Homemade Chiller box

[lipt0n svTE]

I am just about to wrap up my homemade chiller box and i was wondering if the ones you buy have anything to do with turning the electric water pump off/on to me it would make sense if they did turn them so to have all of the cool fluid in the inner cooler, i guess if anyone has one of the boxs brief me in on the install, it would be greatly appreciated. by the way i am using an igloo cooler as my box with 30ft of 1/2inch inside diameter tubing coiled up in the cooler i will post pics in a day or two, thanks for any help

 

[2004SVTLightnin]

Ok......first Im gonna say, when you dont have ice in it, all its gonna do is act as a heat box....trapping heat unless you have a vent somewhere. So think carefully, I wouldnt do it now that I have taken mine out.

Anyway, just incase you want to. Just find where the I/C line that is about to go into the inlet side of the heat exchanger and take it and run line to you icebox and take the exit out of the ice box and run it into the heat exchanger. "I find cooling off the heat exchanger helps cool the whole volume of fluid faster than just goin from box to intercooler." Rmember that coolness falls, The inlet of your icebox should be at the top and the exit should come off the bottom side of the coil.

You will notice that the pump isnt gonna nearly as fast as it used to, but when you stuff ice you are going to feel the lines get cold to touch, they wont get ice cold just idling still, put a fan on the heat exchanger or take it for a ride and they will get ice cold. Your truck is gonna hold more timing because of the colder charge.

Anything else just ask

 

[lipt0n svTE]

so in a round about way your telling me that i am wasting my time? i sometimes wonder that myself, i was thinking of running some valves so when i wasn't packing it with ice i could close two valve and open one and it would be like running the stock set up
and i guess when it is packed with ice is it noticeable, my last question is should i change the tune any while it has ice in it thanks teroy

 

[2004SVTLightnin]

if you have a dual-program I guss you could add 1* more timing, but uhh, I wish I wouldnt have wasted my money, I never though of putting valves, that would make it perfect if you ask me. If you do valves yes, if you dont, your icebox is gonna act as a heater box. Its not noticable, but you might see better trap speeds at the track. I might do valves now, thanks.

 

[herb101]

if you have a dual-program I guss you could add 1* more timing, but uhh, I wish I wouldnt have wasted my money, I never though of putting valves, that would make it perfect if you ask me. If you do valves yes, if you dont, your icebox is gonna act as a heater box. Its not noticable, but you might see better trap speeds at the track. I might do valves now, thanks.

Or get super slick with it and use solendoid valves and wire them to a switch. If you use a flip-chip, you can cut the switch out and wire a DPDT relay in its place. Use the original switch to fire the relay, one pole to 'flip' the chip, the second pole to switch the valves into 'cooler mode'. What could be COOLER :coolman:

Herb

 

[lightninmike]

herb you got some crazy ideas, and i love it cause that would be great

 

[2004SVTLightnin]

um yeah, you can do that too, if you wanna spend all day on it.......haha, really nice ideas though, we should all be engineers!

 

[herb101]

LOL - sorry guys! Low voltage electrical is my 'gig'.

Herb

 

[lipt0n svTE]

right on thanks guys project should be done in a day or two, now lets say i did want to get super sick and do the solenoid valves where in the heck would i get them, they sound expensive

 

[herb101]

right on thanks guys project should be done in a day or two, now lets say i did want to get super sick and do the solenoid valves where in the heck would i get them, they sound expensive

I would think that Grainger's or McMaster-Carr would have something that migt work. They would be rated for; 1) coil voltage, 2) fitting size - like 1/2" NPT or 1/2" compression, 3) flow rate.

Herb

 

[herb101]

Ebay has some possibilities...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=50928&item=7522204962&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=45039&item=7521853388&rd=1 (REAL promising)



Many are setup for 120 Vac and could be made to work with a dedicated inverter, but then you might be called a geek :loser:

Here's and example of one of those...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=87087&item=7522210519&rd=1



You might also have some good luck at and RV or boating supply store.

