My Crazy Water IC Setup

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Sir Yach-o
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My Crazy Water IC Setup

Post by Sir Yach-o »

Hello all.

Well, today is the first day in about 6 weeks that my car has actually ran, and we have success.

For those who don't know, here's what I did:

It started out innocently enough with just wanting more boost out of the stock turbo, but it got quickly out of hand. Until 6 weeks ago, all that had been done to my car was a custom intake I had put together myself. Now I've got no A/C, a water IC off of the Liberty RS, an AVC-r, FATT timer, dremeled throttle body, dremeled MAF, 2 breathers, re-fabricated intake, and about 50 less pounds. Since this is the intercooling forum, here's how I got to my IC setup.

1. After reading and researching options, I decided to go with the water-cooled IC from the Liberty, so I found a junk dealer in New Zealand that specialized in Japanese parts (Shore City Engines) . After bouncing numerous emails back and forth, I ended up getting the intercooler, water pump, BOV, hoses connecting the IC to the pump, hose connecting the IC to the turbo (Liberty turbo :? ), and some stickers and a desktop calendar shipped to my door for the equivelant of $230 USD.

2. I had previously determined that I was going to use the A/C condenser for my IC radiator because of its size(much bigger that the Liberty's stock IC radiator) and that fact that it was already made to fit perfectly right where it needed to be, so I had to take apart the A/C system, and upon deciding that I was willing to forever go without A/C, I ended up taking it all out. I got it discharged at a local service shop for $30 in hopes to avoid pissing off the EPA by just releasing freon to atmosphere. I try to do my part. So out goes the compressor, tensioner pulley, condenser(to be used later), the reciever/dryer, evaporator, and all connecting hoses.

3. Next step was to reconnect everthing, meaning I needed some hoses to do the job. I ended up not using any of the hoses supplied because they were preformed, which ended up not going to the places I needed them to go. I picked up some decent silicone heater hose from a Kenworth truck service shop in the area... got 9 feet of 5/8" and 9 feet of 3/8" for $25. Not bad at all. I needed 5/8" for the connections to the water pump and the IC, and 3/8" to slip on the end of the aluminum tube that has the fitting for the condenser. A simple brass reducer from the plumbing dept of Home Depot makes the connections between the two hose sizes possible, and a little knife-edge dremel grind on the reducers might improve the ease of flow.

4. Find out where and how to mount the water pump. The Liberty has the pump inside the fender, passenger side NZ spec, driver side US spec. However, I located a decent spot to put the pump in the corner of the engine bay right below the brake master cylinder. There were already threaded bolt holes here and plenty of room. I had to flip the bracket around that came with the pump, but after that it fit nice. I wired the pump to my fusebox after the A/C fuse, and since my A/C no longer exists, the fuse now protects my pump from shorting. However, this runs the pump at its full 50 watts at all times, so I am looking into a way to control this and tone it down when I don't need it. Autospeed's Complete Guide to Intercooling Part 2 has some good ideas as to how to control the pump.

5. Install the intercooler. As is just about common knowledge now, the existing POS coolant tank has to move. The hoses running out the back of this marval of Japanese engineering will hit the IC. I speak so highly of this worthless piece of plastic because I, like many others, broke off one of the nipples on my stock tank. Luckily, I was able to pick up one of the aluminum tanks that JC sports had fabricated for $130. They also have an aluminum tank that is specific to the IC install where the hoses are routed to miss the IC, but I had designed and cut all of my coolant hoses prior to my stock tank breakage disaster, so the replica aluminum tank was all I needed. I decided to move and mount my tank where the A/C compressor was, right up front, and some 1/2" heater hose was now required, so I went back to the Kenworth shop. Another item that had to make way for the IC was the ignitor - that black computer chip looking thing in the center of the top of the engine bay. It's on a bracket that seems to show it off(I can't figure out why) and that bracket pushes it out far enough to interfere with the IC. I simply snipped off most of the bracket with tin snips, bent back the rest of it, and bolted it back in the same place, except now it just lays flat against that bump in the chassis up there. So the intercooler had a place to go, but nothing to keep it there. This is where it is a good thing to have connections. A friend of mine (drives a '99 Legacy Brighton wagon) is a metal sculpture artist, so we had access to a bunch of metal bar and rod stock, and more importantly, a welder. We fabricated some fairly ugly, but very useful brackets to mount the IC and the coolant tank to various parts of the chassis and engine block, using bushings at all points of contact. It holds like a rock, very solid, yet just enough flex from the bushings.

