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UPGRADED CAR HEAT EXCHANGERS IMPROVE SUPERCHARGER PERFORMANCE

Posted on by Jean Genibrel

ELIMINATE HEAT SOAK OF YOUR SUPERCHARGED CAR OR TRUCK. USE FOR RACING, TOWING, TRUCK, OFF-ROAD, AND GENERAL USE

CAR HEAT EXCHANGERS
Early Chevrolet Muscle Cars often get an LT swap and a supercharger to boot. Many drivers of those cars have reported hot running and heat exchanger heat soak. The newer Muscle Cars like the Ford Mustang Cobra in this photo often sport a supercharger and a stock heat exchanger. Both types of cars benefit from an upgraded heat exchanger.

THE GREAT POWER ROBBERY OF THE YEAR!

IS HEAT SOAK ROBBING YOU OF POWER YOU PAID FOR?

Look, the stock heat exchangers are very narrow, so they have a low duty cycle. They heat-soak rapidly, especially in hot climates or when you push the engine across its threshold of “normal use” and cooling ability.

Solution: Install an upgraded heat exchanger! One of those can increase the power of your supercharged car or truck by over 20% when you include the timing and fuel delivery reset.

Yes, you read correctly, twenty percent!

HERE IS WHY...

...OE manufacturers build their vehicles for "normal" use!

As a true enthusiast, you take your driving seriously. You know that hot laps around a racetrack, spirited driving, or repeated passes at the drag strip have nothing to do with “normal” driving.

CAR HEAT EXCHANGERS
NO NORRRMAL FORRR YOU!

There, the conditions can exceed your original equipment manufacturer’s heat exchanger’s duty cycle, and it becomes overwhelmed with the dreaded heat soak syndrome.

CAR HEAT EXCHANGERS
Supercharger heat exchangers for Mustangs, Ford F150 trucks, Corvettes, and Camaros can improve the power of your ride by up to 20% with the bonus of maintaining the ignition timing and the fuel delivery optimal by increasing the coolers' duty cycles and halting the dreaded heat soak challenge.

WHY SHOULD YOU INSTALL AN AUTOMOTIVE AIR-TO-WATER HEAT EXCHANGER ON YOUR SUPERCHARGED ENGINE?

NASCAR standout Smokey Yunick stated in his books: "Each ten degree of temperature reduction equals from one to two percent in horsepower increase."

Because replacing the inefficient factory heat exchanger in your car or truck with a modern one is the tried-and-true solution to increase intake cooling efficiency, torque, horsepower, and the duty-cycle of the cooler.

CAR HEAT EXCHANGERS
AFCO’s heat exchangers are three times wider than the stock units, and they are also available with SPAL fans and a shroud. This feature and others like a double pass combine to yield 350% more cooling than the stock systems.
CAR HEAT EXCHANGERS
Some race cars like these drift cars at Irwindale Speedway in Southern California rely on upgraded heat exchangers to keep their intake air cool. Drift cars spin their superchargers or turbos at full tilt as the runs can be at wide-open throttle for several minutes. The drivers upgrade to high performance supercharger heat exchangers because, with wimpy heat exchangers, they cannot count on reliable power when they need it.

YOU ASKED HOW DOES AN UPGRADED HEAT EXCHANGER BOOST THE EFFICIENCY OF YOUR SUPERCHARGED MOTOR?

Automotive heat exchangers supply your engine with a denser oxygen-rich charge. The stock ones are just good enough for normal use. Manufacturers of upgraded units like AFCO and C&R Racing report three-and-a-half times greater efficiency over the stock ones.

As such, they can lower intake temperature up to 50° F over the stock units, and they carry a duty cycle several times higher than the OE units for repeatable performance.

YES, BUT HOW ARE THEY BUILT?

They are laser cut aluminum TIG-welded construction with NASCAR and Formula 1 technology. C&R Racing utilizes a technique known as “extruding” to manufacture its cooling tubes.

