jangy

Has anyone got any experience with running a dry ice / alcohol slurry instead of an aqueous coolant? If so, any success? If not, why?

To be clear, i want to separate the motor and intercooler fluids and replace the intercooler fluid with one that is COLD.

chiromikey

obviously (or maybe not) you can't run dry ice in a pressurized/sealed system. alcohol...never tried it, but i have run ice water and it's worth a tenth off my et and a mph at the end of the track. i don't know how much hp that equates to and i don't really care as i don't put any stock in dyno numbers. however, it takes a large reservoir and the tiny evo type isn't going to work. within a few seconds of circulating the ice water through the system, it's warm so it doesn't last long at all and imho not worth the trouble unless you're going for a record pass.

i have considered wrapping the reservoir in a dry ice blanket but the blankets i looked at were stupid expensive so i passed.

stevebez

I been thinking why you cannot hook up the air conditioner somehow to super cool the intercooler. So you got the A/C draining power and the colder air making power - I guess in the end its zero sum game at best tho or?

Playing with the fluids insiode the cooler hmm... dunno might work - think of the I/C as the cold side of the fridge and another heat exchanger as the hot side... but this needs power to run but could be run off the battery for a short while I reckon.

JAYCL600

alcohol is corrosive to aluminum and rubber

V12Godspeed

What about a mixture? Maybe 30% alcohol and 70% water? Could work....Hmmm

JAYCL600

sounds like a bomb to me, im too scared of the fumes leaking some how after being superheated and catching on fire, my cars already caught on fire once

chiromikey

trust me, it's been thought of. it would be better run off of an electric pump so it's not parasitic to the motor.

regardless, it's amazing we have to think of bs like this because tuners want to rape us for $15k on a $1000 intercooler.

V12Godspeed

Hahaha, I hear you, the other option we always have is Water Wetter...

ChicagoX

www.killerchiller.com

sang55

yep, Im running coolant and 12oz water wetter and it was drop 5 to 7F on 94 outside temp.

chiromikey

get rid of the coolant and just run water and water wetter and you'll see even better temps (just make sure ambient doesn't go below freezing).

sang55

Mine is 20F over outside temp all time in summer here in NM so I think im OK but my buddy told me to do water injection i dont know if any go bad for long run.

TopGun32

same here.

I have 80/20 mix.

jangy

*** long as the system is sealed, I don't see what the issue would be? It would definitely be a pain in the butt and I would only do it for racing. But, you could bring a jug of the slurry (alcohol + dry ice) to the track in a cooler. Drain the current fluid (whatever the normal solution is as long as it is missible with the slurry) and dump in the cold fluid. The dry ice would keep the fluid cold enough for at least 1 run and likely more. The Alcohol would help dissipate faster and is less dense so less heat soak when it does get warm. Just a thought to keep the weight down. Putting a larger reservoir in the trunk is an option, but I was hoping to drop weight and add cooling.

Obviously, the intent is to run a separate system for the IC cooler.

chiromikey

jangy, seriously listen...you CANNOT run dry ice in a sealed/pressurized system. i don't want to see you try something stupid and get hurt.

JAYCL600

+1

Jakpro1

Okay what about this though.

What if you just connected the coolant lines up to the intercooler water lines. So ice cold coolant would be flowing through the intercooler. System already has an evaporator on it etc, you would just be extending the lines out a bit and running them through the intercooler .

I know I know, impossible.

Is it just too much pressure for the intercooler fins ya think.

What would happen if you just went nuts and tried it for an experiement??

Guess I just don't know my HVAC stuff so maybe it wouldn't do anything at all. Just keep thinking about those ice cold lines even in a piping hot engine compartment.

jangy

I understand what you are saying and I work with dry ice and liquid nitrogen all the time. The key is that it is pressurized and in solution. It won't be pieces of it and the pressure would keep it from boiling.

I guess another route is a jacketted vessel. How about that, then? I'm just thinking out loud. I'm not standing over my car with a wrench.

JAYCL600

You seem to have all the answers, so try it out and let us know how it works.....

jangy

Dude, I don't have any answers, but I am trying to step out of the box and come up with something new. Why is that so bad? Damn dude, still sore?

JAYCL600

I appreciate you trying to think outside the box, but others have come before you with experience in this specific mod. Those people are trying to tell you it wont work. If you think it does relative to you own experience, then knock yourself out, you wont see me stopping you. Sore, not in the slightest, that would mean your word means something to me, you have proven its worth zero, along with your extremely naive and limited knowledge. (said in a deep voice as I stare down at you from the mountain top) Not trying to start another argument, just stating facts

jangy

Ok, I guess you da man. Its a good thing all of this has been figured out.

stevebez

I would say getting water injection would be the best result, and far easier to implement. Many fully auto systems around that piggy back off injector flow...

Won't really give you much max performance gain I dont think, but will allow you to run the car flat out with much reduced IAT's - which is what the goal ultimately is...

Think I am going to have another look at this.

Jspeed

My friend has tried using the air-con to chill his intercooler fluid and it does help bring down temperatures fast after a run and lowers the cruising/idling temperature, but it didn't reduce peak IATs much. This was on his CLS55 using a custom intercooler

stevebez

I think I am going to try this HFS-5 Aquamist unit ... seems reasonably simple install and if the guys give me decent backup in getting it setup right.

App 50degC drop in IAT's...