Re: Home made intercooler

[OorQue@aol.com]

> I note that the washer reservoir on my own Type 44 is the same part
>  number as the one used on cars with headlight washers - my car has
>  none.
>  
>  It would appear that a simple modification would be to add a headlight
>  washer pump (191 955 681 - doubtless bone-yard sourced) to this
>  reservoir and run some tubing round to the front of the intercooler.
>  The question is - what kind of jet to use?  How about these 'misting'
>  jets they use in hothouses to simulate rain forest conditions?  I've
>  heard at least once that the jets should face _away_ from the
>  intercooler to produce better misting in the airflow.

As the old-timers around here will recall, I installed a water-spray system 
on my 200q using scrounged parts for under $10 (or thereabouts) ... since my 
car had the headlight washer reservoir mounted behind and below the headlight 
and an unused bracket on the firewall for the heavy-duty windshield washer 
reservoir -- this is where it's usually located on the older, non-turbo Type 
44 cars -- I simply added a second reservoir bottle, re-routed the original 
wiring to reach the washer pump and swapped the water lines attached to the 
underside of the hood around so they're now supplied from the secondary 
reservoir and pump instead of the original one.

I then rewired the original pump so it's triggered by an adjustable 
pressure-activated switch set at 4psi -- I was able to scrounge mine from a 
dumpster when the HVAC system was replaced at the office building where I 
used to work was replaced -- and routed the outlet hose up to the front of 
the intercooler.  I picked up a pair of brass mister nozzles that are 
commonly used in patio mister systems here in the desert from the 
neighborhood hardware store along with brass "T" fittings to hold them in 
place and connect them to the water hose.  Although they're designed to work 
using with a higher line pressure (50+ psi) than that provided by the OEM 
washer pump, the setup nevertheless seems to work just fine and by carefully 
positioning the nozzles, I would estimate the two spray patterns cover 80% of 
the IC core.

Because the humidity is so low where I live (Scottsdale, Arizona), the system 
is quite effective during the summer and slightly less so the rest of the 
year.  By setting the trigger point at 4psi, it only comes on when I'm hard 
into the boost and by mounting the nozzles above the pump, I don't have to 
worry about them siphoning the reservoir dry.  I generally manage to make it 
last for at least one full tank of gas although this will obviously vary 
depending upon your particular driving style ... one other nice touch is that 
because I used the original washer reservoir for the mister system instead of 
the one that was added on the firewall, the autocheck system will 
conveniently let you know when it's empty.

Some folks expressed concerns about scale and corrosion building up on the 
aluminum IC core but after two years of use, it doesn't appear this is a 
problem ... just to be safe, though, I always use distilled water instead of 
tap water and recommend that you do too if you try this.  Because I scrounged 
the secondary washer bottle from a parts car and the pressure switch from a 
dumpster, the only parts I had to buy were the nozzles, brass fittings and 
some vinyl tubing ... as such, the total cost, as I recall, was less than $10 
... although I don't recommend it, you could probably piggyback a relay off 
the WOT switch instead of using a pressure switch but this strikes me as less 
elegant and those things are flaky enough as it is ... for experimenting, 
though, I suspect it will work fine.

Overall, this was a worthwhile and very cost-effective modification and I 
recommend it to anybody who lives in a dry-ish climate where you will derive 
the maximum benefit.

JG