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Lsa blower on my 5.3, questions reguarding heat exchanger
Hey guys, could anyone tell me what temp the heat exchanger fluid gets up to on a stock lsa blower setup, as well as if the system builds any pressure? I’m almost done with the swap on my 5.3, but I’m a little unsure about the cooling system for the blower. I tapped an aftermarket aluminum overflow tank to use as my reservoir, along with an Afco heat exchanger from a ford raptor. I’m using the Bosch water pump as well as twin 10 inch fans mounted to the heat exchanger controlled by a switch in the car. Also does the factory setup use an expansion tank in addition to the heat exchanger reservoir?
The reason I’m concerned is that the main reservoir I’m using was designed as a coolant overflow tank, so it doesn’t hold any pressure, so if pressure is gonna cause fluid to spray out around the cap, I’m gonna have to go back to the drawing board....Any info is greatly appreciated!
For temps you can hit anywhere from Ambient temp to 200+, all depends on your system and setup. With Bosch pump on my G8 I typically saw 20 over ambient for starting temp, long pull i would hit 150iat.
For the pressure what the system generates isn't much. As long as you don't have your Res completely topped off you should be fine.
Ive had my lsa swap going for a couple months with a few drives in 90 plus degree temps. My setup is a little different. I used a frozen boost heat exchanger and a 03 cobra reservoir and i havent had any issues with the system pressurizing and causing a problem. No long pulls yet but iats are somewhere around 110-117 just normal driving.
Ok guys thanks, just what I wanted to hear👍. I feel the system will do a good job cooling the blower, I just wasn’t sure if it got hot enough to build a lot of pressure like the motor does. The heat exchanger is massssive, so I’m confident iat’s should be resonable. Made some mounts and installed it yesterday, finishing up the pump and hoses the rest of the week.
I run an Afco with fans , Bosch pump and a 2 gal canton res. My temps have never been over 120* this is on a whipple 2.9. Lsa blowers tend to run a little hotter. The only issue I see with your set up is your res might be a little small. You should have at least a 2gal
I run an Afco with fans , Bosch pump and a 2 gal canton res. My temps have never been over 120* this is on a whipple 2.9. Lsa blowers tend to run a little hotter. The only issue I see with your set up is your res might be a little small. You should have at least a 2gal
Thats what I was thinking, I tried to make up the system capacity with the biggest heat exchanger I could fit in there. The bay is realllly tight on space. Depending on how well it cools, I might just have to run a larger tank in the hatch.
Does anyone know the stock lsa heat exchanger system capacity? I hooked all of my hoses up, and and system took 2 gallons. Just wondering if I’m at least at stock capacity or not.
Well your heat x is bigger than mine. Mines for a gt500. You might be good. Try it out and report back . The canton res I posted fits in the battery location. I ended up putting my battery in the trunk to make room.
after looking at my setup again the cap on the cobra reservoir actually has warning not to open hot. But the cap looks to be rated for 10psi. So not much pressure build and I have never lost any coolant. You do a good job on your youtube videos, by the way.
You could always eliminate the reservoir and run a stout interchiller setup.
I did look into the inter chiller. I wanted to pick it up but the price was a little steep with everything I’m doing right now. The car is mostly street, but I’m planning on auto crossing it next year. Definitely on my list of future upgrades.
after looking at my setup again the cap on the cobra reservoir actually has warning not to open hot. But the cap looks to be rated for 10psi. So not much pressure build and I have never lost any coolant. You do a good job on your youtube videos, by the way.
Damnnn, I never would have thought you could fit an Lsa blower in a 4th gen with the cowl style, ANDDD be able to close the hood. Sick setup! So I got my hoses hooked up today, filled the system up with straight water and jumped the pump to test for leaks. Everything looks good so far. I should be ready to report back with my temps in a few weeks. My tuning appointment is for 7/28, unless I push it back to the following weekend. There’s still a good amount of stuff to finish up.
Also, what do you recommend running for system coolant? I’m keeping water in there until the tuning is done, just in case something were to spring a leak. After that I was going to just use 50/50 Prestone but if there’s something better I’m all ears. Oh yea, also how can I ensure the system doesn’t have any air in it. I just ran the pump a few minutes with the power probe till the level stopped dropping, but I’m not sure if that’s enough. Here’s a bs drawing of how so routed my hoses.
