Spearco 2-231

[Benzo4gT]

Hi all, I had my spearco 2-231 delivered today, it looks great and should be the goods for what I need. I have some pics of the cooler and the heat exchanger. The spearco heat ex. seems tiny. I grabbed an A/C condenser from a cc lancer I had lying around and modded it to fit in front of the rvr A/C condenser. I know the spearco unit has "W.A.V.E. Technology (Wide Area Vane Effectiveness)" yeah ok, but seriously unless there has been something amazing happen in the laws of physics that I'm unaware of I can't see how a tiny little heat ex. can possibly cool effectively.
Everyone has there own opinion about w/a setups, but the guys with the results seem to run large heat exchangers with a decent reservoir tank.

I'm looking at making a reservoir tank in the funny little storage cabinet thing in the rear drivers side, I don't really want a big a$#e ally tank in the back, I'm really trying to keep my rvr looking like a school run stocker. The size should be in the range of 10-15 litres depending on which way I go. My ideas have included 200mm plumbing y pipes, or fibreglassing up a made to fit tank.
I'll probably get one fabricated out of ally to fit the size. I have a nice diaphragm pump already that I scored for free so that saves a few $.

Any comments/ ideas are welcome.

 

[Benzo4gT]

Beuller! Beuller! Meh, looks like it's just me chatting away

Anyhoo, the CC lancer A/C condenser is perfect, a bit of a mod to get the bonnet catch clear.
Anyone with an RVR looking to do an air to water setup can definitely use one of these if wanting a big heat exchanger

 

[Django]

Very well done mate, your ideas are well researched and well executed good stuff!

 

[Benzo4gT]

Thank Django. For a while there I thought I had dabbled in a taboo subject LOL. Not a lot of people use W/A setups. I'll post more pics up as I go along.

 

[Benzo4gT]

Update. Finished the piping, managed to fit it out of the way under the drivers front guard.

Built the reservoir out of fibre glass using the bottom portion of the storage box and a fabricated lid and then flowcoated the whole lot (Flowcoat is the same as gelcoat but has a wax that floats to the surface eliminating air from getting to it so it can dry)

Got all my fittings and will have it complete in the next week or so, I hope. Exam time AAAARGH!

 

[4piknup]

I think my w2a radiator is 10"

In another post I referenced a article in autospeed online magazine that has a heap of tech about w2a coolers and how they work on the street. There it is shown that a street car will just use the water in the cooler as a heat exchanger. It is only a race car that will heat up a whole reservoir of water.

 

[4piknup]

Looking at your pics, I wouldnt have bothered with the reservoir. The radiator is a reservoir and cooler too.
Thats a pretty cool setup there.

 

[barcode]

keen to see how this goes on the street. i have been thinking about going W2A for ages on other cars

 

[Benzo4gT]

Thanks Jack. I read that article, found it very interesting and accurate. Your setup is sweet, you got it all in with a tight engine bay

I put a reservoir in for a few reasons, I wanted a place to safely put my diaphragm pump plus a place to put ice in when needed, and I had the thought in my head

that I'd hate to put all this work in and ended up wishing I had gone the extra mile. I have ball valves set up so I can run just the radiator or the reservoir or both.

I wanted the best of both worlds and to see how good a W/A system can get. The pump has been slowed to 4.5 litres per minute or 71 gallons/Hr in imperial. This flow rate changes the intercooler core once every 12 seconds or

so which is plenty of time to exchange heat.

The total volume of the system is around 15 litres, and I know that seems like a lot of weight to add, but it is an RVR, they aren't exactly light to begin with (kerb weight 1400-1500ish kg)

I can put it and myself on a diet for races

 

[4piknup]

Oh yea will be sweet. I was going to add a reservoir later if needed.
I wat thinking of a esky thing with copper tube in bottom. Just in case you need to put ice in there. But I think your lid looks big enough to take ice.

Im going to run my pump from a pwm module. As the temp rises, the fan speed increases. I found a air temp sensor other day, yet to try it out.

 

[4piknup]

Man they can get good. Its the only way to get intake air below ambient temp (sorry, you can pack dry ice all around a a2a or spray it with co2)
You willnot regret your extra set up time

 

[Benzo4gT]

Let me know how the pwm module works, sounds like it's just the ticket.

I checked the total volume on my setup minus the tank, the results were surprising; Heat exchanger 825ml, Radiator (a/c condenser) 245ml. I didn't test the hose volume, but it wouldn't be much if used in the small loop, 12mm hose x

500mm approx. 56ml, making a grand total of 1126ml which almost sounds incorrect if I hadn't done what I normally do and get more anal than a workaholic proctologist.

 

[4piknup]

I thought mine was around 3l I filled the 1.25 bottle twice. But I have 3/4 hose and end tanks on radiator. And the hose runs all the way around the engine bay.

I had to get a fitting welded in to the highest point on the cooler to ensure the air wasnt trapped in top corner of cooler. At first it was just a vent but I fitted a elbow and plumbed it into the filler point . Where are your installed pics of engine bay?

 

[Benzo4gT]

HAHA, yeah, engine bay pics will be a problem, the engine is still getting machine work done, I've busied myself doing other car stuff, W2A being one. I've measured for a dummy fit though, it will be tight, I'll need to re-route some wiring.

Your setup sounds like it has a much bigger radiator than mine, you probably won't need a reserve tank at all. I will have to put a bleed valve in mine too I'd say, no point doing all the work and having half the cooler with no water

 

[4piknup]

This is mine plumbed and finished. You can see the bleed line that I had fitted it the top corner of the cooler and the filler cap on the lhs of the strut brace. You can see why I chose the centre in side out core.
Unfortunately my first pipe out of the turbo is a bit porous on some welds. It is a bit better with a smear of silastic inside but not perfect. Also for everyone, my biss plug had been removed, this was a pretty big boost leak. I plugged that with silicone too.

Please also admire the aircon pipe cabletied to the strut brace and wrapped in masking tape

 

[brisvr4]

Where did you get yours from jack? Looks a lot like mine with different inlet configuration.

 

[Benzo4gT]

Silastic, cableties, duct tape. If MacGyver had a son you'd be it Jack. Looks awesome. Mine will partly tuck under the fusebox on the drivers side with a bit of a mod, the hoses pop out under there so I don't think it will be too hard, I

haven't figured out the in/out piping yet, looking at your cooler has got me scared, if yours is tight, mine will be hell. I do think your cooler is larger though so I might be ok.

 

[brisvr4]

I just looked at your spearco unit and it's about the same size as mine.
Mines in a VR4 but the RVR bay is similar I think?

This is mine.

 

[Benzo4gT]

Yeah, the engine bay has everything in the same place by the looks. That looks sweet. I can visualise my fitment looking at yours, I'll need to make 4 90° bends, fun.

 

[brisvr4]

I'd cut one of your tanks of and reverse it. Makes fitting a lot easier!