Afco GT 500 "Pro Series" Heat Exchanger

Afco GT 500 "Pro Series" Dual Pass Heat Exchanger

So I've read through all the threads I could find on the Afco GT 500 Pro Series Heat Exchanger w/dual fans. I know several of you have used this heat exchanger on 4.6L 3V 5 or 6-speed vehicles.

Is anyone using this heat exchanger on an S197 GT that has an automatic (5R55S) with the OEM power steering cooler? Any interference issues?

I am considering upgrading from the smaller Afco double pass heat exchanger to the larger Pro Series. By my calculations the frontal area of the Pro Series is about 77.7" sq.in. or 22% larger than the smaller Afco GT 500 heat exchanger. Due to the Pro Series being physically larger the fans are also larger

I don't see how it could interfere cause the trans cooler is between the radiator and the a/c condenser.

one eyed willy said:

I don't see how it could interfere cause the trans cooler is between the radiator and the a/c condenser.

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Thank you for catching that. Probably a good reason why no one has responded.

I have edited my original post to reflect the P/S cooler - not the transmission cooler

Is the P/S cooler different on an automatic than it is on a manual transmission vehicle?

My P/S cooler is almost touching the Afco H/E I have now - not sure how there would be any more room for fans. Or is the Pro Series H/E not as thick as the smaller Afco H/E?

After reading this post by Lethal Performance, it would appear the Pro Series heat exchanger is only 2" thick.

The 80280NDP is 3" thick. This 1" difference may be enough room for the fans.

Notice the PS cooler to heat exchanger clearance issue I was referring to

Is it possible to bend or manipulate that PS line and just add your own fans to the 3" core? Seems like going to a 2" over a 3" wouldn't be as good as staying with the 3". My inter cooler is huge and I don't remember even being close to the PS line....maybe you can remount it?

I split open some 3/8" fuel line and made sleeves for the lines where they were almost touching the back of the fan motors. Only been a couple months but so far no issues. I'm not sure which Afco heat exchanger I have, wasn't aware they had more than one with dual fans for our cars.

one eyed willy said:

Is it possible to bend or manipulate that PS line and just add your own fans to the 3" core? Seems like going to a 2" over a 3" wouldn't be as good as staying with the 3". My inter cooler is huge and I don't remember even being close to the PS line....maybe you can remount it?

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I already have (2) 5.2" Spal fans mounted to the front of the existing Afco H/E.

It is my opinion that the thicker 3" core allows incoming air to absorb too much heat as it's passing through the H/E core. By the tine the air is in the middle of the core it is already heat soaked and can not absorb any more heat. I believe the Pro Series H/E, because it is thinner, would transfer heat more efficiently due to the larger frontal surface area and larger cooling fans (more CFM).

skwerl said:

I'm not sure which Afco heat exchanger I have, wasn't aware they had more than one with dual fans for our cars.

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Afco only makes the Pro Series H/E with fans

so after much deliberation, today I ordered the Afco GT 500 Pro-Series Dual Pass Heat Exchanger. I will be removing the smaller Afco dual pass heat exchanger and comparing the physical size of each, qty of coolant each heat exchanger holds and before & after test results to see if the Pro-Series heat exchanger is really any more efficient.

Should be here Friday and will plan on a Sunday install. I'll post pictures along the way.

Are you having IAT issue's with your current setup? I'm still having very high IAT's during a track pass. I just picked up a ST motorsports trunk tank from MLC40 on here. I hope that with the large tank and running the water through the intercooler first it will help me. I'll be watching this thread to see your results.

I guess that's all a point of view. Temps still get high enough to start to pull timing. So in my opinion yes they're still too hot

Problem is the Saleen S/C's poor efficiency above 12 psi and the limited size of the I/C core

tmcolegr said:

I guess that's all a point of view. Temps still get high enough to start to pull timing. So in my opinion yes they're still too hot

Problem is the Saleen S/C's poor efficiency above 12 psi and the limited size of the I/C core

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Yeah I'm pushing this Saleen hard with the 2.8" pulley and 10% lower. I'm starting to think I should back it down or step up to a Kenne Bell 2.8.

TungstenGT06 said:

Yeah I'm pushing this Saleen hard with the 2.8" pulley and 10% lower. I'm starting to think I should back it down or step up to a Kenne Bell 2.8.

