ok, i first want to note that while this is a 3rdgen (with a LS1 in it) the radiator/airdam is identical in operation as 4thgen fbodies.. they're both bottom feeder cars... thats said, i have a intercooler im putting infront of my radiator.

my question is, should i force all of the incoming air to go thru the IC first, or should i leave a gap behind the IC for the radiator to get air thru?

note: all pics are on a spare junk car, not my car. lol

ok, look at these two pics.



in the pic, you can see how the intercooler is back, so almost all airflow must go thru it, before it reaches the radiator... will that cause a cooling problem?
also note the lines. the green line is about where the normal airdam is... do you think i shoudl move it forward, to where the redline is? this would force all incoming air going under the car thru the intercooler more effectively, and as far as i can see, that would increase the amount of air going into the radiator too.. right?

heres a different pic:



notice the gap between where the radiator is(or would be), and where the IC is.
would this be better for cooling? would the intercooler still be as effective?
in this case, i would continue to run the stock airdam (green line) but i would possibly add a 2nd airdam for the intercooler.... any problems? ideas? anyone done this before? lol.


ok, going back up top:


here you can see how i have the intercooler tipped forward... this has no effect on the frontal area seen by the grill, however, it forces all the air coming up from under it, THRU it, instead of over or around..... does this seem like a ok solution?

OOOR:


should it be more like this... where there's a big airgap infront of it, and i could potentially see air going above it somewhat....





basically i dont want to have the engine overheat in the summer traffic because the intercooler is there.... but at the same time, i would like the intercooler to be as effective as possible.
any help would be great.

 

are you using turbo or sc, because if you are using a turbo, then idleing in trafic should not cause it to heat up anymore than it does without it since ther boost is what causes the heat, and at idle you shouldn't have any boost. as for the placement, I think having the bottom of it back and the top forward, as long as air will still get to the upper portion, would work better running the air straight through both the intercooler and the radiator.

 

thats a bit hard to decide.
i would think putting it right next to your radiator like in the first picture would cause over heating
id try putting it up a little bit, but not to far forward where the intercooler wouldnt get any air, trying to split the distance. and leaving the air dam where it was originally, maybe droping the IC just a tad, to get a little more air but not to much where it scrapes or blocks the air dam.

 

Your going to have to do some testing to find the sweet spot.

First test I would do is leave the stock airdam in the stock location, put 2 inches between the ic and rad, tilt the top of the ic forward to force the bottom air eddies through it (you will get some even though the air dam is behind it) and log ait's and coolant temp. If all is good you're finished. If coolant temp is good but ait is a little high....add a 12" wide mini airdam to the ic and retest ait's. Good luck!

 

if you look at the first pic, directly above the green line is where the AC condenser used to be. a few inches back, where that wide dropped channel is, is where the radiator sits.... so there is a few inches between the radiator and its core.
is that still too close, or far enough away?

im kinda scared about dropping the IC any further... it is a street car, and its lowered a bit... i know what you mean, but im just kinda guessing around with it... i just wish i had some facts to go off of.. id hate to do all this work, and then have it overheat because of lack of airflow.


whynot:
its a turbo setup... but im sure i'll have times where i was just in boost, coming off the hwy or whatever and then be stopped in traffic.

onfire:
do you mean leave a 2" gap at the base of the IC and the radiator, and then tilt the top forward on the bumper support?

 

like on fire said you might have to move it a couple of times, id try spliting the distance from the radiator and bumper support to start
maybe two inch is enough like you said.
if your worried about hitting bumps then dont lower the IC any, maybe just put a short airdam on that then, just dont block the air dam for the radiator.

 

i guess i'll try that first then... even if i move it around, it shouldnt be too big of a deal... i'll leave myself some room down there with the plumbing....

 

You should put it right up against the radiator with only a very small gap. This will cause the cooling fans to draw air though the intercooler. But, the main reason is if you put a gap between them, you have the possibility of creating a high pressure zone between the radiator and the intercooler. If this high pressure zone is created you will stall the air flow past the intercooler. As the air is pushed up by the air dam, it wants to flow from the front of the air dam to the back of the air dam. The air dam creates a low pressure zone under the car. so air ends up getting sucked through the radiator. Thats how our cooling works.

I hope that I explained it well enough, I could go on, but a picture would show it better.

Ryan K.

 

I have the exact same thought as Ryan. Sandwich the two and consider moving the air dam forward to best feed the intercooler.
There will be no boost except when moving like crazy, and at that speeds odds are you have the kind of velocity to continue cooling the radiator. When you get off the gas and come to a stop your IC will cool very quickly and the radiator has latent cooling capacity. It's the same as without any IC in there. You stop, the cooling fans are NOT on because you were just moving, temps start to creep up, 2 minutes later the fans come on.
Everything will work just like it did before.

I can see the possibility of a cooling problem if you do an open road race event. Spending half an hour at boost and at max rpms might require additional cooling capacity.

 

I own a 3rdgen as well, yea I know, you guessed that.
Anyway, I agree with Ryan K. It would be better to have like you do in the first pic. The air dam is more effective sending all the air through both, I'd put it where the red line is. If you do start to over heat you could always add and extra fan...