intercooler for M30 in E30

Discussion pertaining to positive pressure E28s.
Post Reply
jimbixjr
Posts: 77
Joined: Feb 12, 2006 12:00 PM
Location: Blairsville, PA/Mt. Holly, VT

intercooler for M30 in E30

Post by jimbixjr »

I was just thinking of options for an intercooler for my project. Ive heard of people using saab intercoolers, 745i intercoolers, or front mount intercoolers. What type of clearence issues will I have with using an intercooler in the engine bay. I am getting rid of power steering, A/C, ABS, Cruise Control, and im going to make my bug washer fluid resevouir into a very small bottle to save some space, ill probably put it in the battery tray or something. Any help would be great. My crank should be back from the shop sometime early next week and I will post some pictures.

P.S. Because this will be a summer daily driver I don't really wanna get rid of any headlights.
T_C_D
Posts: 7733
Joined: May 27, 2009 11:42 AM
Location: Twin Cities
Contact:

Re: intercooler for M30 in E30

Post by T_C_D »

jimbixjr wrote:I was just thinking of options for an intercooler for my project. Ive heard of people using saab intercoolers, 745i intercoolers, or front mount intercoolers. What type of clearence issues will I have with using an intercooler in the engine bay. I am getting rid of power steering, A/C, ABS, Cruise Control, and im going to make my bug washer fluid resevouir into a very small bottle to save some space, ill probably put it in the battery tray or something. Any help would be great. My crank should be back from the shop sometime early next week and I will post some pictures.

P.S. Because this will be a summer daily driver I don't really wanna get rid of any headlights.
Our e28 water/air untis fits just fine.
Todd
Soco
Posts: 1320
Joined: Jun 01, 2006 12:49 PM
Location: Annapolis, MD

Post by Soco »

if you dont wanna pay big bucks, I have a saab and i think it'll fit. i mean, im going to use the one i have, but you can go get one from a junkyard for cheep cheep cheap!

but it meant either cutting the bulkhead, or moving the radiator, neither of which are good. and if you do that the fan wont clear. so its electric pusher fans then.
Jeremy
Beamter
Beamter
Posts: 15844
Joined: Feb 12, 2006 12:00 PM
Location: Connecticut

Post by Jeremy »

Saab intercoolers are way too small.
jimbixjr
Posts: 77
Joined: Feb 12, 2006 12:00 PM
Location: Blairsville, PA/Mt. Holly, VT

Post by jimbixjr »

Todd, how much for your water-air unit?
Soco
Posts: 1320
Joined: Jun 01, 2006 12:49 PM
Location: Annapolis, MD

Post by Soco »

small?

how so? they are larger than my radiator, and that amount of cooling capacity is more than enough for many applications.

Also, being large, flat and thin they have an effective cooling area. larger, thicker ICs may not cool so well because the air has to travel much farther through the baffles, as opposed to the ~1" in the saab models.
T_C_D
Posts: 7733
Joined: May 27, 2009 11:42 AM
Location: Twin Cities
Contact:

Post by T_C_D »

Soco wrote:small?

how so? they are larger than my radiator, and that amount of cooling capacity is more than enough for many applications.

Also, being large, flat and thin they have an effective cooling area. larger, thicker ICs may not cool so well because the air has to travel much farther through the baffles, as opposed to the ~1" in the saab models.
Try pushing 300hp through a straw. Your intercooler is good for 200hp max. After that it is a huge restriction. What is the flow through area?
raceaddic
Posts: 43
Joined: Oct 09, 2006 3:56 AM
Location: Sweden

Post by raceaddic »

use an eBay intercooler 18x12x3" they goes nice behinds the front on a E30 and are good for at least 500hp and they are cheap 8)

Image [/img]
T_C_D
Posts: 7733
Joined: May 27, 2009 11:42 AM
Location: Twin Cities
Contact:

Post by T_C_D »

raceaddic wrote:use an eBay intercooler 18x12x3" they goes nice behinds the front on a E30 and are good for at least 500hp and they are cheap 8)

Image [/img]
That example has horrible tank design.
raceaddic
Posts: 43
Joined: Oct 09, 2006 3:56 AM
Location: Sweden

Post by raceaddic »

we had 3psi in boost drop over the intercooler with 32 degrees Celsius inlet temp, 20 degrees outside air, with 26psi of boost so that bad can´t it be
lots of 600+hp bmw engines runs with these intercoolers
T_C_D
Posts: 7733
Joined: May 27, 2009 11:42 AM
Location: Twin Cities
Contact:

Post by T_C_D »

raceaddic wrote:we had 3psi in boost drop over the intercooler with 32 degrees Celsius inlet temp, 20 degrees outside air, with 26psi of boost so that bad can´t it be
lots of 600+hp bmw engines runs with these intercoolers
3psi is substantial but that is not what I was referring to. The tank design is poor in that it doesn't distribute the air to the entire intercooler effectively. Maybe your 600hp motor makes 650hpp with better tanks?

This is an intercooler with proper tanks.

Image

Todd
jimbixjr
Posts: 77
Joined: Feb 12, 2006 12:00 PM
Location: Blairsville, PA/Mt. Holly, VT

Post by jimbixjr »

Yeh, I like the one pictured above. I need an intercooler with the inlet and outlet on the same end. Is that a TCD item or did you find that on ebay? or somewhere else

http://img232.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pictureei1.jpg

Not the greatest picture but there she is, cleaned and polished and the guy said all the journals checked out real nice. I forgot to ask him for the specs but ill ask him when he comes back from vacation.
T_C_D
Posts: 7733
Joined: May 27, 2009 11:42 AM
Location: Twin Cities
Contact:

Post by T_C_D »

jimbixjr wrote:Yeh, I like the one pictured above. I need an intercooler with the inlet and outlet on the same end. Is that a TCD item or did you find that on ebay? or somewhere else

http://img232.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pictureei1.jpg

Not the greatest picture but there she is, cleaned and polished and the guy said all the journals checked out real nice. I forgot to ask him for the specs but ill ask him when he comes back from vacation.
Yes, that's a TCD intercooler.

Todd
FSAEracer03
Posts: 136
Joined: Aug 28, 2006 10:33 AM
Location: The gorgeous beach of AL

Post by FSAEracer03 »

Soco wrote:small?

how so? they are larger than my radiator, and that amount of cooling capacity is more than enough for many applications.

Also, being large, flat and thin they have an effective cooling area. larger, thicker ICs may not cool so well because the air has to travel much farther through the baffles, as opposed to the ~1" in the saab models.
Interesting... which Saab IC do you have? I think they were assuming you had (as I did on my turbo 318i) the 900S intercooler. It's about 3.5" thick, and a square foot in effective area, much like the 1.8t VW ICs.
Post Reply