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Co2 intercooler sprayer? Holy balls

20K views 10 replies 6 participants last post by  Brockton 
#1 ·
Well, I was driving home from work at 2 am, tonight it was much cooler than it has been lately and it was raining, I did a second gear pull through town to piss off the neighbors (just kidding). HOLY BALLS with the weather around 50* instead of 60-80* like it has been my car felt like it gained 20hp or more. I was so surprised that I missed my turn.

Now I know for a fact cooler intercooler will give me more power, so my new project is to get the intercooler isolated as much as possible. I am going to fab up a heat Shield for the downpipe, possibly make a better shroud and get an Sti scoop, but what I'm really interested in is doing a co2 sprayer kit. I mean if the weather being 50* (imagine the intake is slightly warmer so 60-80* or more cause I have no heat shield :/) imagine making the intake charge 40* or less! To me that sounds like a big seat of the pants difference (I don't care about dyno numbers) not only could it make more power now, but when it gets hot out again I won't lose a ball load of power from heatsoAk. Has anyone ever installed one of these kits on a Subaru with a top mount? I know with a front mount it isn't going to make a huge difference but with a small top mount and a small turbo being maxed out it generates a LOT of heat, so in the case of a stage 2 car with the tdo4 and any top mount out there, in theory it would make a large difference. Any advice or opinions from people who have actually done this or something similar would be awesome.

Thanks
Nate
 
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#2 ·
#3 ·
@Nate,

Sounds like what your really after is a cooler intake charge. Im not sure I would be comfortable blowing C02 or NO2 in my engine bay. NO2 is flamable without extra oxygen and especially in our cars cars we have a very hot heating element right under the intercooler. as for CO2 I would think it would be safer but I wouldn't want to risk super cooling the intercooler ( think -80 to -90 degrees ) and risk condensation in the inter-cooler. If you want to cool the incoming air you can look at meth injection. With proper handling and tuning I've read stories where guys in hot climates got gains of 15-20 whp on a metered setup.

If you want to avoid the hassle of having to fill up and run seperate maps and maintain another liquid you could always go the shielding route. On your 05 you could make a heck of a difference by pulling the heat shield from your turbo, Wrapping the turbo in a nice glass or ceramic blanket and covering the underside of the heat shield with thermal reflective material. DEI makes a nice entry level thermal tape that reflects 92% of the radiant heat. Ive seen temp swings of 15 to 20 degrees while moving and 50-80 degrees at the inter cooler when sitting idle. Just keeping the engine bay cooler by isolating the heat where it belongs in the turbo would make a noticeable difference when you start from waiting 2 minutes at a red light.

IMO thermal tape and turbo blankets are worth the few hours it takes to install them, No new tune needed and no fluids/gasses to keep up with. The only downside is the gold blingy look under the hood.
 
#7 ·
The best data I can give you is from overclocking PCs, with a CO2 tank and regulator for extreme cooling we were constantly battling condensation on the outside of our heat exchangers. We could get stability around -80 F but as it warmed back up the ice would melt on the outside of the cooler and ruin boards. Translating that inot your car that means that the normal moisture thats in the air could freeze to the inside of your intercooler and when you shut the spray off it would quickly melt and travel into your engine which could be harmful. you would also have to deal with the engine sucking up CO2 from the engine bay. CO2 doesnt burn and could make your setup run poorly.

Cutting your stock shield shouldn't make a huge difference but wrapping your turbo in a lava blanket or a similar heat control product will make a huge difference. If you just wrap your turbo and do nothing else I would expect to see 15-20 degree lower temps which translate to the same difference you experienced with cooler morning air. If you are already disassembling the stock heat shield then I dont see a reason to not add some thermal tape while its off.

The closest thing I have experience with is methanol injection. most tuners can tune for meth kits and assuming you keep the tank full you shouldnt have any issues with a metered system running out ans causing knock. Its very easy to plumb and it does a great job of cooling intake charge on command. It also has the side effect of being a pre oxidized fuel source so it doesnt require extra air to provide additional power. Its your call though.
 
#8 ·
I have had a bad experience with meth injection. Totally destroyed my old talon and cost me a bunch of money. That's why I was thinking about trying something that stays external. I suppose I might be the pioneer then, I will have to do more searching though, the only thing I don't like is the expense of the kit and the fact that a tank doesn't last a long time it sounds like.
 
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