amoosenamedhank

When doing my supercharger build on my 5.4 I'm having troubles deciding which type of intercooling to use. I know that air/water is a much more efficent way of cooler IAT but my car is not a drag racing car. Everyone says that air/water is great because you just dump ice in there and go. That won't work for me, how often are you driving around in traffic and you stop to dump ice in your reservoir. So my concern is if I use an Air/water system when I'm driving around in traffic it won't be able to keep up and once a system like that falls behind it's kinda done for. Don't look at it as a $ stand point either. Acutally with my build the air/water might be cheaper.

So to reiterate, I need to know if it would be wiser to use an Air/air if the car is only street driving or if a air/water could be sufficent.

SOHCtimes2

Actually I believe air/air is better....the air/water aftercoolers offered by companies like Vortech become obsolete when you start making big #s. Like 600+

That's what my research has shown for me so far at least. I'll be going with a DIY front-mount intercooler setup in a few months to add onto my S/C kit going on in 2 days!!!

ponysnake99

id say air/water just because of your build...but then again because of your build, im going with an air/air...less space consumed, you have a lot of motor after all...just make sure its got a couple cores

amoosenamedhank

Well I guess I'll let a little bit of the cat out of the bag on this..... It's not going to be a vortec system if it was a air/water. It would be a heat exchanger system like the lightning and cobras.

SOHCtimes2

Doesn't their system pretty much use an intercooler AND a water reservoir? I dunno...I seriously think you'd be fine with just a nice big front mount. Plus huge front mounts look MEAN!

newb2000GT

Air-to-Air is more efficient. Putting ice/water into a resorvoir is not my idea of low-maintenance for a daily driver either.

amoosenamedhank

I agree on them looking sweet. The lightning uses heat exchanger that sits inside of the lower intake manifold and has fluid run to it from a reservoir. I belive it is a closed system. So the air/water physically wouldn't take any extra space other then lines and reservoir.

W1ked 04

I was thinkiing of running a 5.4 with a T-trim, but I dunno. I've heard that you can't run headers because of engine space issues. What's you plan as far as exhaust?

SOHCtimes2

I still vote front mount intercooler...and as the person above said. Having to put ice in your reservoir isnt exactly practical / low maintenance. My car is my DD aswell...so FMIC FTW!

97stanger

i agree with the frontmount...throw a Paxton A/A on that biatch and be ready to raise the boost