6. Connecting the turbo to the IC. This was a taxing situation. The stock connecting piece off of the Liberty doesn't fit at all. The Liberty used a different turbo, at a different angle, with a different diameter outlet, so that was out of the question. The main issue, though, is that there has to be a spot for the BOV somewhere in between the turbo and the throttle body, and on the Liberty it was on this connecting piece that has no way of fitting on our turbos. This means that the intercooler itself has no spot on it to attach a BOV, as with most other IC's. SOB!!! what to do. Well, for the connecting hose I went to Checker Auto, and for $7 I found a pre-form radiator hose that had a close enough approximation of the bends I needed to get from the turbo to the IC. This still left me with the problem of having to tap the BOV somewhere. Enter my friend Charles the Artist to save the day again. He didn't know how, but a fellow artist, Jeff, could weld aluminum (needed because the IC is aluminum cast). I used a short lengh of the 5/8" aluminum tubing off of my A/C lines for a nipple to my BOV off of the IC, and made sure the weld was airtight. Good to go. Put the BOV on, tied it to vacuum, slipped the IC onto the now-razor-sharp-dremeled-to-hell-and-back throttle body, and triple-checked all of my work. Everything connected.

7. Fill it up, and run the water pump to check for leaks. I had none. Fill up the coolant system with coolant. Say a prayer, fire it up. Let the ECU reset itself by idling to normal temp, and shut it off. Recheck all coolant levels, including the one in your IC. If everything checks out, start her up again and go for a ride! I kept checking under the hood after every trip just to make sure, but it looks like all is in order.

Conclusion:

It certianly feels faster, in a big way. Before I had my coolant drained and my car immoble, I did have the AVC-r in for a good 2 weeks running about 10psi. Under the same 10psi, it does feel like more power now that the IC is there. Granted, I did do all sorts of other mods while my car wasn't moving, but I doubt that they really contribute much to what I felt. These mods include the TB coolant bypass, knife-edge dremel TB, slight knife-edging on MAF, different intake ducting (same PRM filter, though) emmissions/PCV mod (replacing intake ducting with crankcase breathers and routing blow-by gas direct to PCV), and the weight reduction involved in taking out the A/C system. I am also looking forward to pushing the turbo to the fuel-cut limit of about 13.5 psi, one I get a little more time to remap my AVC-r settings.

Downsides?: Yeah, there are a few, including the Denver Public Trasportation system, and the fact that I had to wait on friends to drive my lame-ass all over town. But really, here they are:
1. That POS coolant tank. I got a good part, but it was $130 I wasn't planning on spending.
2. The stock Liberty water pump is efficient, but pretty loud. I'm guessing it has a lot to do with the fact that I'm running it full bore constantly, but that will be fixed soon.
3. No A/C. I didn't use it anyway, I'm a open-window guy, but some people might not want to give it up.
4. While picking up my coolant tank, visions of a deteriorating checking account danced in my head as I got a tour of the shop. This is where SubeTek's 550hp+ Impreza is being realized. Pure awe.

But that's it, folks! It can be done! The fact that it took me 6 weeks to do was purely do to bad planning, and the fact that I was designing as I go. I like just diving into projects and am aware of any consequences. It is also 6 weeks of school and work, not just car work. I am thoroughly convinced that this can be easily accomplished with only one day of car downtime, utilizing enough planning and preperation. Hopefully I will get a digital camera soon and be able to post pics. They are certianly worth the more than one thousand words I've placed here.

Happy modding,

-mike
DLC
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Post by DLC »

Good stuff.

I tried both the Air-Air and Air-Water stock setups at one time, but never could get past how poorty everything fit in with the stock US setup. Somehow i found this RS-T IC on eBay and a hose to put it in with.

I'd really like to get an Air-Water setup, as it's not necessary to have the air ducting efficiently and you don't really need to worry about under-hood temps, but it is obviously a more complicated system.

I'd like to hear more about what you've done to your intake, MAF and TB (in the appropriate forums of course :D ).

