Iced Inter-cooler

[eeyore]

Hi! Giving thought to adding a inter-cooler to my drag race truck for next year, Have started to look at water cooled inter-coolers, I bracket race so cooling consistency is a must.
So my question is, for a drag race application, why go through the cost of pumps and extra plumping, why not place a inter-cooler directly in a tank, keep a ice /water mixture in the tank, draining off the excess water and adding ice before each pass? Most of the guys I have seen using tanks and pumps are icing every pass any way?
Shouldn't this work for a low cost, consistent and effective inter-cooler?

Thanks, Bill

[mrtbolt64]

You will be amazed how fast the ice melts and the amount you will go threw. If your a bracket racer and still wanted the water/air intercooler I would focus my time on keeping the water at ambient temps between rounds.

[eeyore]

We do a lot of temp monitoring already, currently icing the carb enclosure and the blower and running the electric cooling fan between passes. I do not have a electric water pump, but soon will, in later rounds we run water over the radiator to get the temp stabilized a little quicker, going through ice doesn't bother me at all, pretty cheap compared to all the other cost and so far, I would say the ice has been the lowest cost improvement to our cost to round win ratio. In the heat of summer I am already going through 4 large bags, a couple more bags of ice, no big deal. All of this has helped greatly with consistency and made reaching later rounds a little more common occurrence and also has made the truck much more predictable. Icing hasn't made the truck any faster, but really has helped keep the truck from slowing in later rounds as things became heat soaked and there was not enough time to bring the temps down.

But the info I am looking for...on a drag race system, why do the recirculate? why not ice a intercooler directly? What I almost picture is a air to air sitting in the bottom of a enclosure, a water level that submerges it completely in water with ice above it. two drain valves, one that allows all the water to completely be emptied, the second to control the water level in the tank/cooler as a starting point to a run, Thinking return from a pass , drain off the water with a elevated temp, hopefully there is still ice left in the tank, allow the ice to melt down, creating a cold water level. before going out, use the water level valve to drain off excess water, refill the tank with ice, make another pass.
no pumps, no hoses...

[conmech]

how would dry ice work in your application? Vented inner cooler tank with a 3" lid, drop in basket with dry ice chunks submerged in basket. Remove basket between rounds and put in cooler. I'm not 100% sure on how it would work for you. Just a thought.

[eeyore]

Dry Ice is a interestiing thought... not sure how to get consistant contact with the intercooler, have to give it some thought! Thanks!