Ok, so the backstory for this fun and probably useless mod....

I am about to get a one-of hood, and I didn't want to drill into it in order to have my windshield washer squirters. So I had the option of removing the entire thing, or using it for something else. Being as I live in GA, and at times the ambient temperatures in the summer are usually in the high 90's, I figured I may as well use the squirters for a different purpose. With the specific heat of aluminum being .215 btu/lb F, it means that it heats up fast due to ambient temps. Now granted, once the car is in motion, heat will be dissipated by the movement of air across the intercooler vanes, the temperature of the air moving across the vanes will still be a factor. Enter the washer squirters

Despite the resevoir being inside the engine bay, and subject to ambient temperatures as well, the basic idea of this mod was to spray a 70% water, 30% alcohol mixture (windshield washer fluid) onto the aluminum of the intercooler. At a standstill, with high humidity, this evaporative cooling will not be very efficient. However due to the mixture, it does become slightly more effective than water alone. Once under motion, the air flowing over and through the (now wet) vanes will increase the evaporation rate, as well as the efficiency of the evaporative cooling effects. As such, by dropping the temperature of the actual intercooler while in motion, the air running through the intercooler will also be subject to a temperature drop. This drop, while less efficient than a water spray directly into the intake manifold, or even the NX system of fogging the intercooler with nitrous oxide gas, will provide me with power closer to winter numbers if I want to play on a very hot day.

The mod cost me a little over $8 dollars. It's not going to add any horsepower, but perhaps alleviate some of the power leech that occurs on a hot day. The switch is next to my shifter, and is very unobtrusive. And as a worst case scenario of this mod not working, I can tell people I've modded my car to pee on command.

For those interested in how this (possibly) works, here is a link from wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporative_cooler

If you guys want I can try to get a DIY together, but this mod may be a bit esoteric for that.....

Later gents

 

Good stuff... I'd like to see some pics if not a full blown write up. I know that Evo's and STI's come with factory IC coolers very similar to your set up.

Good luck convincing people that you don't have NOS when they hear that pump sounding at a light :D

 

http://www.srtforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=350309

 

Ahh, they are using their resevoirs for a water injection kit....makes sense if they don't want to add another tank. I believe some of the higher number FI tC's here have done this as well....at least I can recall one person talking about it.