For the past few years I had been thinking about experimenting with a cool can idea for the intercooler to help with ITA2's. My intentions were to get more consistent coolant temperatures between the heat exchanger and intercooler. I considered wet ice, dry ice, and even liquid nitrogen as possible cooling agents. The nitrogen was quickly dismissed for extreme temperatures, source, and safety reasons. The canister's pitcock helps drain wet ice melt and dry ice sublimates so either would be a good option based on availability.
I found an old coolant can that had been formerly used to cool racing fuel that appeared to be ideal for the conversion project. Unfortunately the aluminum 3/8" lines were too small for my application so I gutted the canister and drilled out the connectors.
The worst part of the entire project was bending tubing that would fit inside the canister yet not impede the coolant flow to much. I wanted to use 3/4" OD refrigerant copper tubing but it would not radius tight enough to fit plus bending it without a bending tool or spring was impossible. Next I tried 1/2" copper tubing which was easy to bend with a spring but it still wanted to crimp in a couple of places. A HVAC friend had a 5/8" bending tool and all the fittings I needed so that was the best solution but both inlet and outlet are 3/4". I could have used 3/4" plastic tubing but I felt the wall thickness would prohibit good cooling transfer plus I felt thin walled copper would be most beneficial. With dry ice as the coolant of choice at -109 degrees I insulated the interior top, bottom, and sides of the canister. Leaving the canister lid loose or adding a vent to release the CO2 gas is a step yet to be decided.
Now, finding a good place to mount the can (6"x7") is problematic and my next hurdle for a mostly stock engine compartment. If the air filter wasn't there the canister would be mounted there really close to the HE outlet tube and IC manifold inlet tube. Another option would be battery relocation and mounting in that space. I doubt I do either and this project ends up sitting on the shelf.
As an aside: I don't know if this could be used as a transmission cooler by adding a pump and lines to the trans or not.
goes on the shelf.
I found an old coolant can that had been formerly used to cool racing fuel that appeared to be ideal for the conversion project. Unfortunately the aluminum 3/8" lines were too small for my application so I gutted the canister and drilled out the connectors.
The worst part of the entire project was bending tubing that would fit inside the canister yet not impede the coolant flow to much. I wanted to use 3/4" OD refrigerant copper tubing but it would not radius tight enough to fit plus bending it without a bending tool or spring was impossible. Next I tried 1/2" copper tubing which was easy to bend with a spring but it still wanted to crimp in a couple of places. A HVAC friend had a 5/8" bending tool and all the fittings I needed so that was the best solution but both inlet and outlet are 3/4". I could have used 3/4" plastic tubing but I felt the wall thickness would prohibit good cooling transfer plus I felt thin walled copper would be most beneficial. With dry ice as the coolant of choice at -109 degrees I insulated the interior top, bottom, and sides of the canister. Leaving the canister lid loose or adding a vent to release the CO2 gas is a step yet to be decided.
Now, finding a good place to mount the can (6"x7") is problematic and my next hurdle for a mostly stock engine compartment. If the air filter wasn't there the canister would be mounted there really close to the HE outlet tube and IC manifold inlet tube. Another option would be battery relocation and mounting in that space. I doubt I do either and this project ends up sitting on the shelf.
As an aside: I don't know if this could be used as a transmission cooler by adding a pump and lines to the trans or not.