how much power can an intercooler make? of course probably depends on size
i have a 92 f350 crew dually w 7.3 and banks sidewinder kit looking for more power. i dont know much about intercoolers. wouuld a small cooler off of say a mitsubishi eclipse do anything??? just out of curiosity. i scour junk yards for anything that would work just cant find any diesel trucks in there,... ever!anyways got any suggestions or info? also would better than stock injectors be better for the 7.3 w/banks kit??

 

idifamilycab,
Welcome to FTE and the IDI diesel forum.

If I remember the formula correctly a 10 degree reduction in intake temp increases the power output by 1%.

So on a 200 HP engine, dropping the intake temp 10 degrees would be a 2 HP increase in power.

So as you can see from this, it would take a rather large intercooler to make any noticeable power increase.
Another thought would be the engine size and the air flow requirements.
The Mitsubishi has a tiny engine compared to a 7.3 liter diesel engine.
One of the intercoolers off the Mitsubishi may cut the air flow down and hurt your power in the end.
Both Banks and ATS have intercoolers for the IDI, but they are about 1000 dollars.
There may be other ways to get what you are looking for.

What are you running for exhaust?
What do you see for turbo boost?
What kind of EGT do you see?
Where is the thermocouple for the pyrometer located?
What do you have for an air intake?
Do you see any black exhaust smoke while driving?

 

I'd like to try water injection some day. I've head the the results are much higher than intercooling, and theres no extra turbo lag either.

 

thats about what i figured for the small intercooler. exhaust is the banks kit which is i believe the 3 inch downpipe to muffler than 3 1/2 out boost cruising hwy speeds is 3-5 lbs and 400-500 egt, on the floor about 9 lbs no load 600-800 egt intake is just the k&n style on the turbo inlet dont have the housing over the filter and no air duct coming from upper core suppt so its always breathing hot air until i fab or find something to get cold air. i never really noticed where the pyrometer is. Iknow its not on the down pipe i think its up right on the turbo. Or wherever banks suggested to mount it.As far as black smoke i only notice it at night when a car is behind me, and thats when i get on it. thanks for thinking with me

 

how does water injection work?

 

for the answer of the eclipse intercooler..me being a DSM'er as well i know these cars well. only thing i use these intercoolers for in my shop is for a cheap honda turbo build (stupid hondas) i would get atleast a 4 inchx 24-30 inch intercooler to make some power. a bigger turbo would be a great idea to!
Marko

 

Water is injected as a fine mist into the intake air stream preferably after the turbo. The technology goes back to WWll, the earliest example I have seen is on the F4-U corsair (navy fighter) which gained around 400hp with the system on (it put out over 3000hp total).

The most comon setup I've seen is a dual injector system, with one set to activate at a moderate boost level and a second one at or near max boost. Another setup is one that is electronicly controlled by an EGT sensor, and it cost almost as much as a turbo kit.

The big advantage is that not only do you get an effective way to control the EGT's but it also gives the piston an extra kick. As the water mist gets heated by combustion temperatures, it expands and draws heat in (this is the cooling effect).

 

The size of the cooler is not as important as how efficient it is.

Our trucks can get away with a small IC, as long as it effcient. The PSD is waaay over kill on our trucks. The PSD pushes 25-35 psi. While ours only push 10-12.
Think of it this way. The Banks turbo is a Mitsu TO5H. The same turbo a Mistubishi EEklips uses.

I've said it a hundred times. If you've got to crank the boost up on your turbo to make up for the pressure loss of a huge IC. Your not making any more power, your just making more heat.

 

what sort of cost is involved for water injection?how difficult is it. i do like the sound of it especially because water is free!!! There must be some sort of reservoir, pump, line and spray nossle or injector? how do you tune with it? do you use glow plugs for tuning? Any more info would be awsome.

 

Theres no single answer to that question unfortunately. As for water being free, soposedly you are supposed to use a 50/50 mix of water methonal (basicly washer fluid) but personally I would just use filtered water (I don't race my truck). For tuning, chances are if I ever have the time to mess around with something like this, I would just go by feel and slowly increase the flow untill there no more benifit in performance.

You can buy a complete system off the shelf for a little over $1500 (hypermax), but I think it is also possible to build one that has satisfaftory performance using inexpencive components. I think a light duty agricultural sprayer could be a good start, it has enough pressure to vaporize the water, and comes with a nozzle that will not corode (unike say, a fuel injector). I have also heard of using a furnace humidifier, which may actually be a better fit, because of its smaller size, but you would still need a 12v pump. You could have multiple nozzles staged to go off at preset boost pressures to better control egts.

Its not quite the miracle of running on strait water, but it does improve the thermal efficiency of the engine by putting some of the heat that is normally lost through the water jacket or exhaust to use.

But there is the potential for hydro locking the engine if too water much is injected, or if water is allowed to get into the intake when the engine is off, so there will have to be some safety features for the sake of the engine.

Its definately something I would like to try though, now that I have a turbo, I think I will.