onetype

iTrader: (6)

I'm an Apache helicopter crewchief in the Army, I'm building my single turbo setup for my 5.3 Volvo 245. I know it WOULD work, but I'm wondering if it will be efficient enough for a motor and turbo of this size.

Recently pulled this off one of our helicopters because it was supposedly bad. It would have got scrapped, so I decided to see if I could use it as an intercooler. It's use in the aircraft is part of the ECS system, it runs POE oil and refrigerant through it. Basically, to cool all the electronics on the aircraft, as well as A/C in the crewstations.

Dimensions:
22" x 9 3/4" x 4" Thick

My idea is to cut off the outlets and weld on 3" inlet/outlet. Cut off all the tabs except for a few, and use the new sandblaster to take off all the yellow paint.

My setup:
lm7
ls9 cam/springs
rod bolts
Turbonetics t72 .96 A/R
ls1 intake
stock TB
flipped truck manifolds

I'm driving the car N/A right now, waiting for all my turbo stuff to get here before I start this. I don't want to put a bunch of time into this thing if it's not going to work, so I was hoping for some opinions. I don't have any way of measuring cfm. It would save me quite a bit of $$$ If I could use this, and be cool as hell.

MUSTANGBRKR02

iTrader: (91)

By the time you spend all that time making it work you could just buy a EBay inter cooler.

Although I do have a few Cobra and Huey parts on my cars...

onetype

iTrader: (6)

I just stripped the paint. And it will take me MAYBE 30 mins to drill 3" holes and burn on the inlet/outlet.

I'm just curious if the size of this thing is going to support the t72 on 15ish psi.

tonypaul

iTrader: (2)

I think it would be cool on a ratrod but on something like your Volvo I dont know.... A $150 ebay intercooler sounds alot safer on your motor than trying to save a few bucks on something that your not sure if it will work....

You might have been able to sell the part on ebay for what a ebay intercooler would have cost and been alot better off. Im always looking to save a buck where I can but when it come to something as important as a well functioning intercooler is.....

onetype

iTrader: (6)

True.

Not really trying to save $$$, although it would be nice. Just thought it would be cool/unique.

I'm going to end up getting a treadstone performance intercooler probably. This would make one hell of a trans cooler on my ratrod lol.

AutomagicLS1

iTrader: (18)

screw that. buy a $150 ebay a/a cooler. I've got a ton of miles on mine works great

onetype

iTrader: (6)

What thickness should I look for? 3.5 or 4"?

stevieturbo

what's it like internally ?

You can bet than any such core will be far far superior quality than any ebay crap. The big question is whether the actual design is suitable for simple airflow through it.
Do you have a picture of the internal passages ?

aknovaman

iTrader: (7)

Use it.

Sarg

iTrader: (6)

Haha, little sheet aluminum and make it a water to air!

Reject

iTrader: (24)

that thing probably costed like 500k

Sarg

iTrader: (6)

lol, most expensive part on the car!

onetype

iTrader: (6)

I forgot to look up the price on it, but I'm willing to bet it's worth 5 to 10x the price of just about any fmic out there.

Design is the same as any intercooler I've ever seen. I stripped the paint last night aside from the end tanks. Once I finish sandblasting it, cut the tabs off, and weld on the 3" inlet/outlet you won't be able to tell it's an Apache part unless you look at the data plates.

stevieturbo

Design isnt the same.

Those internal passages look tiny. If they really are that small, they would pose a huge restriction to airflow.

Based on that photo, I would not use that core as an intercooler.

http://www.are.com.au/techtalk/intecoolersMR.htm

onetype

iTrader: (6)

Yes, they are a bit smaller. I ran 7xx cfm through it earlier without any issues, with the tiny outlets on it. I was going to cut it open and see how it flows unrestricted.

In the end, it was free. lol.

Reject

iTrader: (24)

i hear you on the price, i got to see what a couple of tiny washers for the GAU21 gun costed. I was shocked when i saw they costed alittle over 2 grand for such tiny pieces of metal lol

Tomis

This is the best core could be for water to air intercooler, use it for that and get water to air intercooler

MUSTANGBRKR02

iTrader: (91)

That is what I was thinking as I have something similar on my helicopters.

onetype

iTrader: (6)

Ours run 1 of these on each side of the aft avionics, and 2 slightly smaller in the front.

I was worried about the fin size, but figured it wouldn't hurt to open it up and see what it actually flows. Unfortunately, aside from a MAF, I have no way of actually testing flow.

I know it WOULD work on a smaller import setup, just not sure it will be able to flow enough for my motor/turbo.

Being that I want to stay A/A I'll probably order a TRE intercooler. I ran a bunch of cheaper supposedly high flow intercoolers on my old built STI, and never had any good luck until I went to an APS ($1200). The TRE's seem to be a good bang for the buck for ($300 for a 1200cfm with less than 1.5psi drop).

Tomis

Try http://www.treadstoneperformance.com/ they intercoolers are decent priced and the way better then ebay stuff.