Where's all the 5.9 air to water aftercoolers??

[PToombs]

The coolant typer coolers; mount a Thermo-King in the bed to chill the water and route that throught the cooler.

Hook your A/C up to keep it cool, you know you'll have it on anyway!

[KTA]

Somehow me things the weight of 1000gal of water will more than offset the performnace increase from the aftercooler. Going backwards guys. LOL

[90firstgen]

Air to water coolers are a lot more efficient than air to air. I'm looking for a water cooler right now with the injection lines so if anybody finds one let me know I would say the reason for air to air on pickup application is due to simplicity. Once I get the water cooler, I'm gonna get some kind of reservoir, a small ricer radiator, and a ricer electric fan (out of junkyards of course) and mount the reservoir under the hood while the radiator and fan will be under the bed somewhere out of the way. This way, the water is always cool and its completely free from the engines coolant. If i ever want to, I can fill the reservoir with ice and make dyno runs etc... The hardest part is finding the dang coolers! and then finding one that has a VE pump instead of a P7100 for the correct injector lines

[JLeonard]

The 6bta marine 270 hp I had in my previous boat had an air to antifreeze intercooler...like the one Bill wants. The same as used on busses I believe. It was nice as there was literally no maintenance.
But the next two marine models up in horsepower (330 and 370) have sea water cooled aftercoolers. So at some point cold water is necessary.
On the low end, the 220 hp model has no intercooler.
So that should give some relative info about effectiveness.

[Begle1]

Once I get the water cooler, I'm gonna get some kind of reservoir, a small ricer radiator, and a ricer electric fan (out of junkyards of course) and mount the reservoir under the hood while the radiator and fan will be under the bed somewhere out of the way.

An air-to-air intercooler has one heat transfer point; it transfers heat from pressurized air to outside air.

You're system has two transfer points; first, it transfers heat from your pressurized air to water, and then it transfers heat from you're water to outside air. What you would be doing is adding a middle man in the form of an auxillary coolant system.

If you have a big enough water pump, then you might be able to gain something by moving liquid over your air faster than air would be moving over your air. But an air-to-air intercooler would probably have more surface area than an air-to-water intercooler, and once you get on the highway and cutting through the air, having that big intercooler out front would probably make up for the relative lack of air-to-air transmitting efficiency.

I would really like to see somebody test a system like yours, with a thermometer in the coolant and thermocouple in the air intake horn. Until then I'm just armchair engineering, but it sure seems to me like you're system would just get hot to the point where you're radiator can't cool it off anymore, and then it would stay there. Good for stationary-slow moving applications, but ineffective on the highway, and with extra complexity to boot.

Now, if you had a boat, and could use the entire frigid ocean as a radiator, I would think that air-to-water systems would be more effective...

[KTA]

Just an observation, but the charge air cooler is in front of the radiator, so the hot air off of it blows through your radiator, therby increasing your coolant temps and overloading your cooling system eventually anyways. I know this because I gross 24000lbs all the time with my 93, and it will heat soak the radiator from the heat off the CAC.

[sdstriper]

That's not all that can heat soak the coolant, the transmission fluid thru the heat exchanger does it on my 89', but the newer cross flow radiator should handle that better than the older downflows.

[90firstgen]

Well I would definately have a decent sized pump to keep the water flowing. A big electric fan, like found on a ricer radiator, will be plenty to keep the water in the aftercooler cool. I'm very sure this would be a better system than air to air coolers. More complex yes, but more efficient. For example, people in professional racing run air to water coolers and they fill the reservoir with ice. They can have intake charge air temps that are below the ambient temperature outside.. which allows them to run insane amounts of boost making a heck of a lot of power. I've got a book on this stuff and I can't give you the quotes on percentage right now becuz I dont remember, but the air to water is considerably more efficient. I definately see your points though and the constructive criticism is beneficial to me cuz it makes me think everything through more. So I do thank everyone for that! I believe there would be plenty of air flowing around the radiator if its underneath the bed, especially with a fan on it. These things are made to keep gassers cool and I think the 5-10 psi of boost on the highway wouldnt overload it with heat. The amount of surface area per say of water wouldnt have to be the same as the amount of air it would take to cool the charge air because the water absorbs the heat better. Man all this talking really makes me want to get this project going!

