Being new the modification world, I can't help but ask if stuff has been tried before. Actually, this doesn't have much to do with a computer chip, but Mike seems to be very knowledgable in all aspects and is good at explaining things (Just compair the number of views per thread to other forums).

I realize that temperature and humidity will affect the performance of a vehicle. Could the load the a/c compressor uses be used to cool as well as dry the air going into the engine? Would the power loss be made up because of the difference in air properties? What about using an electric motor compressed a/c unit (like using electric fans instead of clutched ones)?

I don't know how much the load of most a/c units is, or how much the air properties could be changed.

Thanks, in advance

 

Hi 4WL,

Yes, that is indeed interesting, we love to see people thinking outside the box.

What you're talking about (in effect) has been done for years, primarily in forced induction engines, it's called an "intercooler" or "aftercooler," etc.

Now to actually put the A/C compressor to work taking on the additional load of pulling heat & humidity out of the air intake charge would be a neat piece of engineering, and would require significant cfm flow capacity with extremely little restriction, you'd need at least 600+ cfm to support serious hp numbers, you can make 400 hp with under 500 cfm. With enough effort, thought and $$, just anything can be done, but nobody I know of has accomplished this task in that manner.

You'd need to basically duplicate the air handling capacity of the A/C system in the interior of the vehicle, and if you could do that, it just might fly. The Lightning's liquid-to-air intercooler setup is post-MAF, just as the Magnacharger's setup is, so you can cool that after the MAF just fine with an active system. It would be even neater if you could effect that pre-MAF, but that may well post driveability issues.

Hmmm............................

If you ever decide to play with that project seriously, let us know, we might want to tune it!

 

Now thats an idea. That would require some interesting plumbing. People would ask if all that piping is for the turbo buried under there. You could just say no, thats for my A/C. They would be like WTF LOL

 

A friend and I have been contemplating this one for a while now. In theory I think it would be very effective.
We thought that routing cooled air from the trucks A/C could work but the plumbing would be a pain. If someone would sacrifice the use of the A/C it might be a bit easier. Someone on the superchargers board mentioned something about using a A/C set up from an Expy, that has the front and back A/C.
Rather than alter the exsisting A/C I think it would be more practicle to add an additional one. There are many issues involved in that also.
I guess the biggest hurtle is cooling that much air at that velocity. Utilizing an A/C unit would draw power in some form. I would want to be sure that the gains would be worth it.
I'm just a do it your self modder. I would like to see the aftermarket take care of the r&d, and sell us something that will be worth it.

 

Why make it so hard?

Finding a clear spot to drill a big hole through the firewall was tough, and my filter does sort of get in the way next to my console. To compensate I figured out that a cup holder adapts nicely to a big mouth filter end. Geez, you guys think you have intake noise....

My friend is working on a blower version. The post compressor air from the ATI blower heats the cab, and is then pulled back out before it routes through the intercooler. He kept mentioning problems with his door seals though, and his ears popping when he gets on the gas????? We finally got that taken care of and he got a new pulley for the blower. Anybody know what the rear window in a F-150 costs? His flew off half way up the on ramp!

 

Just wanted to add that many Ford vans(Club Wagon) had the dual AC in case someone is scrounging for parts to play with.

 

There you go Signmaster, keeping it simple, thanks for the laughs!

Actually, with as efficient as a good intercooler setup can be, that would be my route..............................hmmm, I already have that.

 

Mike,

We're still looking at perfecting the blow off valve. We just can't get the windows to operate that quickly at the correct time. The only good feature we have found with this setup is that if the diver is going to fast and making you uncomfortable, you just have to put the window down.