Oil charge cooler and intake boxes

[Anon]

Hey all,

Does anyone know if one can buy the separate oil and charge cooler boxes for the Atom without ordering the 3.5R upgrade? I like the astetic look of them but will not be purchasing the 3.5r option at least initially.

Cheers
Simon

[autobackup]

You can buy them (and the frames) from the factory.

- while I was at the factory last month I discovered that you are not the first to consider this as I was told that there is now the odd Atom lurking about that are fitted with side pods purely for decorative purposes, I may be wrong but I think someone told me that there was even a new 245 in build sporting side pods?

[John Scherrer]

It was about £1,500 for empty unpainted side pods a year or so ago ..

[Anon]

Thanks, very useful.

What else is included in the 3.5r upgrade, are the wings included?

Simon

[autobackup]

No the wings are not included as they have nothing whatsoever to do with the car being a 3.5R - although I rather suspect that most 3.5R owners probably have them fitted?

Incidentally it is not an 'Oil' charge cooler - it is a 'water cooled' fuel/air mix charge cooler!

In the RIGHT pod is a quite a large remote oil cooler plus all the required pipework to connect it into the engine oil system.

In the LEFT pod is an inclined radiator (water), variable output electric fan and waterpump plus yet more pipework!

The charge cooler itself is mounted between the Supercharger outlet and the fuel inlet manifold and is connected to the pod mounted charge cooling system by a series of pipes and is cooled by the water pumped by the extra electric water pump & radiator in the left pod

In the 3.5R the supercharger outlet pressure is increased from 7.5 to 11 psi by changing the size of the drive pulley - however compressing the fuel/air charge to 11psi raises the inlet fuel/air charge temperature to circa 200 deg C - which is far to high to be useful - however the charge cooler then cools the fuel/air mixture inlet temperature to a more reasonable +/- 80 deg C!

- as part of the upgrade process the ECU is also remapped.

- the main car cooling system also has to be somewhat modified to connect in the charge cooling system!

- because I use my Atom 3.5R in Cyprus I also replaced the standard radiator with the larger and more efficient Atom V8 radiator which also has a much larger electric cooling fan than standard!

This takes the power of a standard 3.5R up to circa 350 bhp (my 3.5R actually achieved 364.2 bhp on a rolling road test) this slightly higher power output is probably because I also had my entire exhaust system Zircotec (Ceramic) coated inside & out - this process gives my 3.5R about 3%-5% more power (see specs on the Zircotec website) as it controls/channels exhaust heat dissipation much more effectively.

[cvjoint]

No the wings are not included as they have nothing whatsoever to do with the car being a 3.5R - although I rather suspect that most 3.5R owners probably have them fitted?

Incidentally it is not an 'Oil' charge cooler - it is a 'water cooled' fuel/air mix charge cooler!

In the RIGHT pod is a quite a large remote oil cooler plus all the required pipework to connect it into the engine oil system.

In the LEFT pod is an inclined radiator (water), variable output electric fan and waterpump plus yet more pipework!

The charge cooler itself is mounted between the Supercharger outlet and the fuel inlet manifold and is connected to the pod mounted charge cooling system by a series of pipes and is cooled by the water pumped by the extra electric water pump & radiator in the left pod

In the 3.5R the supercharger outlet pressure is increased from 7.5 to 11 psi by changing the size of the drive pulley - however compressing the fuel/air charge to 11psi raises the inlet fuel/air charge temperature to circa 200 deg C - which is far to high to be useful - however the charge cooler then cools the fuel/air mixture inlet temperature to a more reasonable +/- 80 deg C!

- as part of the upgrade process the ECU is also remapped.

- the main car cooling system also has to be somewhat modified to connect in the charge cooling system!

- because I use my Atom 3.5R in Cyprus I also replaced the standard radiator with the larger and more efficient Atom V8 radiator which also has a much larger electric cooling fan than standard!

This takes the power of a standard 3.5R up to circa 350 bhp (my 3.5R actually achieved 364.2 bhp on a rolling road test) this slightly higher power output is probably because I also had my entire exhaust system Zircotec (Ceramic) coated inside & out - this process gives my 3.5R about 3%-5% more power (see specs on the Zircotec website) as it controls/channels exhaust heat dissipation much more effectively.

I'm have some trouble understanding what is in the left pod with the water radiator. Is the water radiator in the pod cooling the engine or the intake charge? Another way to ask this, is it a second engine radiator or a water to air heat exchanger for the supercharger?

Is the electric pump in the left pod an auxiliary pump for the engine or is it the intercooler circuit pump?

As for the right pod, is there no fan on this one? What about a sandwich plate to prevent the oil from being excessively cooled?

[Sir Nick]

The charge cooler and it's radiator is a self contained item seperate from engine coolant.

There is no fan in the oil cooler rad.

[cvjoint]

The charge cooler and it's radiator is a self contained item seperate from engine coolant.

There is no fan in the oil cooler rad.

Much appreciated! It sounds like they sandwiched two heat exchangers together in that pod. Most likely skinny 1" thick cores and the oil cooler one is probably thicker since it's not sandwiched. I wonder if I could run just one for engine coolant. Maybe the V8 had one thicker core for the water since it didn't need an intercooler.

No fan is great. Even the best ones can't compare with airflow over 50 mph.

[autobackup]

I would echo Sir Nick's post in that the Charge Cooler radiator, fan and water pump in the left pod of a 3.5R is entirely separate from the engine cooling and ONLY cool the fuel/air charge - hence the name!!

The oil cooler in the right pod seems to maintain the correct temperature without any need for a fan.

The biggest problem with the pods is the road 'hoover' effect - my 3.5R pods collect an amazing amount of debris!!

FYI - although it is considerably bulkier the V8 radiator can be retro-fitted to any 3.xx and, according to Steve Rooke, does a MUCH better job than fitting the Hot weather radiator option - it certainly works very effectively in Cyprus!

[cvjoint]

I would echo Sir Nick's post in that the Charge Cooler radiator, fan and water pump in the left pod of a 3.5R is entirely separate from the engine cooling and ONLY cool the fuel/air charge - hence the name!!

The oil cooler in the right pod seems to maintain the correct temperature without any need for a fan.

The biggest problem with the pods is the road 'hoover' effect - my 3.5R pods collect an amazing amount of debris!!

FYI - although it is considerably bulkier the V8 radiator can be retro-fitted to any 3.xx and, according to Steve Rooke, does a MUCH better job than fitting the Hot weather radiator option - it certainly works very effectively in Cyprus!

Racecar sidepods almost always collect the debris so I'm not surprised. Last time I looked at a Radical SR3 sidepod it had seemingly a KG of tire shrapnel in there. I imagine that Ariel supplies a mesh grille with the pods to prevent rock damage. All other dirt is fine by me.

You refer here to the front mounted V8 radiator? I have the SRA/Cup Car radiator which I think is the same thing. I'm thinking the V8 engine water sidepod heat exchanger is thicker than the 3.5R's because it's not sandwiched with your charge air heat exchanger.

[autobackup]

Yes I did mean the front mounted engine cooling radiator - The V8 radiator option also comes with a larger and more powerful electric fan