Intercooling Diesels

[mollins]

In thinking about an intercooler for the mk1 tdi project i came across this article

Quite Interesting article. Takes into account diesel specific design.

Hope you enjoy

Cheers

Mike

[GoLfMan]

awesome article, i just got a VR4 Galant intercooler for my TDI, that should eb a massive improvement over the stock side mount one...
I notice the heatsoak terribly in the warmer weather, gives me the irrits!

[CatonaPC©]

Shouldn't the electric fan stay on even when the car is switched off to cool down the radiator?

Also, wouldn't you think VW engineers would have thought about all this and installed and appropriate intercooler?

[GoLfMan]

its all about production costs and markets.
the TDI's arent marketed as a performance car and for the engine outputs the cars come out with, the factory cooler is adequate....

[Greg Roles]

AND they are designed in a slightly chillier climate than here!

Great article, certainly made me re-think my plans, WHEN I get some spare cash again ( Santa?? ).

Putting a delay on my fans to leave them running for a few mins on shutdown is on the cards. I pop the bonnet on parking if I'm planning on using the car for the next hour or so, if I'm somewhere safe to do so. Makes a huge difference.

[CatonaPC©]

=Putting a delay on my fans to leave them running for a few mins on shutdown is on the cards.

Not sure what car you have. But the MkV fan stays on after engine shutdown if thing are a little too warm.

[smithy010]

My Turbo diesel has the IC mounted on top of the engine. Heat soak is ridiculously bad. The other issue is that the intercooler air is ducted in through the front, under the modified bonnet lining.. not even a bonnet scoop, which makes things worse for air flow.

I'm amazed how well she gets up on a 20 degree evening, compared to a 30 degree afternoon, in traffic.

[mollins]

yeah cooling the charge air is a big winner.... good idea on the bonnet popping cogdoc.

I'll be mounting an ebay special intercooler in front of the radiator on my mk1.

I wouldnt mind upgrading to twin thermofans with a mk2 radiator.

The mk1 factory thermo circuit keeps fans running until radiator temp drops, even when the engine is switched off (i would assume this is the same on the mk5, maybe your thermo switch set point is higher than you need for australian conditions)

I'm wondering if i should put another thermo switch in parrallel and attach it to the intercooler???.....

we'll see what happens.

cheers

mike

[Jarred]

make sure your cooler doesn't block too much of the air flow to the rad.

My petrol {yes I know} always used to run pretty hot, so I don't know that I would have gone an put something infront of it...

Something to think about, even though you probably already have

[mollins]

yeah i will be upgrading to a sealed radiator with an expansion tank. This is also why i want to go to twin fans and a wider radiator (eg mk2), with a fully open grill (not the ones with the blocked off sections).

This will allow me to use the whole frontal area (maybe leaving some space for a cold air intake )

hmmm.. lots to do