Extruded tubes contain internal partitions that cause the fluid to swirl inside the tubes and to lap the inside walls to increase heat dissipation. The partitions act as heat sinks and they increase the strength of the tubes and they offer nearly double the heat transfer ability over standard designs.

CAR HEAT EXCHANGERS
C&R Racing brings the same extruded tube technology they supply in Formula 1 and NASCAR radiators and heat exchangers to your late model streetcar or race car. The image shows the partitioned extruded tubes that cause the fluid to swirl and lap the whole internal surface of the tubes for maximum heat transfer. The partitions nearly double the heat sink surface, and they reinforce the matrix.
CAR HEAT EXCHANGERS
AFCO's upgraded units are twice as thick as the stock variants. This feat and other cooling techniques like the double pass concept developed in professional racing yield a 350% improvement in cooling the intake charge over the stock units. AFCO installs a baffle, as seen in blue in the image, that causes the hot water to flow through the cooler twice

AFCO’s major contribution to intake charge cooling stems from its triple width in conjunction with a double pass design. The double-pass design was developed in professional racing with teams in NASCAR and INDY Car for all their cooling needs.

AFCO Racing and C&R’s units do not contain any plastic or epoxy like the stock ones. Both manufacturers utilize full aluminum, TIG-welded construction for their upgraded heat exchangers for maximum heat dispersion and strength.

MAJOR BENEFITS FOR YOUR SUPERCHARGED ENGINES INCLUDE:

  • Aftermarket performance upgraded heat exchangers cool 350% better than the stock variants.
  • Higher intake air charge and oxygen content for higher HP and torque increase power, responsiveness, and torque.
  • Drastically improved duty cycle yields repeatable, reliable power.
  • Direct bolt-in using factory bolts and hoses, saves time and money.
  • Improve ETs and lap times! You can win.
  • Minimizes heat soak and reduces timing retard and fuel enrichment for reliable and improved power.
  • Prevents engines from going into limp mode: safety and reliability.
CAR HEAT EXCHANGERS
This photograph of a Camaro engine compartment demonstrates how crowded engine compartments are in modern automobiles. The heat from the engine and the exhaust system blends with the hot air from the radiator and coolers as they expand to form a high-pressure area that reduces the airflow through the oil cooler, the radiator, and the heat exchanger. This event, combined with reduced outlet space, produces a high-pressure area that prevents fresh air from flowing through the heat exchanger.

HOW DOES AN AIR-TO-WATER AUTOMOTIVE HEAT EXCHANGER SYSTEM WORK?

The heat exchanger unit is only a part of a collection of components that combine to form a cooling system for the compressed intake charge.

CAR HEAT EXCHANGERS
A small tank holds the coolant for the air-to-liquid cooler. This tank and its content are independent of the primary cooling system. A pump circulates the fluid through the cooler installed at the engine radiator exposed to the air flowing through the cowling. The cooled fluid does its magic when it reaches the intercooler beneath the intake plenum, where it refreshes the intake air as it passes through it.

THE SYSTEM IS COMPOSED OF THREE SECTIONS

Upstream, a pump circulates the warm water from a tank, which is independent of the engine cooling system to the heat exchanger.

Midstream, the coolant passes through the heat exchanger.

Downstream, the now cooled water flows to the intake plenum located just above the compressor rotors, which contains the intercooler.

Through the intercooler, the intake air disperses the excess heat it gathered during the compression process, and the now-hot water returns to the tank.

Upgraded heat exchangers can repeat this cycle (duty cycle) numerous times without overheating.

WHIPPLE SUPERCHARGER
Drawing from Whipple Superchargers describes the individual components of a supercharger. The rectangular part sandwiched between the intake plenum and the intake manifold is the intercooler, where the cooling water flows to cool the intake air before it enters the engine. Source: Whipple Superchargers https://www.enginebasics.com.

TO WHAT EXTENT IS AN UPGRADED HEAT EXCHANGER NECESSARY?

