Heater matrix as charge cooler radiator?

As I have a mid engine layout and i think I cannot get enough air in to install an air/air ic, I have been toying with the idea of a chargecooler. Last year I bought a small chargecooler unit. I have two small motorcycle rads. I belive from a 125cc. But these seem small and the fins are widely spaced. That got me thinking about a heater matrix. ie. the vw golf I´s matrix is quite big (234cm X 156cm X 42cm). Sells for 10$. Would this be too restrictive? I think the discharge with my CC 12V pump (990l/[email protected]) would be the same as wide open heater? not?
any ideas. I recently downloaded a paper on charge coolers. Guess I´ll have read as well.

Are you talking about the charge cooler itself or the charge cooler radiator?
As far as chargecoolers go, to give you an example--the stock Behr chargecooler from a Lotus Esprit has a face area of about 4" by 4.25". (It has a depth or thickness of about 8".) About 70% of this face area is for intake airflow. If you read "Maximum Boost" you see that net face area can easily support about 260 HP.
In fact, the Esprit engine is advertised at 265 Hp sustained and 280 Hp in "overboost". Eventually 300 HP worth of air was pushed thru this same cooler. So the book is pretty much right-on in this instance.
The chargecooler I'm running now has a face area of about 8" by 4" with about the same 70% of the area used for engine airflow.
I'd advise to be very picky about the heater core you are using as far as the available airflow area goes.
BTW-I might be wrong, but the Lotus chargecooler looks a whole lot like a modded heater core!
I think I still have some pictures up on this site (the stock chargecooler). Have a look.

Hello again Black Lotus,

Remember you from another thread about the same subject *LOL*.
Checked out your car too. very nice car!

I am contemplating on using the heater core as a pre-rad (so charge cooler radiator). I think I might have a go at that price though. Have to find me a DeltaTemp and DeltaP sensor to asses efficiëncy.
I agree that using it as IC core would not be a very good idea! Read Maximum boost! A lot of people keep slagging the book off. Don´t know why. It resumes perfectly what I need to know, without having to go through all different sorts of textbooks. Although it lacks ins and outs on howto trick the MAP/MAF sensor in seeing boost as they did on the 5psi NSX. They should have given more insight on this imo.

In the meanwhile I have found a paper on the subject of charge cooling:
http://www.vortechsuperchargers.com/pdf/papers/cooler_paper.pdf
Looks interesting! will read it later today.

Finally fitted the turbo to the block and it´s a snug fit i must say, considering the confined space in mid engine layout bay. CNC miller will be doing some parts next week, so oil feed, return, etc can be sorted.
Once the method of intercooling sorted, it´s time to tackle the fueling/ignition. Got several options. Haven´t decided yet. It´ll be on a strict budget anyway.

cheers,

I've used a heater radiator for the radiator in an air/water setup. It worked very well but at the time the air/water heat exchanger I had wasn't very efficient so the radiator only had to remove about 2kw of heat.

I see :-) the bottleneck was the IC, not the rad. Did you get things sorted after all? Still have the heater matrix up front?

I see :-) the bottleneck was the IC, not the rad. Did you get things sorted after all? Still have the heater matrix up front?

I still have the old heater radiator up the front, but it's not currently connected. I'm pushing 20psi and really really need to sort out my intercooler.
I have a larger air/water one, just need to spend a weekend with the welder making brackets and pipes.

But life keeps getting in the way.