Colder Intake Temperatures using Intercooler Sprayers

hubbly_bubbly

[center][img]http://i374.
Aug 18, 2008
399
0
Johannesburg, South Africa
I started off with some research on the net which revealed such systems have been used since quite some time back. The poplularity of doing such a mod fell away after the introduction of WMI kits though. I have never been a fan of WMI after hearing and reading too many bad things. Im not saying they dont work it just would never make my wish list. Keeping intake temperatures down is a priority though, hence the intake heatshield, ram air tubing and cold air cone enclosure.

A few guys have installed intercooler sprayers onto their G5 GTIs using the original windscreen washer bottle and pump. One issue raised in some threads about such systems was the "sandwhich" type setup the 2.0TFSI motors have. The intercooler is inconveniently located between two other radiators. Some guys located the sprayers infront of the front radiator in hope that the airflow would carry some spray through to the intercooler. To get maximum cooling effect I wanted to spray directly onto the intercooler.

I bought some regular garden sprayer nozzles, t-pieces and ball valves from the local hardware store. I had silicone boost pipe and the handy cable ties in stock in the garage. I ran some quick tests using a conveniently located pipe on the bonnet to test my nozzles and pipes. I found that using the standard pump on the washer bottle that two nozzles gave the best mist type spray that travelled a fair distance. 4 nozzles did not spray as far and had bigger droplets. The finer the spray the more effective cooling is achieved. This is due to the increased surface area of the water droplets and hence heatflow once contact is made between the hot intercooler and the cold water.

The front bumper removed:

With the bumper removed I had full access to the radiator and intercooler sandwhich to place the nozzles strategically.

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The headlight washer needs to be disconnected from the washer bottle to remove the front bumper. The bucket was used to collect the washer fluid.

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The LC's face(off):

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Washer bottle and pump:
Facing the front of the car the outlet on the right is for the rear screen spray nozzle. I chose this as activating the pump activates the wiper and the rear wiper going off would be less distracting than the front wipers.

DSC00315.jpg


On/off valve and T-piece:
I installed on/off ball valves to control where the flow would go. Using the silicone boost pipe i made a T-junction which would go to the intercooler sprayers and the other would join back to the original screen sprayer pipe.

DSC00317.jpg


Nozzles:
The boost pipe coming from the water bottle is split again to take water to each nozzle. Holes were drilled into the plastic above the intercooler to mount the nozzles. Hard plastic garden hose and some modified (blocked off) t-pieces were used.

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Right Nozzle:

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Left Nozzle:

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Intercooler Sprayers on/off valve:
I have access to switch both on or off by removing the fog light cover. I can have all spray go to the intercooler, or all to the rear screen or by having both valves open share the spray between both.
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Mounted piping:

DSC00330.jpg
 

hubbly_bubbly

[center][img]http://i374.
Aug 18, 2008
399
0
Johannesburg, South Africa
Nozzles close-up:
Each nozzle is located to spray down between the front radiator and the intercooler.

DSC00332.jpg


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Front bumper replaced:

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After installing and testing the system the next step was to run some Vag Com logs to gather intake temperature data. I ran some data logging while ambient temperature was around 24 deg Celsius. The Intercooler Sprayers were left off while running 4 consecutive logs, 2 3rd gear runs and 2 4th gear runs. Straight after the "Off" runs were compete I began spraying the intercooler (the valves were set to spray All water on the intercooler). I then ran some data logs using the intercooler sprayers. I would spray the intercooler for a few seconds before running and keep it spraying while accelerating. I was able to perform 3 consecutive logs, 2 4th gear and 1 3rd gear. The following are plots of intake temperature vs. engine speed.

