As part of continuing mods on my 01 VDP S/C I am planning on running a smaller pulley and possibly porting my supercharger. From what I have read on this forum improvements are needed to the intercooler system to deal with the additional heat from running the higher boost. I decided to add a reservoir tank to the intercooler system to add capacity to the system.

Step 1- Making room for the Tank:
I needed to find a place to locate the tank somewhere in the engine bay or behind the bumper. Not much room in the engine bay for a decent size tank and the cooling and windshield washer reservoirs take up the spaces behind the bumper. Defeated, end of project!

No Way ! I wasn’t going to give up that easily. Looking at the front passenger side there was some room in front of the air filter box but the filler tube for the WW fluid comes up right in the middle of the space. If I could remove that filler tube there would be room for a decent size tank and the intercooler hoses and pump are right there.

So I cut off the filler tube and sealed the top of the reservoir. Next I installed a flexible tube to the top front of the reservoir and snaked that up behind the headlights and attached it thru a hole in the radiator shroud and added a rubber cap. Works perfectly and I still have the full reservoir for use with the wipers. I also relocated 3 ground wires to just behind the headlights and ground off the stud to allow the tank to sit all the way down. In the 3rd photo you can see the flexible tube in place and the cavity now ready for the tank.

Step 2 – Fabricating the Tank:
I contacted Donny at Dadscustomintercoolertank.com about a custom aluminum tank and he was terrific to work with. I sent him a drawing with the dimensions and shape that would fit and he built the tank including a tube inside to insure full circulation of the coolant. He helped me with locating and type of fittings and recommended adding he radiator cap in case I ever separate the intercooler cooling circuit from the engine cooling circuit. He work is first class as you can see in the photos – I wish more of it was visible now that it is fully in place. I would highly recommend Donny to anyone considering a tank project.

Step 3 – Installing the Tank:
Oh no – it doesn’t fit! The tank was built exactly as I had dimensioned it, and my dimensions were individually correct but I couldn’t get it to rotate and slide down into position. I should have built a cardboard prototype of the tank and I would have seen that it would not fit unless I made it smaller. My bad. In the end I had to have the tank modified twice (once by Donny and once by a friend) to get it to fit. Even then I still had to do some body modifications to get it in place. A tank 1” shorter and lower would have fit the 1st time, but it is finally in place.

The best part of my tank design is that the entire air cleaner box and snorkel are retained. I did not want to scrap the airbox for a cold air intake because they really pull in hot air from the engine bay and often cause performance and CEL problems. The stock box will serve me fine for the other upgrades that I plan.

Step 4 – Plumbing the Tank:
I hoses from the tank will run under the air cleaner (1 above the frame rail and 1 below) and tap into one of the existing hoses right at the pump.
I will update this once I have finished connecting the tank into the system



_______________________
2001 VDP S/C

 

looks great boss let us know if you notice any difference

 

I can so relate to your issues with the instllation. It looks great, how much coolant does it hold?

 

That's an excellent custom work and it's a good idea to have aluminum tank instead

 

Thank you for the positive feedback guys. The tank should hold about 1.5 gallons of coolant. I won't know until I fill it because the final shape makes it difficult to calculate the volume.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a higher output pump for the intercooler system?
thanks.

_____________________
'01 VDP S/C
-Nameless Performance Catalytic Converters
-rear anti-sway bar with custom bracket
-Custom reservoir tank for intercooler
-XJR grill, grill surround and trunk valance

 

Nice!

 

Is anyone running a high flow pump for the intercooler?

_____________________
'01 VDP S/C
-Nameless Performance 200 Cell Catalytic Converters
-rear anti-sway bar with custom bracket
-Custom reservoir tank for intercooler
-XJR grill, grill surround and trunk valance

 

I would recommend a Bosch 0392 022 002 or a Jabsco 59510-0012 they are high quality pumps and will give much higher flowrate than the standard pump.

I am having a dilemma about fitting a seperate header tank or just getting a larger intercooler radiator,as i will be running a ported S/C with a smaller pulley and a larger crank pulley.

 

My thoughts exactly. For the price of a custom tank I'm sure you could find a decent radiator to adapt.

 

Thank you for the pump recommendations Macbut999.

My custom tank and plumbing cost $175 and I did the install myself so not a big investment. The aftermarket intercoolers out there are much thicker and there is feedback on this forum that they restrict so much airflow that there is little benefit. A larger intercooler won't help with heat soak when you are stopped in traffic.

I am considering a 2nd intercooler in front on the coolant reservior on the driver's side behind the bumper. Looks like there is enough room. I will include a electric fan in front of it and likely will remove the fog light for air flow

 

Would you mind sharing the specifications of the reservoir?
I'm really interested in making one.

 

I think most of the information is in my post. I don't have the exact dimensions anymore.
Is there anything specific that I can help you with?

 

Yes, where did you tap into. What did you connect to the top and what did you connect to the bottom?

 

I tapped into the hose going to the bottom of the pump to complete the loop

 

Sorry for being such a noob and bugging you so much, but what was you method of tapping into that hose? Did you just cut it in half and added fittings? If so, what kind of fittings did you use? And did you ever think about cutting the metal plate where the reservoir sits to make the tank much deeper to increase its capacity or do you think that the pump will get fussy about that?

 

Hi all together!
Since 8 months I'm running the Bosch 0 392 022 010 intercooler pump without any problems. This upgrade for the SC engines has been reported here in the forums several times, since the 010 pump has an even higher flow rate than the 002 Bosch pump and doesn't cost much more.
Easy installation - almost plug'n'play. But you have to adapt the car's wiring to the new pump's connector. Just takes you 15 minutes more and a soldering iron.

 

Not bugging me at all. I disconnected the hose at the bottom of the pump and connected 1 hose directly to the pump and connected the other hose to the existing hose with a coupler from AutoZone and 2 hose clamps. I choose not to cut any of the body structure and would not recommend it. I believe that the metal plate is an engineered crumple zone and best left intact.

You could remove the WW reservoir if you wanted more space for a larger tank but I did not want to lose that functionality. I left it in place and connected a new hose to it to refill it.

 

This is what I did for extra charge cooling in my X350. I considered a custom tank but went this route instead along with an upgraded pump.

I do not know how much extra coolant this additional radiator holds and I do not know whether the X308 would have enough room as compared to the X350.

Just a suggestion/thought.