Poor Man’s Intercooler

In another post, Manifold Bypass Mod, I allowed the intake manifold, or upper collector to run cooler by bypassing the flow of hot coolant around it.

This next mod, the “Poor Man’s Intercooler” or PMI, takes the plenum cooling to the next level. Using the OEM washer pump, a spliced-in gang valve and some return tubing, ice water now circulates through the manifold on command !!!

The gains from this mod would be similar to throwing an icebag on your intake, without the mess.

First, complete the Manifold Bypass Mod.

When the heater hoses were removed, two fittings were exposed. I attached some clear tubing and a funnel to them and rinsed the antifreeze out of the manifold. I didn’t want any of that on the windshield !

 

Here’s the materials used:

 

I ran the silicone tubing through a passage in the fender using an electrician’s snake:

 

The larger tubing was attached to the fittings on the Manifold:

 

[deleted] i get it now!

 

Here’s how everything gets routed:

 

Then I plumbed the end of the return silicone tube into the filler neck of the washer fluid reservoir:

 

In everyday operation, it is transparent. The windshield washer operates in exactly the same manner as before. At the track, I switch the valve (accessible from the battery compartment) to RACE mode, and pull the wipers with a 14 mm socket. Alternately, two fuses can be pulled to allow the washer pump to operate without the wipers oscillating.

Ice goes into the washer reservoir, and I pull the washer stalk in the cabin to circulate the cool fluid through the manifold and back into the reservoir.

Total cash outlay for this and the Manifold Bypass Mod was in the neighborhood of $30, not including the tool to bend the pipe. I look forward to seeing how well this works in conjunction with other cooling mods. As I said in the other post, with the price of mods and the scant horsepower most make, I believe in making the most of what I already have.

Wayne.

 

View of Gang Valve from battery compartment:

 

Interesting..Very innovative thinking.

Does this mod allow any power gain? Or is it just to cool the temps in the plenum?

(took me a while to get a jist of what the hell you were doing)

 

With the mindset of cooler = better, I think this will offset some heatsoak and allow you to make maximum power rather than adding any horses per se.

Basically, this is a (tiny) water-to-air intercooler using the stock washer pump.

 

I forgot to add that the Gang Valve is held in place by a FACTORY CLIP, adding to the stealth factor of this mod.

 

great job, Chicago!

 

that looks like a stand up job keep the ideas coming!

 

Now... If you can just figure out a way to set the dual zone climate control (say only the passengers side) to 60 degrees and then route the cooling on only that side of the cabin directly to the intake...