Well I decided I could not wait to try out the new OBX intercooler. So being the poor broke family man I am, I rigged up some PVC piping as a temporary measure until I can afford a big bucket of mandrel bends.
All I can say is WOW! Air temp is about 72' right now. I was seeing a steady 77' cruising IAT at the throttle body.

A quick run to about 90mph showed a peak IAT of 89'. Saw 10psi at 6000rpm Which is normal since I am still running an old oil soaked belt.
For comparison-
My DIY water/air showed 135' peak IAT.
No intercooler but with 15GPH methanol spray showed 170' peak IAT.
No intercooler showed 190' peak IAT.

Looks like a good 100' drop in charge temp and about the same boost reading even through 16 feet of big 3" pvc piping and the OBX unit.The little G-trim has very little flow capacity but even with all that large piping and the big OBX unit boost was about the same.

A word about the PVC, stuff never even got warm, even on the hot side. I have steel pipe right after the blower and the big bypass to atmosphere is before any pvc pipe which keeps the hot side cool during normal driving.
I installed steel sleeves inside the PVC at the coupler ends to keep it from crushing or deforming from the clamps.
3" pvc pipe is larger than 3" steel pipe. 3" steel pipe loosely fits inside it. The interior is smoother on the pvc also. It will take 260psi at 73'F but only 57psi at 140'F.
It won't heat soak or transfer heat back into the charge like a hot metal pipe will.
It's lighter than steel also.
But it has one very serious drawback- IT'S FUGLY !!
I'll use it as a form when I make the real piping from steel or aluminum. It only cost 30$ to make.

Steve

 

Got Pics??? Id like to see how you routed the piping. Thinking about doing this on my Tahoe. I wonder how much lower it would get spraying meth...

 

Man I hear you on the poor family man. Great job on thinking outside the box. You will have people follow your lead for a temporary set up.

 

My Incon intercoolers where around 80* but whent down to 60* under spray! Will out spray on the dyno pull went to 90*+.

Sounds like I need a FMIC! Soon

 

Great news.... glad its working for ya.....I fi could get my Autotap to work i could log some runs on mine.....
Kyle

 

Thats pretty impressive

 

Nice....

Looking at logs I am at 140F at the end of the run, and they drop to 101F by the time I am back in the pit area.

 

140 is pretty hot, I thought you were around 90 before?

 

I'll log some longer runs and see how high the charge temp rises.I'm guessing it will rise about 20' total from it's starting temp with 10psi boost. MAF flow is up even with the same boost. Hit 67.5 lbs/min at 6000rpm.
yeah, The pvc works but gawd dang is it ugly looking! But not a whole lot of it is exposed. It's also bulky. I can take some pics I guess just to show how the piping is run. I used 5 90' bends and 2 45' bends and about 8 feet of pipe or so. When I make it from steel it will fit much nicer.
I figure about 200$ to build it from mandrel bent steel which I'll do over the winter.
Bottom line at least for me, the OBX unit is very efficient.

 

Check on Ebay.... me and FRCFED both bought 3" SS mandrel bent piping for cheap.... i bought 3 of the off the guy... it was a 180 degree bend that went straight for a while then into a 45..... I had piping left over... and the best part was that they were $36.99 each... so it was like $130 shipped..... do a search for it..... I also bought two 2' logs of 3" HTS.... then bought the rest of the stuff from Jim at High Temp Silicone.
Kyle

 

awesome!!

 

I am running 3" mandrel, not stainless. Got it much cheaper than that.

 

I really don't need the special E-bay bends.They look good for the price though. I need 5 90's and 2 45's and some pipe.

Well ran the car up to 110mph. Starting iat was 73'F and hit 93'F by 110mph.
Pretty good IMO. Boost is only around 9psi now. I think my belt is slipping. But maf flow is high. Today it was hitting 67.6lbs/min at 5500rpm and then flatlining.But that means nothing really.
Time stamping of the runs shows the car is exactly as fast as it was. In fact I went back and compared logs with my old non intercooled setup+ methanol, my recent DIY water/air and the new OBX FMIC. The runs all look just about identical ,maybe .1 second difference here or there.
Here is a graph showing charge temp vs speed of my last 3 combos.
As you can see, the non intercooled methanol combo showed peak IAT of 170' and very high cruising IAT. Don't let anybody fool you into thinking methanol can replace an intercooler unless you POUR huge volumes of it in the motor.
My little DIY water/air project worked a lot better than no intercooler+ methanol but left a lot on the table.

You can see the mph spikes when I first punch the car from a 30mph roll.
275/15/50 BFG drag radials don't stand a chance.
The yellow mph line hooked up better as that was when I still had 2.73 gears.
Here's the graph and some pics of the temporary Ghetto piping that will be replaced soon.

 

Just an FYI, we can buy a "GRAB BAG" from Stainless Works (sponsor) >>>>>
The "BAG" includes 10 bends with 6" legs on each end, and for 3" tubing it is only $150 + shipping.
I believe they mix the bends to your order. I am getting 6x90*, 2x45*, and 2x30*, I think that will cover any stiuation. Although I have found SS T-bar clamps cheaper, this kit is very good for the price.
Just thought I would share.


Paul

 

Good to see its wroking for you.

 

Steve you buzzing around on 93 pump?

 

Wildman, thanks for the heads up on the piping!

John, right now I am running 93 with a splash of 100 in the tank. 20' total timing and a 11.8-9 A-F.
I'll retune for a 11.5-7 A-F and then rip the pvc crap off the car tomorrow so I can sleep at night.

 

We got my 3" mandrels (not stainless) from Sound Performance in Bloomingdale.

Sounds great!

What are you idle IAT's?

And is Skiba still working in the biz?

 

John,
My idle IAT is whatever the outside air temp is. Cruising temp the same.
I just did one more tuning blast before my Custom Racing Air Piping , or C.R.A.P for short, gets retired from service.
I'll just use mild steel like I always use for the real pipes.

I'm a bit baffled by a few things I see such as a HUGE increase in maf flow readings but with lower boost readings. I wonder if the maf becomes inaccurate with very hot boosted air, since I have run this thing with no intercooler which is going to have the highest air flow capabilty, there is no way I all of a sudden picked up some extra airflow by adding 15 feet of PVC pipe and a FMIC.
MAF is in same location, same big 4" 90' elbow directly behind it and same maf table as all the other combos. Interesting...
I'm not sure what JAS is up to right now.

Steve