Sprayers Off:

IntercoolerSprayersOFF.jpg


Sprayers On:

IntercoolerSprayersON.jpg


Points to note:

-Intake temperatures start higher for the "ON" scenario due to the car having run the other logs immediately before.
-In all cases for the "OFF" scenario intake temperatures rose steeply at high engine speed. The worst case being by 19degC.
-In all cases for the "ON" scenario the intake temperatures first drop significatly and then rise not much higher than the temperatures at lower engine speeds. Worst case being a temperature rise of 5degC. For the 3rd gear logs the temperature at the high engine speeds was lower than those at low engine speed.

To sum up, the sprayers seem to be working quite well. Extensive testing is required and dyno runs would be needed to show any power gains. The 15 deg temperature drop makes the installation worth while and im extremely pleased with that result. Those 15 odd degrees cost me less than R100 to achieve B) I suspect with some warmer ambient temperatures and heatsoak periods (for instance at the drag races) would make the sprayers even more effective possibly reducing temps by more than 20degC. Lower temperatures have a kick-back effect that helps the engine operate better, something i noticed in the timing pull data that i logged for all the runs.
 
Last edited:

owen lcr

orvil
Oct 10, 2006
1,179
0
montrose, scotland
looks good, i am in the process of removing my ac rad/condensor as i never use it, this should reduce temps, if i were to have a setup like this it would be even better
 

Poverty

Guest
good mod, but how much water do you need to spray to make the temp drop worthwhile, and how much water would be required to make the system work for longer periods of use?
 

hubbly_bubbly

[center][img]http://i374.
Aug 18, 2008
399
0
Johannesburg, South Africa
Thanks peeps.

Owen removing the A/C radiator is going to make a good difference to your temps. Then with something simple like this you can have serious drops in intake temps when you want them.

Pov I used less than half a bottle when I ran the data logs and I had the sprayers on not only while accelerating but in between runs as well. Should be plenty water in the bottle to keep you going for a decent while. Think its best to use in short spurts and then while accelerating if needed.
 

hubbly_bubbly

[center][img]http://i374.
Aug 18, 2008
399
0
Johannesburg, South Africa
Pov to answer your second question I would have to time how long it takes to empty the original bottle and then measure the volume of the bottle. That would give you a l/s or l/min that you could work back to installing a larger tank else where like the boot.
 

owen lcr

orvil
Oct 10, 2006
1,179
0
montrose, scotland
as you said mate there is no need to use it all the time, if you are doing a 1/4mile then you would have it on all the time, and when on a sprinted run but there would be no need to use it for everyday driving
 

Blade

Full Member
Aug 31, 2004
1,378
28
Teesside
Deja Vu ;) i ran exactly that mod on my LCR for 3 years - makes a lot of sense, well done :clap:hubbly_bubbly
 

RobH

Active Member
Nov 29, 2008
1,547
4
West Yorkshire
as you said mate there is no need to use it all the time, if you are doing a 1/4mile then you would have it on all the time, and when on a sprinted run but there would be no need to use it for everyday driving

If you could just switch it on when needed you could easily run wmi like that then it wouldnt be so expensive and wouldnt need to fill it up so often.
 

Poverty

Guest
If you could just switch it on when needed you could easily run wmi like that then it wouldnt be so expensive and wouldnt need to fill it up so often.

the wmi is switchable with some products
 

Poverty

Guest
you can mate but not sure how complicated it is to setup through the wot box.. i lookied into it but not sure which is the best option

as long as someone has the wiring diagram for the car and the box it should be half easy.

This system looks good for additional cooling, I could set up a inboot tank piss easy aswell
 

Pimped up vario

Cordy Cruizer
Nov 20, 2009
1,291
0
Belfast N Ireland
I found a temperature sensing switch that could be varied to throw the switch at different temperatures to tell the liquid pump to spray the intercooler. I got it from maplins but a university in England sells them for a fiver.
 

vINyL3

Active Member
Sep 13, 2013
95
1
to lower/remove your bumper do you need to disconect de headlights washer and fog lamps?
I just need to lower thr bumper, to remove and headlights.
 
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