Water injection or better Intercooler?
 

I am current not sure what I should do 1st, water injection or start sourcing a better intercooler. I have a stock TMIC with a poorly designed cf hood, which according to my rtek is making my intake temps to be at least 10 F higher at crusing speed then the afm temps. I am only running 8psi, but I know if I get a boost contorller I may run into problems quickly. I am sure Rice will be on here soon telling me to go with water injection. but i am not sure how much it would benfit on so low of boost and a stock TMIC with poor air flow.

Water injection will help out immesely. You don't need excellent flow or high power to reap the benefits of WI. If anything, I think you'll see an even greater difference in temp with a bad IC. Yes, WI will also work well in low boost situations. If turbo rotarys came standard with good water injections, they would probably be priced like Supras.

I see that are a bunch of kits out there. summit has a few, I have looked at the cooling mist website. What is important for a good/reilable WI setup. I heard the best way to go is a water/meth mix but, I am not really comfortable to use it yet. plus I have no idea where to get it.

Honestly, I went with an aquamist with the rx7 summer because it was the only kit at the time that specifically had measures to deal with our two different size injectors. Aquamist is also renowned for their high quality and service but they aren't know for being cheap. I paid ALOT for mine. Check out the aquamist forums. RichardL had a group buy with the newest version of the rx7 summer. Maybe he has extras. I also really like aquamist because it has a flow sensor gauge so you will notice any partial clogs or anything like that from inside the car. It's pretty damn awesome.

I pick up water/meth from summitracing. Last time I checked, they had cheap shipping on boost juice so I bought a TON.

It seem like a top of the line kit, however I dont have the funds for a kit like that yet.

Water Injection properly applied is NEVER cheap.
If co$t is a variable that defines your choices then up grading your heat exchanger is the easiest path. Given what you are doing and planning an upgraded intercooler is the way.

I suggest you do the following.

Box that intercooler, turn it into a water to air set up. Buy a cheap ass water pump and control, and a small front mounted heat exchanger and some hoses, this will solve ALL of you temperature problems and cover you to triple the power you use now. It is one of the best options available which most people discount, I have done it many times with great results.

I thought about an Air to water system, but I heard they heat soak like crazy. what about the cooling mist kits? http://www.coolingmist.com/

You need to listen to people who know these things and that is all I have to say in reply to you.

Heat management is simple, talk to an engineer and get your existing top mount modified like I said, it will be you best bang for buck option.

I am think about just getting a Air to water intercooler kit. They are within my budget.

Best thing I ever di to my old FC...

Modified the stock top mount and added some water/meth injection. Worked BEAUTIFULLY! Never thought of making it into an air to water, i'll try that the next time around!

I dont remember the sizes exactly, but I think I had one 180cc injector directly after the stock turbo, and a 500cc injector right before the core on the side on the intercooler.

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...ginebayset.jpg


http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...D/P7270221.jpg

My preference (and what I'm doing) is a FMIC instead of water injection. I'm not making crazy power (stock turbo), but I like the simplicity. FMIC = no moving parts. Water injection = moving parts than can break or fail.

You don't quite understand AI, do you?

Interesting.... what's that saying about thinking alike? This is exactely what I am in the process of doing with the 'vert....

Odd..... that's EXACTELY what I was going to say.....

FAIL... those things on ebay and frozen boost and all those cheap ass things are just that.... CHEAP!!!! Just give your money to the forum or DGRR instead...

So. . . .Having someone turn a Air to air into a air to water is better then buying one that was build from the start to have that function? That makes no logical sense to me. I have no Idea how you plan for me to box my intercooler. I would guess the best way to do it would to TIG weld it. JB weld would fail. If I weld that intercooler I should pressure test it. I do not have a welder down here. It seems like a DIY job that I could do would not be very good. I am sure having someone to box my intercooler would not be cheap, unless I want cheap work. I do have a spare, so I could ship that one off.

And no I have very 1st hand knowledge about WI and AI, I thought I stated that I found it a bit confusing.

He is saying that the ebay water to air kits are garbage. Assuming that you want to fork out the cash for a one off water to air then that's a different story & price will depend on who is making it.

Sheet aluminum is cheap as all hell at any real metal supplier and you should be able to find someone to bend it in a brake and weld it up at very little cost. Add in some AN fittings to weld on the tank and you're good to go. Your boxed intercooler will also have more surface area to exchange heat than an off the shelf unit.