LAWSUIT UNDERSCORES THE URGENCY FOR ADDITIONAL COOLING IN HIGH PERFORMANCE CARS AND TRUCKS.

Now, hear this!

This lawsuit demonstrates how manufacturers build their cars for "normal" driving, but when pushed beyond their design envelope, heat can cause undesirable effects like sending the engine in “limp mode.” Limp mode cuts the engine's speed, and slows the vehicle to a snail's pace, potentially putting drivers and passengers "at risk of crash and injury."

https://www.motorauthority.com/news/1109557_2016-mustang-shelby-gt350-owners-suing-ford-say-track-ready-cars-overheat-too-quickly

CAR HEAT EXCHANGERS
Intake charge coolers remove the excess heat, and the result is an air mass that is two to three times its initial volume. Chrysler solved the under-hood hot-air-stuffing challenge with generous vents through the fenders and in the hood. These modifications help to prevent overheating in hot climates and when racing. Further, reducing high pressure under the hood encourages better handling, acceleration, and top speed.

WHY DOES TEMPERATURE AFFECT POWER?

Heat is Power. Heat Kills Power. Heat is a Double-Edged Sword.

Superchargers are compressors, and they increase the mass of air that the engine can ingest. The higher the temperature delta between intake and combustion, the higher the power the engine can make.

Theoretically, when you increase intake pressure by 1 PSI you increase power by 7 percent...but, there is a price to pay!As pressure increases, with temperature constant, density increases. Conversely, when temperature increases, with pressure constant, density decreases.

www.skybrary.aero › index.php › Density_Altitude

Compressing a gas increases the amount of oxygen it contains, but compressing a gas increases its temperature and reduces its density. The higher the temperature delta between intake and combustion, the higher the power the engine can make.

Superchargers are compressors. Charles' Law dictates that the pressure of a gas is directly proportional to its temperature. As such, if we increase the pressure of the air intake, we also increase the temperature by a proportionate amount.

CAR HEAT EXCHANGERS
Charles' Law dictates that the temperature of any gas is directly proportional to its pressure. As such, if the ambient air temperature is let's say, 70 degrees, and the supercharger further compresses the air to an additional 14.7 PSI, the intake charge now reaches 140 degrees.

For our purpose where ambient temperature averages around 70 degrees F, we can assume that every 10 degrees of temperature change impart a power change of one to two percent.

NOTE: Charles' Law is more complicated than can be detailed here. For the full formula link to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles%27s_law.

CAR HEAT EXCHANGERS
An intercooler is a cooler that resides in the intake manifold where the intake air passes on its way to the supercharger rotors. The cooling water flows through the intercooler to absorb the heat contained in the intake air charge. Modular Head Shop of Winter Springs, Florida, modifies Mustang intake manifolds to improve airflow and to accept their larger intercooler shown in this picture.

WHERE CAN I BUY MY UPGRADED HEAT EXCHANGER?

You can purchase upgraded heat exchangers from American manufacturers like C&R Racing and AFCO Racing through APPLIEDSPEED.COM for racing, towing, street performance, off-roading, and more.

The supercharger heat exchangers for Mustangs, Camaros, LS Swaps. Cadillac CTS-Vs, Ford F150s, Corvettes, and many others can improve the power of your ride by up to 20% with a bonus of maintaining the ignition timing and the fuel delivery optimal by halting the dreaded heat soak problem. Many models come with Spal fans and complete wiring, thermostats, and controls for a user-friendly plug-and-play experience.

ATTENTION PERFORMANCE ENTHUSIASTS!

Beware of copy-cat, imported knock-offs, and even counterfeit units whose manufacturers disregard all best practices. Those are often peddled on eBay and by sketchy overseas websites.

EASE OF INSTALLATION

For complete upgraded heat-exchanger installation instructions for cars and trucks see these AFCO and C&R links:

https://www.afcoracing.com/tech-central.aspx

https://www.crracing.com/wp-content/uploads/GT500-GT350-Heat-Exchanger-Installation-Instructions.pdf

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intercooler

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