Herb

 

[2004SVTLightnin]

all i read was, blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah..........Lmao

 

[herb101]

all i read was, blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah..........Lmao

Yep - pretty much what I said :lol:

All the crap you could add for the 'cool factor' would add weight that would probably about offset the gains seen from the colder IC water.

But it's fun to think out and design 'James Bond' kind of stuff.

Herb

 

[smilinjack]

Had the system your talking about on my L the last 2 years. I skipped the i/c radiator when using iced water by adding a simple bypass w/solenoids (2). If you run thru the i/c radiator it actually warms the ice water because of the outside air temp that is circulating thru it. Using PVC 3/4" fittings (barbed((slip on) cut and install a tee in the INLET hose of the i/c radiator (between the pump discharge and the rad.) . Using either a solenoid or manual valve, cut and install the valve in the DISCHARGE hose (3/4") of the i/c radiator (it's the one that goes up to the s/c i/c). Downstream from that valve install another tee so that ... with the exception of the tee, valve, tee you just installed, the original system is still intact. Okay so far? Now, from the 1st tee on the inlet side of the i/c rad. add a 3/4" hose that goes to the INLET side of your ice chest. From the OUTLET side of your ice chest run a hose to the tee you installed in the DISCHARGE of the i/c rad. In this hose install your 2nd valve before you get to the tee. With this setup one valve will always be closed and the other always open. Sooo........ for normal operation the valve on the DISCHARGE of the i/c rad. will be open and the valve on the DICHARGE side of the ice chest will be closed. For ICE WATER operation you simply reverse the valve position on BOTH valves! This stops the flow thru the rad. and forces it thru the chest. VOILA. If ya want to get fancy ( we usually do) I installed temp guage sensors on the inlet and discharge tubes of the s/c intercooler and mounted the guages on the bottom of the dash. Very cool knowing what temp your sending in and how it comes out. True it does add some weight but I consistently ran about .15 sec. faster than comp. equipped L's. Without timing. If your going this route let me know, I've got a few more tricks to go with that.... have fun! epper:

 

[lipt0n svTE]

that makes sense i think, i had kind of the same idea but done all after the i/c radiator discharge so that the cooler would have the coolest fluid to star with right off making an even cooler fluid and yes anymore tricks and i am all ears

 

[2004SVTLightnin]

I disagree, I noticed the fluids gets colder, faster still using the heat exhanger, maybe its just me.

 

[lipt0n svTE]

or what about having it run through the heat exchanger, then thru the cooler box, then into the inner cooler? might have already posted this idea whoops

 

[smilinjack]

I am assuming that you are using the ice for the track. Street use would require constant changing of ice water and valve positioning. If you still believe the intercooler rad will help then I guess you didn't read the part about the temp guages I use. I tested every possible combination of cooling the i/c water including 5 different types of coils in the ice bucket. I even bought a 2nd i/c rad and mounted it where the spare was so I could run through both to lose more heat. Did you know you can drop the temp of the ice water to about 22 degrees using rock salt added into the slurry? When your chilling your intercooler you want to go directly from your ice to the i/c and back to the ice. You want the least amount of restriction in the piping system which gives the quickest return to the ice. Have you decided the lineal feet of coil in the ice bucket? The material you will be using? The connections to the bucket? The position of the bucket and the piping route? If you are going to do it for max performance it will take a little work and a good plan.

 

[lipt0n svTE]

well my semi fabbed bucket has a 35ft coil in it and it is 1/2inside diameter and 5/8 outside diameter, the pipe is copper, my other idea also was instead of using a coil couldn't i use a couple heater cores out of lets say an f250 and ice those, or i have a streetbike radiator off of a 600 that would fit nicely into my box, smilinjack i guess how did you do yours? thanks for the help

 

[2004SVTLightnin]

or what about having it run through the heat exchanger, then thru the cooler box, then into the inner cooler? might have already posted this idea whoops

thats what I meant........sorry!