QUESTION.
I am waiting for parts and waiting for a radiator shop to give me a quote on a simple rad to go in a tank - they get interested, get all excited and start proposing clever solutions and then it all goes quiet. So, planning ahead to my next special construction challenge ......
Could someone running a naturally aspirated engine comment on cooling the induction air please. I had orignally assumed some aluminium tubes running through an ice bath with the induction air feeding from the NACA inlet to a collector that feeds the tubes, through the cold tubes, collected, to the ITB airbox via a 5" duct. Since I can't weld aluminium* and the local fabricators seem to want a kings ransom for things like this what clever solutions have people arrived at and how did you measure success?
I have considered using metal epoxy to bond the alloy tubes to drilled end plates then wrapping that in a fibeglass tank. I have also considered thin wall fibreglass tubes all fibreglassed together.
If I calculate for a 5" induction duct that surface area is ~ equivalent to fifteen 1.25" ID tubes in three rows of five with space for ice and water around them. Each tube would be around 14" long in my most ideal packaging configuration. Will this work? Will the tubes strangle the free flow of air? etc. Is there a smarter way to do it?
*some days I can't weld mild steel.
Thanks, John