Small Air Condensers

rubixcube101 · Post by **rubixcube101** » Sun Aug 18, 2013 12:27 pm

Anyone know of any cars with quite small air condensers? I know the n12's came with one but does anyone know the dimensions of it? Trying to mount my air condenser for my Water to air intercooler system at the moment working with the space i have, without taking out the radiator support bracket or cutting into the bottom bodykit lip. Will probably need to organise some thinner fans.

I picked up a condenser from a mazda bravo (steal at $25) which is 607x355x2 (LxHxD) but its just that little bit two high that it will force me to cut into the fibre glass lip at the bottom so i need something thats smaller. Here are some of the options i was thinking about:

1. Cutting the rails just under the outlet/inlet on the left and then rewelding the bottom bracket essentially removing a few rows. In this case is it possible to obtain fans that are thin enough to fit behind the radiator support? OR instead if i mounted the condenser against the radiator behind the radiator support, and then place fans on that would that cause cooling issues for the radiator? I have read that placing a fan in pull will be more efficient but i don't have all that much space there either

2. Buying a multipurpose oil cooler that will fit on oneside against the rad, then mounting only one fan in push. Again, radiator cooling issues?
http://www.frozenboost.com/product_info ... 7c93f7c654

3. Or muck around with another condenser that will fit, although i don't like the threads on this one and would preffer something smaller: http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-10-x-18-PAR ... 94c6a#shId

I think i'd prefer option 1 but would it work?

Cheers,

Reuben

SimoN10 · Post by **SimoN10** » Sun Aug 18, 2013 1:17 pm

hey mate its not in an n12 but I went for a small cooler from frozen boost and mounted it in front of the radiator I put one fan one the front of the radiator and one on the back of the radiator where the cooler is.

hope this helps

rubixcube101 · Post by **rubixcube101** » Sun Aug 18, 2013 2:35 pm

SimoN10 wrote:hey mate its not in an n12 but I went for a small cooler from frozen boost and mounted it in front of the radiator I put one fan one the front of the radiator and one on the back of the radiator where the cooler is.

hope this helps

That looks good man, so i was thinking of doing the same, but the only problem is placing a second fan at the back, dont have much space. Maybe 5mm for an at very very most 8inch fan. Unless i could stick another fan on top of the cooler. How thick is your cooler if you don't mind checking? Website doesnt have thickness specs.

Thanks buddy.

SimoN10 · Post by **SimoN10** » Sun Aug 18, 2013 5:54 pm

Thanks mate. The cooler is 50mm thick 330mm wide and 290 high including the fittings. Have you started installing your cooler yet? Any pics?

Post by **tassuperkart** » Wed Aug 21, 2013 9:21 pm

The problem with many AC condensers will be restriction to water flow and minimal water volume overall.
They are usually a single pass affair designed to condense hot gas to liquid.
Its reasonable important to get the water freely about the system to make a water cooler work well.
Low water volume results in larger swings in temps and inability to shed sufficient heat in a short time.

Oracle

rubixcube101 · Post by **rubixcube101** » Fri Aug 23, 2013 12:16 am

Thanks everyone, well i ended up ordering the oil/water cooler from frozenboost since I was ordering a bunch of joiners from there anyways. You raise a good point E so hopefully the one I ordered will be less restrictive considering its designed for more viscous fluids such as oil and transmission fluid. Now to mount it up when it all arrives and then I can fire her up for the first time

Post by **tassuperkart** » Sat Aug 24, 2013 4:09 pm

Im pretty sure I bought one of the really early frozenboost kits for my Ute.
it contained everything I needed down to the last hoseclamp.
I dont think they supply all the hardware anymore.

The radiator supplied is actually not a lot smaller in area than the car radiator but is a skinny single core ally thing with upper and lower tanks.
Zero resistance to flow
I plumbed it with 19mm hose which you can see in the early setup stages going off the right hand end of the rad.

Here:

Dunno what water pump ur going to use but the Ford supercharged Cobra waterpump supplied with my kit moves water around the system at an amazing rate. Certainly many time faster than i had ever even anticipated/considered!!!
The Cobra water pump will NOT self prime and MUST have a head of water at it to pump at all. It runs so quietly that if it has an airlock youll never know!! My pump is mounted inside the front bumper reo bar so its inlet is at the same level as the bottom of the cooler radiator bottom outlet.

Since my cooler core is fitted where the battery used to be, and is well above the radiator itself, filling and purging it was a complete bitch.

In the end, I fitted a small remote filler cap to the highest point at the back of the cooler so i could fill the entire system and purge the air.
Here:

Awesome thermal stability if you get it running right. Im a little concerned with the lack of area of that oil cooler but see how you go.
Youll be fine with general running around and an occaqsional drag but if you track the car and sustain high boost then youll see your IAT's climb pretty quickly.
im not familiar with the size of the radiator that the turbo Scoobie originally used but that would be a good guide.

Cheers
Oracle