Intercooler Placement IDEAs Needed., Need a better option.....Love my water to air, but open Options

[budman5201]

As all you probably know, i have a ej20 turbo subaru in my car. I love it and it runs great, but now i am at the point where i want to streamline how well the system works.......

First matter of attention is the intercooler placement. I have a small water to air intercooler tucked in front of the pulley on my subaru motor. It works great, but i am getting a little too much heat soak on the aluminum tubes leading to it. I was debating an idea of putting it in the rear trunk or in the fender since placement wouldnt be a factor because its a water to air. I do like the one members ORANGE nice turbo car on 914world here with the air/air one in the back and vent in the wing.....

Looking for ideas....

[ottox914]

Don't know how much space you have above the intake and under the engine lid, but on my car I used a GT style double vented lid, no rain tray, and a subi intercooler with about a 2" plenum below and an 800cfm sucker fan. Never had intake air temps more than 20-30 degrees over ambient. I plan in version2 to make another plenum, and have 2-1100 cfm fans sucking thru the intercooler. I expect this to cool the intake charge even better, and while it may be a bit loud, its an auto cross car, so noise is not an issue. With the single fan, you can hear it a little over the sound of the motor, but not alot. You can put your hand 6" over the engine grill and feel the air being pulled thru. I think this also helps engine cooling a little, as the IC is located up front in the engine area, over the air intake for the engine fan. More pics can be found in the build thread linked in my sig.