Vertical Flow Intercoolers .

[discopotato03]

Hi all , I've noticed that some firms overseas are beginning to use vertical flow FMIC's - that is a greater number of shorter tubes rather than a lower number of longer tubes . I remember about 7 yrs ago one of the Rigolli's had Plasmaman fab such an intercooler for a Lancer GSR drag car and while expensive was quite effective .

It occurs to me that people have issues with long pipes in the engine bay of single turbo R32/33/34 Skylines , so if a vertical flow IC was made with the ducts at the ends of the tanks facing the displaced SMIC it could work well and not be as glaringly obvious as the typical bend off the TB and down through the sheetmetalwork on the drivers side .

More tonight on my opinions of vertical flow intercoolers and why I think they work better . The Icing on the cake is that the tanks can be quite agricultural and still work well .

Opinions ? Cheers A .

[zebra]

I see a lot of Drift Laurels use them, Havent seen many on skylines tho....id be keen one one if they wernt hell expensive.

[GeeTR]

They were / still are popular because you can weld to small OEM ones together. S4 RX7 cores etc.

[chops]

Also popular on twin turbo V8s - 2 inlets at the bottom to a central outlet at the top with short pipe distance to the inlet manifold.

[RB30-POWER]

they are way better (all things being equal of course) there is less pressure drop, better flow and so higher efficiency.

go read corky bells turbo charging book and it shows in the intercooler section how that is the optimum design.

[discopotato03]

Yes I'd been thinking about Corkys ideas from Maximum Boost and the APS V8 and V6 intercoolers . I did wonder about 3 or so R33 25 SMIC cores welded together but need to have a look at my R33 IC .

I'm sort of interested in the idea of the top and bottom tank fittings facing where the SMIC lives so the plumbing should not be too dificult . It also sort of ends the immediate need for the inlet manifold to have a forward facing TB . I've been wondering for some time how several TB's would gop insted of the RB25's single .

Out of time , cheers A .

[juggernaut1]

Yes I'd been thinking about Corkys ideas from Maximum Boost and the APS V8 and V6 intercoolers . I did wonder about 3 or so R33 25 SMIC cores welded together but need to have a look at my R33 IC .

I'm sort of interested in the idea of the top and bottom tank fittings facing where the SMIC lives so the plumbing should not be too dificult . It also sort of ends the immediate need for the inlet manifold to have a forward facing TB . I've been wondering for some time how several TB's would gop insted of the RB25's single .

Out of time , cheers A .

Funny you should mention the APS kit.....my brother just had the twin turbo kit fitted to his 6 litre Commodore. It pumped out just over 500 rwhp at around 7.5 psi. Admittedly the intercooler is not working hard in terms of boost levels but 500 rwhp gives you an idea of it's flow capabilities. Full boost at 3250 rpm with a pair of 500 hp turbo's with .86ar turbine and thats with no boost controller.....just running 7psi wastegate springs.

The hot pipes enter at an angle from each side into the bottom of the intercooler and exits to a big outlet to the passenger side and up and around to the t/b.

ARE have some info on there site re intercoolers sizing. From memory the 'window' into the cooler core must be sized according to flow of the turbo ....too small and it will cause a restriction whilst the length of the cooler core is sized according to how hard you want to boost the turbo i.e. the higher the boost the longer the core. However, the longer the core the greater the pressure drop. Big efficient turbos can probably use the shorter vertical cores with a large window area to accommodate the flow requirements of the turbo.

Edited September 26, 2007 by juggernaut1

[Race__24]

I've got a Trust one that i picked up second hand, utilizes the stock piping route and seems to work ok. I got it because i didn't want to cut holes.

[Dynamix]

I've got a Trust one that i picked up second hand, utilizes the stock piping route and seems to work ok. I got it because i didn't want to cut holes.

Exactly what i was thnking, my mate has a trust one on his r33 gts-t (600x300x75mm core i believe), and i've seen arc one's on another mates silvia... so they're been around for years as you said, but i wonder why no one use's them more often. Could they be more expensive due to a larger cast end tank design?

[discopotato03]

I'd say the expense is because they have more tubes and it takes longer to weld the plate to the core if its been cut from a large piece of core material . In a Skyline I suppose the core would need to be reasonably tall so that the tanks didn't disrupt too much airflow from the condenser and radiator .

Cheers A .