What works better? Because I've heard of some Vortech Applications using intercoolers instead of aftercoolers..... How do they work? Just curious and want some more knowledge to feed my useless brain.

 

I'm tryin Methanol water injection with an intercooler as soon as I get it tuned I'll put up the numbers.

 

Methanol injection is a proven way to cool air through evaporation, I have the Snow stage 2 maf kit and it makes a difference, it totally eliminates detonation.

 

Did you get it for the power gains? Or more for the cooling and elimination of a potential detonation?

 

With meth the tuner was able to dial in more agressive timing, along with 13psi it created detonation. The spray is controlled with its on ecu that is connected to the MAF. It can regulate when to start/stop spraying, and there are different nozzles to adjust how much is sprayed. In the end everything was working together and there is a definite power increase when the meth/water sprays.

Snow Performance

 

Aint it true, that to refill and meth tank, you can just use windex glass cleaner???

 

Windex has ammonia in it so it cant be used, but regular windshield washing fluid can be used. The ones that protect to at least 20F below, and if you shake it up and it doens't form soap bubbles then you can use it. Methanol is available at alot of dragstrips for a little over a dollar a gallon, but a gallon lasts me a long time. I use a gas line antifreeze called HEET it comes in a yellow bottle and every parts store has it. I got a case of it for cheap so im gonna use that untill I run out.

 

sorry to bud in but do you have a pic of this set up just sound interesting sence i to am looking at an intercooler this may be better for me

 

The aftercoolers are more expensive, more heavy, and more involved than a i/c setup. A aftercooler is basically a water cooled radiator inline with your supercharger discharge tube. the blower blows air thru the radiator, which is filled with water. the water is cool, so it cools down the charge.

The water is cooled by pumping it from the aftercooler itself into a front mount radiator that goes in front of your engine radiator. The cool air from outside cools it off.

The main advantage to an aftercooler is that you can add ice to the resivour tank. This means you can get the intake air charge cooler than you could with a i/c that is just using ambient air. This is why some intercooler users spray nitrous thru the intercooler (just over the coil, it doesn't enter the engine), as the nitrous will cool the intercooler.

The main disadvantage to a aftercooler setup is that unless you constantly add ice to the tank, you can get heat soak pretty easy, and then the water is acutally hotter than ambient outside. A i/c always has ambient air flowing over it, where a aftercooler will gradually heat the water and be over ambient. (basically the water cannot get rid of ALL the heat every cycle and it builds up).

I am not 100 percent sold on methanol injection yet, but I am thinking that once I build my shortblock I may do a combo i/c and meth injection to have the best of both worlds. One thing is for sure, the meth is cheaper.


BTW, although I am not very far along in my project (lazy) I do have basically all the parts for it, and its only running about 750 bucks WITH a vortech mini race bypass, powerpipe, intercooler, and all the pipping/couplers I am going to need... not a bad price for all your getting. If you already have a bypass and a powerpipe your only looking at a couple hundred bucks for the pipping and cooler itself.

 

Heres few pics, they should be easily understood. The methanol setup is alot more simple then one might think, but if theres any questions just ask. Or check out Snow Performance
Click to open big pictures
Album
Engine
Sprayer
ECU