Cooling Gasoline??

ok..my experience w/ the air fuel mixture is the cooler..the better, and im installing an intercooler on my turbo to help w/ cooling the air, but..what about the gas? ive heard that drag racers but dry ice around their fuel pump to cool the gas and pump, i mean..an electric pump has to get pretty hot, so what i was thinking is buying a small cheap oil cooler and getting some rubber hose to come out of my pump and into the 'cooler, mounted under the engine grille, next to my intercooler, and an outlet line into my pressure regulator, the car has dual webers by the way, and also mount an electric fan behind both 'coolers to pull air throuhg them for extra cooling, any ideas on this??, am i totally wrong or has no one ever thought of this before becuz ive never heard of anyone cooling the gas before...??

[JP Noonan]

The only "cool cans" you talk about that I've seen were used by drag racers in the sub 11 second range to get a 10th of a second or two. As far as I know they don't give very high yeilds.

I have seen a lot of late model mustangs and Grand Nationals use ice on the intake before a run to get a denser air mix, they swear it works.

The 914 pump uses gas to cool it, if you take one apart (don't try it unless it is not usable as a core) you'll see the gas actually goes through the windings and brushes of the pump to cool it (75-76 pumps anyway). Newer cars have the pump INSIDE the tank for this reason. The pumps do warm up, but there is such a volume of gas going through it I doubt very much the gas gets hot enough to really hurt anything. Don't forget the pressure reg and return line... Most (some at least) of the gas pumped to the motor is released back to the tank. If you are using a Facet style pump I "think" they use a diaphrame type pump so maybe they heat up more. The big thing is to put the pump out of the engine compartment and into a stream of cool air.

Back to the point, yes a "cool can" will help, a little. However an air to fuel cooler probably won't make a difference, I don't think the fuel gets that warm. Just keep enough fuel in the tank so the pump gets cool fuel.

JP...thats my point exactly, the heat from the pump is cooled by the gas, but..that heats the gas...so..whats there to cool it?, espicially when you have carbs and no return line..? the hot gas goes directly into the cylinder.

[JP Noonan]

O.K.

We are in agreement about the following: Cooler air and fuel mix is better. Dry ice cool cans lower the fuels temp therefore it boosts HP.

What I don't agree with is if it is worth your time. Cooling air makes it much more dense (gases can be compressed) but cooling fuel isn't as effective. I've seen articles on the difference between intercooled and non-intercooled superchargers. The temp (don't remember specific numbers) dropped from somewhere in the 250 range to 175 or so. This effected the horsepower as much as changing a pulley. Vortech has a new water to air cooler, it lowers the air temp even more. I would worry more about phenolic spacers to keep the carb body cool, a larger intercooler, a clean and effecient stock cooling system (all those little gaskets and seals in place), and possibly an oil cooler.

So, to each his own, eh? I'm no expert, you may get a perceivable increase in HP, but I doubt it. If you do put in a cooler I would be careful not to put it where it actually absorbs heat into the gas. At the same time put it where the cooled gas dosen't have to travel very far to the carb.

I dunno, it sounds like a "cool" idea. Maybe use a temp probe from a multi tester and see just how hot the gas gets, then put the cooler on and see if it helps.