i work with a bunch of honda guys and they all ways bust my balls about the fact iam into carpis and mustangs. iam buying a 94 soon and me and my buddy are building up a 84 rs turbo capri. well any ways they said to make ur own after cooler like a vortex ; you more or less make a box or use a bigger tube around your intake pipe and and plumb it to have water flowing in and out. i know theres othere compents like a water pump water tank ect. but what iam asking is the box just a box built around one of the tubes and water flows around it or is there more to it. the reason iam asking is were allready making all most every thing else whey pay 1,500 $ if you dont have to.
after cooler questions.
- Thread starter warwickben
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goland55
Founding Member
They're talking about an air-to-water intercooler (AWIC). It's pretty much a small air-to-air intercooler (which is like a radiator) with a casing around is so that you can flow water over it instead of air. An AWIC is a lot more complicated than a regular air-to-air intercooler. The advantage is that when the car is at idle (stoplight or whatever), you can still cool the air charge.
I would recommend looking into an air-to-air intercooler. You can usually take one from other cars that came with them from the factory (volvo, saab, ford powerstroke, etc) and with a few modifications make them work. A front mount intercooler (FMIC) is very popular as they are placed in front of the radiator and receive lots of cool air as you drive.
How much boost are you planning to run? If you're planning on 18 psi or less I would recommend the volvo FMIC. They're cheap and can mount right in front of a ford ranger radiator (which can be swapped in easily on most fox bodies).
I would recommend looking into an air-to-air intercooler. You can usually take one from other cars that came with them from the factory (volvo, saab, ford powerstroke, etc) and with a few modifications make them work. A front mount intercooler (FMIC) is very popular as they are placed in front of the radiator and receive lots of cool air as you drive.
How much boost are you planning to run? If you're planning on 18 psi or less I would recommend the volvo FMIC. They're cheap and can mount right in front of a ford ranger radiator (which can be swapped in easily on most fox bodies).
Also there are places on ebay that sell air to water IC's for $200 or so...then all you need is a tank, pump and heat exchanger.
I don't know exactly how they are built to be honest. Some people have taken factory '87-88 TC intercoolers and welded small tanks over the fins on the top and bottom with fittings, and run water through them.
I don't know exactly how they are built to be honest. Some people have taken factory '87-88 TC intercoolers and welded small tanks over the fins on the top and bottom with fittings, and run water through them.
goland55
Founding Member
As a side note, I have some volvo front mount intercoolers for sale for $20 each plus shipping. They normally go for about $40 but I need to get rid of them. Much cheaper than a AWIC. If you want more info on intercoolers used commonly on the 2.3 turbo's I'd check out the forums at www.turboford.org if you haven't already.
another intercooler that's better than the plastic volvo intercooler is one from an isuzu npr truck.if you don't have an a/c condensor they fit pretty good.my a/c works so i had cut the end caps off angle them different so it fit around my condensor.i'm waiting now for it to come back from the metal shop.
goland55
Founding Member
Ya, good call. Those are nice. There's a couple different sizes of those if I remember correctly. A short one and a full size one. I was looking for one a few years ago but they're kind of expensive and not as easy to find. I was looking into getting a multi-core volvo IC welded up ( 2 or 3 cores thick or something) but never got around to it.