Ditch the bosch pump, they are one of the worst pumps to use in a A2W setup. I did alot of research and part selection for a A2W setup I was building on a centri 5.3 I had. With an oversized CX intercooler and a large heat exchanger my IATs where in the 120-140*F range most of the time on a 90*F day. The problem with A2W on the street is that the water eventually heats up and takes forever to cool down. They tent to run hotter than A2A normally but don’t really spike during a pull. A2W are better for track due to ice. You want a high capacity with an A2W like a 5 gallon system. 2-3 gal will work but more water is always better. What I did learn was that the bosch pumps sucked when they pushed in a closed system and saw some head pressure. There 5 gpm turns into 1-2 gpm. Don’t use a Engine coolant pump either. Your best bet is to step up flow to help keep the temps lower as well as help with recovery time. Best out there (and used on the 13-14 mustangs) are the pieburg 50, they are a German pump, brushless and pump like MAD! They are found a lot on bmws and come in 50 and 100 +. Increase the flow and u increase cooling. I have a peirburg pump from a mustang sitting in my basement for a future build.
also line size has a lot to do with it. 3/4” line minimum and your going to be limited by the inlet/outlet on the manifold.
Damnnn, I never would have thought you could fit an Lsa blower in a 4th gen with the cowl style, ANDDD be able to close the hood. Sick setup! So I got my hoses hooked up today, filled the system up with straight water and jumped the pump to test for leaks. Everything looks good so far. I should be ready to report back with my temps in a few weeks. My tuning appointment is for 7/28, unless I push it back to the following weekend. There’s still a good amount of stuff to finish up.
Also, what do you recommend running for system coolant? I’m keeping water in there until the tuning is done, just in case something were to spring a leak. After that I was going to just use 50/50 Prestone but if there’s something better I’m all ears. Oh yea, also how can I ensure the system doesn’t have any air in it. I just ran the pump a few minutes with the power probe till the level stopped dropping, but I’m not sure if that’s enough. Here’s a bs drawing of how so routed my hoses.
run as little coolant as you need. If u don’t get below -10 then run 70/30 water/coolant and you can add DEI intercooler chiller, or water wetter. It’s essentially a small cooling system so all the same rules apply.
Also the pumps run better mounted vertically. Running them
on the side will reduce longevity and performance.
i just run a water/dexcool/water wetter blend. i did have the prestone 50/50 but decided to change it to the dexcool. just figured it is what gm did so i might as well. piece of mind i guess.
Your tuner will probably know this anyway, but just thought i would share my experience with one little thing that helped my car with the fuel mixture when hot. Set the ect/iat bias table to all 0 if you are running a 411 pcm. That way the intake air temp is calculated solely off the iat sensor, which is in the manifold/lid, and not trying to use both the ect and iat to estimate intake air temp. This really helped my car with hot starting and fueling after the car is hot.
i just run a water/dexcool/water wetter blend. i did have the prestone 50/50 but decided to change it to the dexcool. just figured it is what gm did so i might as well. piece of mind i guess.
Your tuner will probably know this anyway, but just thought i would share my experience with one little thing that helped my car with the fuel mixture when hot. Set the ect/iat bias table to all 0 if you are running a 411 pcm. That way the intake air temp is calculated solely off the iat sensor, which is in the manifold/lid, and not trying to use both the ect and iat to estimate intake air temp. This really helped my car with hot starting and fueling after the car is hot.
thanks good to know. Are you running a 3 bar map? I picked up a pigtail, but haven’t wired it in yet. The tuner should be able to reflash my os to utilize it with the 411 right?
Your tuner should be able to make the needed adjustments for the map. A larger capacity system takes longer to cool than a small capacity system. It also has less buffer when it starts to warm beyond what the heat exchanger can dissipate.
I ran the 3 bar map in my setup. Might never use the full capacity of it but is cheap and easy drop in plug and play with LSA/LS9 values.
For the plumbing of the system in my experience running the pump through the HX will keep temps at a reasonable temp but recovery rate is super slow because flow drops dramatically pushing from HX up the hoses to the IC brick. I've run my system so the pump pulls from the HX and pumps straight to the IC brick so the res just gravity drains into the HX. Just need to make sure your pump is at a lower point then the drain of the HX. Doing pulls like this I'm back down to my regular operating temp seconds after a pull.
Factory systems in the LSA vehicles take approx a gallon if I recall. Throw in a bigger heat exchanger and it ramps up pretty fast. I just use straight water with some sort of Water Wetter and keep it in the garage when it gets cold out, never threw in coolant and have been fine the last 4 years.
07-17-2018, 08:02 PM
Lsa blower on my 5.3, questions reguarding heat exchanger 