Dave
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Grant
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That's a Legacy

Post by Grant »

Sounds like a sweet set up you've got there. I have just a few questions. Have you figured out what you final cost was to install the IC? How long did it take you to do? Is the SubeTek you are talking about the guy out in Aurora, I think off of 6th or somewhere like that, just east of 225? If you're ever down at The Great Indoors near Park Meadows you should come find me in the Home Theater department so I can check out your set up. I am going to buy a Turbo Legacy as soon as I can afford to and build it up hopefully with the same IC.
Later
Grant Hughes
Denver, CO
http://www.nocoastmotorsports.net
Sir Yach-o
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Post by Sir Yach-o »

Well, here's the cost breakdown (and this is off the top of my head):

1. $220 - Everything from Shore City Engines in NZ which included: IC, water pump, stock BOV, various hoses connecting these parts, intake elbow to turbo, and pipe from turbo to IC (unusable on USDM turbo)

2. $130 - aluminum coolant tank (you will not need this if you are careful with the stocker)

3. $7 - radiator cap from Checker for the above coolant tank

4. $45 - silicone hoses of varying size. I've got plenty left if you need it. I bought 9' of 3/8", 9' of 1/2", and 9' of 5/8", but the cool-as-hell guy at the Kenworth shop always gave me 11-12 feet.

5. $5 - 10' of wire from Home Depot to connect the water pump. I only used about 3'.

6. $3 - bag full of hose clamps from home depot

7. $7 - pre-form radiator hose from Checker to connect turbo to IC.

I think that's it for the IC setup, so grand total of $417 if you're dumb like me, and $280 if you're careful. Now, this doesn't include any cost for the brackets I had to fabricate for the IC and coolant tank, 'cause it was free for me. I never looked into this, but you might be able to use the Liberty's brackets for the IC, I don't know. You also have to consider how to attach the BOV. Like I said in the above post, it took me six weeks of car downtime to do everything I did to it, which was not just the IC. But if I had to do it on, say, your car, it could be done in one day now, considering all of the parts were in, and considering the fact that all the planning and designing has been done on my car.

SubeTek is Bret from Flatirons Subaru, that's his I-club handle. He's f'in crazy. His BOV is the size of my turbo, and his turbo is twice that size. :shock:

That's sweet that you're out here. I'm not on that side of town all too much, but I'd be down with stoppin' by sometime... once I get my ride tuned up a bit and put the interior back together! :P

nooch,
-mike
I'm saving up for my Yugo.
whitey
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Post by whitey »

Hello

Did you pay $230 for an RS intercooler from NZ ay :shock: . Thats heaps I live in New Zealand and I have seen intercoolers like the one you bought for $50 NZ (about $25 US I think).

It is strange that US legacys come with no intercoolers as in NZ they all have i/c. How much power does a US non intercooled legscy make stock a NZ (jap or australian manufactured) makes approx 150 kW (200 hp) standard on 8 psi boost.
89 Legacy RS, 2.0 L Intercooled Turbo 4WD, Custom tapered Dump pipe to 2 1/2" straight through exhaust, LSD (rear and center), Cold air intake, GAB adjustible suspension
zak
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Post by zak »

Ours make 160 hp at 8.7 psi with no intercooler. And yeah, I got my water-air intercooler for $150 US, so wherever your looking is cheap!
Zak Malbin
1993 Legacy Turbo
Boost +, AWIC, 3" turbo back, intake, trailer hitch, etc.
eastbaysubaru
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Post by eastbaysubaru »

Wow! I for one would love to get my hands on a factory Subaru IC for that much. Hook it up!

-Brian
'04 PSM FXT
91White-T
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Re: My Crazy Water IC Setup

Post by 91White-T »

Sir Yach-o wrote: PCV mod (replacing intake ducting with crankcase breathers and routing blow-by gas direct to PCV),
Is that the other hose that goes into the black box lookin thing right before the 90deg hose that goes into the turbo?
If so, how did you do it exactly?
98 Ford Contour V6 24V 5MT
98 Chevy Camaro Z28 LS1 6MT
91 Rio Red SS 5MT Sold
91 Flat Black Wagon L+ 4EAT RIP
91 Pearl White SS 4EAT RIP
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