ragtop409

yep like little kids trying to be as patient as posible Rag's

tomcat

You guys should be here chasing parts and handing me wrenches.

Forget what I said about the fuel cooler position. Due to interference with the Y-pipe for the thru prop exhaust it has to move. This is what it should look like. Because you don't want the fuel cooler right beside the starter, it has to be first in line after the raw water pump. The intercooler tee comes after that. I'm still sorting out the best route for the return fuel line that goes through the cooler.

The oil dipstick tube has to be moved to the front of the standard fuel filter bracket. This gets it out of the way of the intercooler. A support bracket for the underside of the intercooler will be fitted between the fuel filter mount and the standard bracket.

tomcat

Since I'm waiting for some parts, I decided to bring the second engine up to the same stage as the first. Second time through was a lot quicker! There is a definite order of operations and since this particular installation is a hybrid of three groove pulley drive, MPI and HP500EFI I'm working from three different instruction manuals. Now that I'm familiar with the parts lists I can see where to streamline the parts ordering process next time.

tomcat

Got the intercooler housing assembly back from the polishers today. Still no cores ready but a trial fitting was in order anyway. These shots show how the plate bolts to the throttle body, and the almost ideal transition from the small blower outlet to the size of the upper intercooler core.

tomcat

The intercooler housing bolts to the plate. The top, stbd side and bottom of the housing is polished. For this installation the plan is to paint the front and back panel with blue Duplicolor metalcast paint to match the anodized hardward of the Vortech blower support plate. I used PhotoStudio to simulate the effect. The blue kind of goes with the other blue components. The guys at the shop say just powdercoat everything, which will likely be the standard finish. If you're wondering, this is not going to fit unless you have 6 inches above the top of the intake plenum, like the 35 Fountain we are working on. The reason for the height is you have to stay above the throttle linkage below the bottom edge of the plate, and you can't go any farther forward or backward. So to get the proper size of intercooler core, you have to go up. Going up also gives the blower a straight shot at things.

The golden rule of air flow: Don't ask air to make a turn at high speed; slow it down as much as possible, then make the turn. This requires large cross-sectional area, which happens to be exactly what the intercooler needs too.

tomcat

More shots of the complete assembly. Front of the housing does not come as far forward as the blower drive. The oil dipstick tube has to be relocated slightly. Most bolts pass through the plate from the port side into threaded flange pieces in the housing. But two bolts down near the throttle body have to pass through the flange into threaded holes in the plate. Found this out the hard way. Standard Bravo shifter plate location on CMIs does not change. Water fittings holes for intercooler also avoid the shifter. After the air passes through the upper part of the core, it makes a 180 and goes through the lower core, enters the lower plenum which the throttle body draws from. Because this turn is made at slow speed after passing through a perfect diffuser (the upper core), pressure losses are greatly reduced compared to the standard rubber hose elbows.

tomcat

This shot is a little fuzzy but it shows the large filter head and the Fram water separating fuel filter. Fittings are 1/2" NPT. Fountain uses 5/8 hose from the tank to the filter. The only reason there is room for this large filter is we have removed the standard mechanical fuel pump which mounts on top of the raw water pump. This allows us to reroute the water hose to the CMIs and get the large filter head in place on the standard Merc bracket. You can also see the throttle linkage clearing the underside of the housing.

More to come when we get the fuel system and new injectors installed.

tomcat

I picked up the intercooler cores today. You might think this core looks a little unusual, but you should see the stuff this plant builds for the military. The color is due to a mil spec anti-corrosion coating. These pictures show how the core is split into upper and lower with the flat plenum divider, and the turning vane which helps the air flow through the 180 degree turn. The vane forces the the air from the first three passages above the divider into the first three passages under the divider. It also creates a smooth radius for the rest of the air from the other passages. Tomorrow I'll show you how this core fits inside the intercooler housing.

tomcat

The oil filter has to be relocated since it used to be mounted on the front of the CMI header where the supercharger air filter is now. I also needed a bracket to support the intercooler off the front of the cylinder head. By using Mercury's upside down filter head and a Vortech bracket, with a few modifications we were able to kill two birds with one stone. The bottom picture shows the routing of the red intercooler water supply hose.

tomcat

Better pictures of the finished intercooler support bracket.