Very cool. I want to get rid of my wheel well mounted intercoolers so i can install bigger tires and decided that that water intercoolers is the the way to go. Keep the pictures coming.

 

Please tell me you logged IATs before and you plan on doing it after to justify doing this.

 

what is IAT

 

Its justified that side mounted intercoolers does not sit well going through mud puddles, I've pulled out massive branches out of them with near miss to actual core though offcourse i watch obd whilst driving for pure pleasure, sort of cable tied things to where they should be and it makes the engine bay easier to work on now

For few 100 bucks why not! ill try my best to list what's required etc..

 

My bad.... everyone around here only talks about SMICs being crap performers.... you're addressing a totally different "problem". Good luck with the install.

 

Care to share some experience as I have also factored in the benefits

 

Can't bore you to sleep with anything because I'm not clear as to what you're asking.

 

Has it been done before and tested if so where and how was pipes routed
Red circles are factory 3 to 4 inch holes that perfectly line up with intake

Second pic below that thin cooler is the tow pack cooler?

 

Wait a second.... is that a v8 in a hot climate? You didn't tell us what you're wrenching on to start off with.... that looks like a "supplemental" rad you'd get in a hot climate on an engine we didn't see on this side of the pond.

 

Intake Air Temp

 

That makes sense, it's good to validate what you have done. I am guessing that you can log that with VAGCOM?

 

Wat are you working on? That doesn't match anything we have hear.

 

I think your radiator and intercooler itself are going to be too small.

 

I think it is hard to say. Generally you are on boost for short periods of time. Water has a large heat capacity, so it depends on the duty cycle or how long you are on boost, and how long you have to cool the water down before the next boost event. You could calculate it all out if you know the temperatures and times. just eyeballing the size of the radiator compared to the size of the intercoolers it looks to me that the heat removal capacity is lower for steady state than the original air to air intercooler. But it may be okay depending on the duty cycle. Some racers use a bucket of ice water rather than an radiator because it work with their short duty cycle.

if you are want charge cooling for going over a mountain pass, then i agree it looks too small. If you just want to just get rid of the stupid wheel well mounted intercoolers for off road use, it may be fine. My gut feeling is the surface area of the water radiator should be equal to or larger than the air-air intercoolers you are replacing......but then again, you could use forced fan cooling. Basically you need to do some fin counting, measuring and calculating because who the hell knows.

 

Turbo diesels are on boost most of the time. Log it on vagcom and see. It may be fine, I would personally go bigger. Gale banks does some interesting stuff on intercooling on YouTube.

 

Here is the plan, the little rad in the middle looks like a diesel cooler has its own water pump that I will be relocating the hoses for marked with a big fat X. With bumper on the core is hidden and round enough to allow air flow around it

Hopefully this week finish

 

Direct airflow regardless of temperature is always gonna come out on top of this mess

 

Using the diesel fuel cooling system is the same thought I had on how to add water IC's. I was thinking of replacing the side mount IC's with smaller water IC's in the same location and keep all the air plumbing basically the same. That would allow using non turbo wheel well liners that will give you an extra room for bigger tires, plus eliminate the vulnerable OE coolers. Are you going to add the additional radiator in series with the existing fuel cooling radiator?

 

Leaving diesel cooler intact just rerouting the hoses that could easily burst off road

80% complete, I have to also add a snorkel now as I've used the intake opening

 

Snorkels for Touaregs have been the Holy Grail for many years.

There have been on or two DIY attempts which haven't come to anything, and there have been one or two commercial offerings at humungous cost.

Let us know, in detail, how you get on!

 

Intercooler all done, difference in power and efficiency is night and day, snorkel will have to wait after long weekend
Temps don't go passed mid 50s when flooring it and cruising hovers around 9 degrees more then ambient temp give or take, was tested today at 30 degree ambient also wired up the water up temporarily to fog lights, so if my fog lights are on you know dam right I'm running cool

 

Let's see pics of the final setup.
What were the temps before with the OEM setup?

 

Its all hidden behind the bumper, i busted a cv joint and it shot a ball bearing through the airbox so started to dismantle for snorkel set-up

Basically just going to get a stainless one piece pipe made up with an inline ram filter

 

Basically just going to get a stainless one piece pipe made up with an inline ram filter

Thanks for posting on your efforts. I look forward to seeing how your snorkel turns out and if you learn anything else interesting about your water-to-air setup.

 

What's the size of that hidden rad core?

 

500 x 200 x 50mm rad and core is 5"x10", I do alot of beach driving temps were beyond 70s last weekend how ever with this set-up I was in 50s was a fairly hot day to

 

I'm not hating on your setup, but I'm doubting your reported results.... there's either more to it, or the assumed constants are not the same between your reported values.

Air to Water ICs do have their place and purpose, but it's typically in racing applications (where you can use ice water, etc) or in very confined street setups.

The surface area of your A/W core isn't larger than the combined surface area A/A SMICs. They are both using the same core thickness too. Sure, you've shortened the charge pipes, and I can understand that you may have picked up response as a result, and that you may be feeling an improvement as previously reported.......

But with all other things being constant, I don't see how you are getting 20 deg temp drops, especially when with A/W you need to do the "heat exchange" twice instead of just once. You're also reporting these difference while driving on a beach, so I can only assume that you're not into very high speeds......... What am I missing? Is it simply because your SMICs were all beat up and clogged and the new core is fresh and that much more efficient?

 

Highway temps don't have any more screen shots atm mate but its simple maths water is cool and velocity of charge temp is not high enough to boil it

 

Mate, you're posting your stories in a tech forum....quit with the visuals that don't mean anything. And who's talking about boiling water?

What was the ambient temp and engine load in each of your shots?
What are you showing us?
Which pic is what?

Water is only cool when you add it to the system or after it cools down to ambient before is starts cooling down your charge. After that, you can only cool down the water with the ambient air. In racing applications, you can use ice water from a reservoir, so in those cases, you can cool your change lower than ambient air.....

So now that we've determined at ambient air is your cooling "limit", note the following.
With A/A, the maths say, you only take the hot air and you cool it down with ambient air.... and you get X.
With A/W setup, you take your hot air and cool it down with your ambient water initially, but after that you cool it down with your hot water which you must first turn into cool water with your ambient air.... and you get Y.

Because of the additional two stage heat transfer, X is less than Y if all other things are constant.
This is why I'm asking where are you getting your extra efficiency from? You haven't increased core surface area or thickness. You aren't running a ice water tank like those used in drag racing applications for example.

So you're either telling butt dyno stories, or you've got other variables\changes which you haven't mentioned.
I'm simply trying to understand and gain knowledge.