had hell getting my intercooler to fit behind the grill on my first set up. Truck is a 99 model. How the hell did you get your intercooler to fit in your 02 model George?

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cause it doesn't fit behind grill. I went low with mine

That ones behind the grill.
http://i429.photobucket.com/albums/q...0BE3C77D20.jpg

Lol its barely behind the grill!

It is the grill.

Wonder where the hood latch is at?

Right where it belongs. Didn't cut any of the supports... Wish I had cause its so thick I wound up cutting up the grill.... But saves money on not needing billet inserts.... You'd be suprised how many people never notice

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Originally Posted by ecld_07

Right where it belongs. Didn't cut any of the supports... Wish I had cause its so thick I wound up cutting up the grill.... But saves money on not needing billet inserts.... You'd be suprised how many people never notice

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Those people sir are retards. LOL. Mine is mounted low like george said.

If I go low I'll have to change front bumpers. My first intercooler was mounted low and my iats were getting pretty high . http://i1057.photobucket.com/albums/...psacf7b0eb.jpg

Hahaha. My iats stayed pretty in check overall. Sold it now so no more awesome grill

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Originally Posted by jansen

If I go low I'll have to change front bumpers. My first intercooler was mounted low and my iats were getting pretty high . http://i1057.photobucket.com/albums/...psacf7b0eb.jpg

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dont have to change bumpers, just get a valance thats open or cut yours. mine is open and my intercoolers arent effected by lack of air flow

^^ meth addicted :)

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Originally Posted by ecld_07

^^ meth addicted :)

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Lol trying not to go that route . Just curious but how hard is it to set up and tune for meth?

I've never ran it on mine. I took 12 pages of notes from George. I'm going to get a kit soon and try it out.