I wouldn't go front mount unless its a roadie. Mud and alsorts of shit gets in there. Be top mount only. If I had the money water to air but cos im cheap just a normal intercooler would be my option. I think even slow offroad a front mount is pretty average cooling wise ain't it. Also its a pain dicking round with fitting it up front. Not a lot of room esp if you still have ac in.
yea my thoughts aswell,my ac is gone but the winch is tucked rite up so not heaps of room,just wondering what others have done and how its helped wit egt's
go top mount. Cut a hole in the bonnet and slap a scoop over the top. The scoop is to stop mud falling into the IC, not to aid airflow.
Then put a decent flowing (pay attention to cfm, fans are not the same) electric fan under it to pull air down through the bonnet and IC. you just have to stop the hot air from the engine from going up through it, which the fan does.
W2A has come down in price a whole lot (check ebays W2A coolers) and you can buy a cheap water pump off trademe from an old W2A intercooled legacy.
With W2A you still need a radiator to cool the water and this radiator still needs to be mounted someplace. Its thinner than an A2A IC obviously so easier to fit but you'd want to place it where you AC radiator was so that its not getting pre-warmed air from the engines radiator.
And then its faced with the same MUD/blockage issues that a front mounted A2A IC has.
phone Ross Bolus (secretary of the BOP club) He'll save you.
yea that makes sense i wasnt tnat keen on the W2A due to needing extra cooling radiator and pump etc so i will look at a top mount set up,may have to remove that big air box on top and run one down the side and mount cooler on top
I'm doing a water to air. Have most of the bits with a legacy radiator and pump, water to air cooler and just need the fan for the water radiator for slow speed stuff. Am going to mount the water radiator attached under bonnet with a scoop and fan then mount the cooler over top of the rocker cover....somehwere. Problem is I have a clearance issue so just scratching my head on the W2A IC on how and where I mount it still providing clearance and the most direct piping I can run. Thats my plan anyway.
ooh yeah any pics and ideas would be cool. Have a paranoia about W2A around the risk of one day the thing springing a leak and getting water in the intake but otherwise think its probably an efficient option for 4wd use as is all top mount.
I've run top mount on a TD42, a good mate has front mount on a TD42 and I've run W2A on a GQ but it had a VH45 in it.
The top mount was using a GTiR I/C. It didn't have a fan and really didn't do that much but was really good from and instalation point of view.
The front mount, which I helped install is a really good option for a road truck. This one has 600x300x100 fitted behind the grill and it also has a custom phlenum, airbox and snorkel. It also has a hydrib fuel pump, ported head etc. Instalation wise it was tough. We had to shift the power steer pump a bit and cut big holes in the radiator support panel. But it works very well on road and in the sand etc. Mud I wouldn't be keen. Also has no A/C.
The W2A was by far the best from a cooling point of view but the setup was pretty extreme as well. I have a PWR 6x9 barrell and the cooler is the rad from a 2L car with twin fans. The rad was deck mounted with a 12 L per min pump feeding it via 1" hoses. This could keep the intake temps in the 40* region with 10psi and the truck stationary ie dyno (and over 500hp) and it was fully protected from all mud etc. But what a complex figgin nightmare to setup and expensive! The barrel and pump were worth about $1,400 and about another $300 for hoses and clamps. I didn't pay for rad and fans but probably another $500 there.
So I'd agree with FB and go with top mount and a fan. Fit the biggest you can and relocate the airfilter to somewhere else and you'll good for most things.
Nissan Terrano coilovers, turboed VH45, Safari axles, and some other stuff.