Intercooler for Supercharged M3

[RDM3]

It was suggested to me to look into an intercooler for my supercharged M3 to keep it cooler in the hot summer months to keep the HP from goign down alot.

Has anyone done this? What brands should I consider? Any links to sites?

Rob

[RyanC]

With the vortech blower your choices are fairly limited. The RMS air/water intercooler (aka aftercooler) is a pretty good option for you, although it's wicked friggin expensive. I think Turner Motorsports had a used one laying around for less. Another option is to run water injection, but that's only as good as long as your tank is full water/alcohol. However, you can get good results from that, paul e on here being a prime example of that.

[Mpty3]

to my knowledge, there aren't a lot of companies that make IC/aftercoolers for SCed M3s...

for an after-cooler contact RMS:
http://www.racemarque.com/

or for water/alcohol injection:
Aquamist:
http://www.aquamist.co.uk/
or Active Autowerke:
http://www.aatuning.com/

[mertdastan]

The best solution is to get an air/air intercooler. Either brand new from Sparco or second hand from E BAy. Any car can be fitted with intercoolers. Intercoolers are universal.

AÝr to water is more expensive risky due to pump faþlure. I had a pump failure and detonation.

Water injection is never as efficient as air to air. So buy aintercooler and get someone install it into the system.

MERT

[paul e]

>>With the vortech blower your choices are fairly limited. The RMS air/water intercooler (aka aftercooler) is a pretty good option for you, although it's wicked friggin expensive. I think Turner Motorsports had a used one laying around for less. Another option is to run water injection, but that's only as good as long as your tank is full water/alcohol<<

Yes, this is true. HOwever, in reality, depending on how you have it implemented, its really a non issue. I bought a 5 gallon drum of Sunoco Methanol from buyracegas.com a year ago, and from the looks of it, it will outlast the car. AS for the tank, the AA tank is big enough so that I find a tankful lasting almost a year!! Its really a pretty damn low maintenance item, once youve got it dialed in.

[Ali]

anyone got info on how an intercooler could be setup with a dinan system?

[paul e]

Ali, before I decided to go with water injection, I looked into getting the rms aftercooler for my system. But I found the costs relative to the potential gains to be not a good choice for me at the time. If you want to spend the money, though, I think you could do alot worse. Id never advise against adding an aftercooler or intercooler to any forced induction system.

[stimpee]

Originally posted by mertdastan

Water injection is never as efficient as air to air. So buy aintercooler and get someone install it into the system.

MERT

Mert, I will respectfully disagree with this statement. An air-liquid intercooler can be every bit AS, or even MORE efficient than an air-air setup if properly designed and properly sized. In most cases, they are looked upon as inferior due to improper sizing of the components. However, the transfer of heat into/out of water will ALWAYS be more efficient than the transfer of heat to/from air. It is simply that it is EASIER to size an air-air setup properly, or with excess capacity since the only variable is the choice of the heat exchanger.

In the air-liquid setup, you must engineer TWO heat exchangers, as well as factor in flow rate of the fluid and the overall coolant capacity of the system, making the design more difficult....

However, I will agree that all else being equal, I would tend to prefer an air-air setup if conditions allow it to be used due to the added "issues" associated with the possibility of failures, etc.

As with anything, there are pros and cons of each approach, but it is difficult if not impossible to say that one is superior to the other in all conditions...

Steve

[Ali]

so any info on how i can do the intercooler?

[BMWguy206]

http://www.cartech.net/intercoolers.htm

Although I dont think their customer support is really up there. Good Luck!

[Ali]

damn they want too much! couldn't u put one together yourself for a fraction of that price? They are mainly charging for a couple pipes they made right? What are included in the setup?

[Coop]

I am putting together an A/W intercooler system for my ESS 530i. More room under the hood than the 3-series. Also will toy with using refridgerated water. Will be cooled and stored onboard and pumped thru at WOT, about 4 gallons at 25'F. Should give a pretty good kick, but have no idea on duration of benefit. Or how long it would take the water to chill back down. All this would be in the trunk. For less than WOT, a A/A intercooler will be placed up front. Have the chiller already and would use an AC/DC inverter to power it.

Concern's? WEIGHT. Will the extra power be enough to offset extra weight of water and hardware. Could only run on 1/2 tank ful of fuel to compensate.

Am fabricating the endplates and water jacket now. Tubing is doable without much alteration. Brake ducts may need re-routing. Have been working on this for months. Mostly e-bay cores and aluminum tubing used, alot cheaper when you screw up.

Alot of testing still, but when done it will be one of a kind!

[Keith97m]

RDM3 , Cartech designed thier kit when I had my car at the shop years ago(I'd look else where first though,I don't have one nice thing to say about them) I had my s/c before going turbo, It worked well, I don't know what they sell for ?
Cartech made a couple of kits for Rhine West (www.rhinewestperformance.com) I think they still have one left.
They use it on thier Dinan s/c shop car, I think it made 426hp?, you can give them a call,talk to Dave. If you know what size I might be able to get one made up from the guys at ProTurbo Kits.
they made my 12x24x3.5 core ...huge.

[BMWguy206]

My friend had a horrible experience with ProTurbo kits for MONTHS thats why I really dont recommend anything from them
Ali, I would go with the aftercooler setup.

[MrBlonde]

Look beyond the kit. How hard is it? There are numerous places that can make up an air to air intercooler for you. Honestly it's not that difficult a piece of engineering.

[PDX///M]

The Vortech blower is just too big. Not enough room to get a decent size tube. The Intercooler mounts fine in the front but tubing just wont fit unless you remove the AC and come up and over the top somehow.

Ive been thinking of trying to design a setup and market it to us but I havent been able to find the room.

[M triple]

PDX, did you see this?

[PDX///M]

Id like to see larger pics of the whole setup if you have them. That looks like a tight fit.

[Keith97m]

ProTurbo Kits IS NOT the same company as Cartech,two guys bought Cartech from Corkey Bell and they don't know what thier doing. PTK is owned by a guy Keith Cambell ,thier focus is mostly Mustangs. As for tube size I know we used 2 1/4 on mine and I think the kit that Rhine west uses 2 1/2,
It seems silly but even the slight surge you get when letting off the gas that the bov doesn't recirc. useing the s/c kits is why R/west put 2 bov's,like Dinan they sell.They thought it should be exactly like a normal BMW, NO noise,surges,notta.
Jon, PTK I thought has a guarantee on the kit ship date,and you can custom spec the kit to hp levels needed,but again how horrible of a experience can you get with Mustang stuff.
Cartech did give me a 2yr long missery though. Beware!!!

[jagsm3]

Check this out

[jagsm3]

Another

[Ali]

damn!!!! i want

[Cartech Preston]

Ali,

We make the entire setup not just a couple of pipes. You may be able to put one together for a fraction of that price depending on your skills and supplier relationships. If you have the skills to do so, then I'm sure you can save yourself some money. If you have other question, feel free to ask.

Originally posted by Ali
damn they want too much! couldn't u put one together yourself for a fraction of that price? They are mainly charging for a couple pipes they made right? What are included in the setup?

[Cartech Preston]

Jon,

ProTurboKits is not the same company as Cartech.

Originally posted by Jon Caldito
My friend had a horrible experience with ProTurbo kits for MONTHS thats why I really dont recommend anything from them or from CarTech (same company)

Ali, I would go with the aftercooler setup.

[BMWguy206]

my bad..