[bgilbert]

Wow I step away for awhile and you guys hijack the heck out of my thread . Well sorta. I guess it's ok as I should've posted in the wanted section. Dumb move on my part to sell the aftercooler and VE injection lines last fall . Made money on the deal and needed it to fund something else .

[Begle1]

Well I would definately have a decent sized pump to keep the water flowing. A big electric fan, like found on a ricer radiator, will be plenty to keep the water in the aftercooler cool. I'm very sure this would be a better system than air to air coolers. More complex yes, but more efficient. For example, people in professional racing run air to water coolers and they fill the reservoir with ice. They can have intake charge air temps that are below the ambient temperature outside.. which allows them to run insane amounts of boost making a heck of a lot of power. I've got a book on this stuff and I can't give you the quotes on percentage right now becuz I dont remember, but the air to water is considerably more efficient. I definately see your points though and the constructive criticism is beneficial to me cuz it makes me think everything through more. So I do thank everyone for that! I believe there would be plenty of air flowing around the radiator if its underneath the bed, especially with a fan on it. These things are made to keep gassers cool and I think the 5-10 psi of boost on the highway wouldnt overload it with heat. The amount of surface area per say of water wouldnt have to be the same as the amount of air it would take to cool the charge air because the water absorbs the heat better. Man all this talking really makes me want to get this project going!

Good luck. I hope that I can persuade you to install an air intake temp gauge and water temp gauge to see how well it works?

[sdstriper]

What about some of these "super coolants" I have seen, like for race cars etc. Run that in the thing. Engine may not get to a proper temp though. You'll have to sell your first born to finance the stuff too.

[Micaiahfied]

90firstgen, i am with you on this and waiting on the funds to do a similar project. why does water injection work so well? water has the amazing ability to absorb a lot of heat! i am not looking for a cooler that mounts on the engine however. i am going to relocate my battering and take advantage of the HUGE space up front. look on ebay for water to air coolers. they have coolers with 3inch inlet and outlet and 4inch inlet and outlet. rated for huge HP, now i have no clue how they calculate the HP that it will cool and probably plan to divide by 4 for calculate what i really need (ie they say it's good for 1000hp i say 250hp) i plan to build a heat shiled from motor temps and possible some sort of air intake to keep the air in that area moving. i have also plan to use either a radiator of maybe one of the large remote mount tranny coolers. i also would like to have at least a 10gallon tank with easy acess so that i can chill the water for pulls/dyno. i believe it would be possible to saturate this kind of system but my truck is without an intercooler right now and does fine. the hardest work it will see is at a pull, so why not build to what is going to be most efficient there?

[JLeonard]

Anyone got any leads on an air to water aftercooler

I just made arrangements to buy one with VE fuel lines. Main reason is for my marine conversion project...but will it fit under my hood? I might just want to try it out in the truck for a while.
Jay

[90firstgen]

O man I'm so jealous! Yes it will fit under the hood. Thats what I was told anyway, a member on TDR or somewhere has one. Good luck! Keep us updated on it

What did you pay for the cooler and the injection lines if you don't mind me asking
Dan

[DLittle]

Any one read Diesel Builder mag? They just had an article on a new aftermarket water to air I/C made by PXRD. Its all self contained with a water pump,radaitor and parts. Looks pretty good. No prices in mag though. PXRD's web site doesn't have a lot of info yet either. They say they have them for Dodge ,chevy, ford. I wonder if they have a kit for the 1st gen ? or if you could retro a 2nd gen ? Some one with the $$$ should buy one and try it and let us all know how it does.