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Normal Qauntum supplied Radiator was never going to be good enough for the
Cosworth install.
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Needed to sort out how to Intercool the air from the Turbo before it enters
the plenum chamber.
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Would a Intercooler work well enough behind the engine radiator.
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If I go for 330bhp, would I be able to get enough intercooling from a
small intercooler.
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People kept telling me that a 4x4 Cosworth intercooler will fit fine but
all the big power Cosworth ditch this intercooler for an RS500 item. I
definitely do not have room for an RS500 rad.
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Another issue to consider is boost hose lengths. I fit a large intercooler
which is the same size as the engine radiator then the boost hoses will have
to get longer to reach the front of the car. This will marginally increase
lag.
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If I went for a big intercooler, could I fit a big radiator and big
intercooler in the nosecone?
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Decided that a custom radiator and a Custom Intercooler or maybe a
Chargecooler will be required and having used Pace products in the past and
was happy with their workmanship. It seemed beneficial to use them again.
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After a long discussion with Wayne at Pace Products, I was swayed towards a
chargecooler. Wayne stated that a 4 core chargecooler on its own will be
efficient enough for my application. He said some Dax rush owners have done
this with no complaints.
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He also stated that the 0.5ltr standard chargecooler reservoir is not man
enough for such an installation and the larger this reservoir is, the better
the system performs. he also stated that, the bigger the chargecooler pre-rad,
the better the system performs. This all makes common sense so it was time
to work out how big I can make my radiators, what was the biggest reservoir
I could fit and could I fit the 4 core chargecooler under the nosecone.
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After a lot of measuring and creating cardboard templates of the rads, I
eventually got some measurements for the radiators. I knew that these
radiators had to be precisely made as I was making the rads as big as I
could. I first of all made some pencil sketches of the rads showing how I
want them to be fixed together, all mounting holes, all pipes etc etc then I
intended to create CAD drawings of the sketches which would be usable by
Pace for making the Rads. Luckily my best friend Dan is a CAD designer and a
dab hand with Autocad, it seemed easier to pay Dan in beer and get him to do
the drawings as this ensured that the drawings are done well and it also
gave me a second and a more professional opinion on what I was trying to do
was feasible.
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The next task was to design to ensure the chargecooler fits. Pace gave me
some rough dimensions on what a 4 core chargecooler would be. These
dimensions are 150mm x 150mm x 400mm.
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I
initially wanted to fit the chargecooler low down under the front
crossmember which holds the shock absorbers. This would ensure the extra
weight would be as low as possible hence keeping my centre of gravity as low
as possible. After lots of head scratching, I could not work out how to get
the output hose from the turbo to the chargecooler as the alternator and
crossmember get in the way. (Since my Install, I have seem installs with
the alternator relocated for exactly this reason)
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I
eventually decided to mount the chargecooler in front of the shock absorbers
just behind the radiators. This would require the mounting position of the
radiators to be altered to allow space for the chargecooler.
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By mounting the chargecooler in front of the front shock absorbers, I also
had to ensure the boost pipes cleared the shock absorbers. This required the
pipework to and from the chargecooler to be angled upwards slightly.
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With the Chargecooler and Radiators designed, it was time to turn my
attention to the Engine coolant reservoir and the Chargecooler reservoir. I
realised that there was enough space between the engine and front
crossmember to position the reservoirs without occupying the space where I
intended to put the air filter. Two 3" diameter tubes could be mounted
against the crossmember and hold ~1.5ltrs of coolant each. As my engine
coolant reservoir was not the highest point in the system, a 3rd tubular
reservoir was added which worked as a siphon tank. The siphon tank worked as
an overflow tank when the coolant warmed up and overflowed the coolant
reservoir once the coolant system was up to pressure. When the engine
coolant cooled, coolant from the siphon tank would be sucked back into the
coolant reservoir to keep it full and air free. (I later revised this
setup after a year of use because of self bleeding issues after draining the
cooling system. Click here to go to the Cooling System modification page)
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Once models and sketches of the coolant reservoirs, radiators and
chargecooler were completed. My friend Dan CADed the drawings and I was
ready to get Pace to make the items.
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It took Pace about 3 weeks to make the bits, they arrived packed neatly in
bubble wrap and looked absolutely stunning when first unpacked. Within
second I could see problems. The CAD drawings of the radiators showed
tapered corners to the radiators but the radiators had square corners. The
tapered corners were there to ensure the rads filled a much of the nosecone
as possible. These rads are now too big for the nosecone. I also noticed
that the two rad were joined together at the top and bottom whereas the CAD
drawing had them joined at the side. The reason for joining them at the side
with slotted holes was to allow slight vertical adjustment of the
chargecooler pre-rad so it sat neatly inside the nosecone.
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Pace fixed this problem free of charge, in fact over the build, slight
adjustments were made to rad, the chargecooler and the reservoirs and each
time Pace did not charge. I reckon that is extremely good service.
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Eventually the rads, chargecooler and reservoirs were in place and now
required plumbing. I have always cringed at the price of Samco hoses and new
silicon hose was used in many applications. After a bit of research I found
out that I could get hoses custom made for less than the price of buying
Samco hoses. In my travels, I also managed to acquire a significant amount
of hosing for free. It was not enough for the whole installation but
certainly helped. The difficulty though was the comany who made the hosing
had gone bust so I had to get another company to make the remaining hoses.
Although the remaining hoses are a slightly different shade of blue to the
hoses I got free, beggars can not be choosers.
