For general day to day use, whether it be driving to work, or towing. Only company that I know of that offers air to water intercoolers is Ford with the new 6.7L PowerStroke. But if someone did a diesel conversion say a 4BT in a small truck, would running an air to water intercooler far daily driver and occasional towing rig, be efficient enough to do this over a traditional air to air?

Haven't seen much of anyone talking about these except where they are in supercharged or turbocharged sports cars. Not many talk about air to water ones, do to more plumbing is needed. Do air to water intercoolers tend to be more bulky and weigh more over all? What are the major benefits to each over the other?

Basic setup costs for each, nothing performance just say stock.

 

Generally Air to air is better than air to water because generally air is cooler than the engines coolant is. But for the extream weathers such as extreamly cold it would be beneficial to run air to water.

 

Is that because the coolant is a bit warmer than the air? Random thought could one run a small air to air in tandem with a air to water?

 

The KISS principle comes into play, and the more places where a leak CAN occur, probably one WILL occur .

Highway air, or even city-traffic air will be cooler than your engine-coolant, for the most part. Remember, your thermostat is sending hot water to the radiator, not the other way around. If your truck is always in a ridiculously cold environment it might be fun to see if you could reposition the intercooler behind the radiator, and move the radiator forward. Hoses, mounts and other geometric concerns might make an unreliable nightmare out of that idea.

The best low-buck way to get an additional chill on your intake air would be a methanol-water injection system into the horn, or even a fine-mist spray onto the front of the intercooler.

For cold-weather heat preservation, put a blanket in front of the grille.

 

Putting a blanket or piece of cardboard can generally cause overheating problems. Every person I've talked to has said the intercooler should be infront of the radiator. They say its because it'll draw off the heat from the radiator and it won't be very efficient in cooling the exhaust gases.

I'm looking at doing a Cummins swap into a Ford Ranger. The truck would be mostly a daily driver but also a weekend boat tower and ice fish house tower. The boat and trailer combo weighs approx. 1500lbs and the fish house weighs in around 1200lbs. Its actually a lot easier moving these around with the Ranger. I am looking at using an intercooler and just trying to get a good idea of which can be more compact and much less of a hassle while also having the fewest amount of issues.

I like simple and it seems like the air to air will be the best, but seeing how much room some guys have in the ranger with that engine, it doesn't seem like an air to air would fit very well without doing a lot of fabrication.

 

air-to-air, in front of the radiator (its natural habitat) would be the best.... as for a cardboard cold-weather block leading to overheats, that's what boxcutters are for. you had to have seen, on occasion, semis driving down the highway with their grilles partially blocked off with rubberized canvas. that's for heat preservation, as you would surmise. they're adjustable, from full blockage (I never want to go to a place that needs that) to removed entirely (like here in Texas)

 

I have an alaskan tarp for my radiator that buttons up behind the grill and i wont begin to over heat untill temps get above 40* but it gets damn cold here..

 

Now that you mention it, a good number of school buses have those type of blankets with notches. Trouble is, trying to figure what size intercooler would work the best without going too large. I've seen one use an intercooler from a 12 valve for his 4BT swap into a Ram 1500 but would be a little excessive for a 3.9L turbo diesel?

 

No not really once you tune it steet use, that intercooler will be fine in my oppinion.. a 3.9L just 2 cylinders short from a 5.9L they still suck alotta air..

 

The only way an intercooler's "too big" is if it simply won't fit where you want it. You might get some boost lag with one that's a bit overkillish, simply because there's going to be more volume to pressurize, but, a faster spooling blower can overcome that. There's no such thing as "too much intercooling". The more temp drop you can get from the hot end to the cool end the happier you'll be....and then, when the weather really sucks, blanket it up.