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I'm using a 2.75" S/C pulley with std. diameter crankshaft pulley. With the rev limiter set at 6,800 RPM the blower is spinning 16,073 RPM.

Due to the Saleen S/C's inefficiency, the 10% OD pulley only gains you about 1-2 psi when using anything smaller than a 3.0" S/C pulley. The higher boost is negated by the higher air inlet temps. IMO a std. diameter crankshaft pulley is probably more efficient than using a OD pulley. I see no reason to spin all the other accessories faster and increase parasitic HP loss. Not to mention the S/C bearings have exceeded their max. designed RPM of 16,000 RPM.

The Saleen S/C was never intended/designed to run efficiently at the those higher boost levels. Time to upgrade to a more efficient S/C.

If one is considering going to the expense of upgrading the S/C, we really have to question the whole 4.6L 3V platform when compared to the 5.0L 4V.

Has anyone else ported their Saleen blower like I have?

Peter - can't see the picture

tmcolegr said:

Peter - can't see the picture

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They should be there now.
It's hard adding photobucket pictures from an iPhone.

TungstenGT06 said:

I'm still having very high IAT's during a track pass. I just picked up a ST motorsports trunk tank from MLC40 on here. I hope that with the large tank and running the water through the intercooler first it will help me. I'll be watching this thread to see your results.

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Yup, that is the way to do it. I have a trunk mount tank and really helps, of course until it is all heat soaked. I think mine is 7 gallons with ice chest. It takes a lot of traffic stops and high ambient temps to heat soak. It still never gets too hot to put your hand in tho.. I also only use distilled water and water wetter. Currently using a 35gpm pump. Just be cautious when you are running your lines to prevent creating a tight radius or restricting flow with any kinks. I also chose to run fairly thin wall aluminum tubing under the car which also helps dissapate the heat some. I use -12AN fittings and 1" line. It is a bastard to run but it can be done with plenty of planning and trial and error. My temps are way down. Last track pass was 122 thru the traps. Ambient temp 98*, 38% RH and field elevation of close to 1500' above sea level. After the pass back to the pit it only got to 131*. Gotta love datalogging!

tmcolegr said:

I guess that's all a point of view. Temps still get high enough to start to pull timing. So in my opinion yes they're still too hot

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What are your IAT's and under what conditions? The lines will move enough to get the fans in but it is tight and takes some finess.

crownaviation said:

What are your IAT's and under what conditions? The lines will move enough to get the fans in but it is tight and takes some finess.

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Highest I have seen is 160*

My tune starts to pull timing at 140*. Obviously I would like to see temps stay at 140* or less.

thump_rrr said:

They should be there now.
It's hard adding photobucket pictures from an iPhone.

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I remember when you did that...

I'm not aware of anyone else that has ported that part of the housing but that is clearly where the bottleneck is in the Saleen S/C.

crownaviation said:

Yup, that is the way to do it. I have a trunk mount tank and really helps, of course until it is all heat soaked. I think mine is 7 gallons with ice chest. It takes a lot of traffic stops and high ambient temps to heat soak. It still never gets too hot to put your hand in tho.. I also only use distilled water and water wetter. Currently using a 35gpm pump. Just be cautious when you are running your lines to prevent creating a tight radius or restricting flow with any kinks. I also chose to run fairly thin wall aluminum tubing under the car which also helps dissapate the heat some. I use -12AN fittings and 1" line. It is a bastard to run but it can be done with plenty of planning and trial and error. My temps are way down. Last track pass was 122 thru the traps. Ambient temp 98*, 38% RH and field elevation of close to 1500' above sea level. After the pass back to the pit it only got to 131*. Gotta love datalogging!

That is good to know. I'm not worried about it getting warm during street driving. I don't drive it on the street too often anymore. I really need it for the track.


What are your IAT's and under what conditions? The lines will move enough to get the fans in but it is tight and takes some finess.

Click to expand...

My IAT's back in May were between 185 and 195 during my passes. I was able to bleed the Mezerie pump more and got it to flow better. I have not been back to the track yet. It was about 70 degree's that day.

Today I removed the front bumper cover to swap heat exchangers. Here's a picture of the Afco 80280NDP Dual Pass Heat Exchanger prior to removal. Notice I previously installed dual 5.2" Spal fans.

Here's a comparison of the 80280NDP Dual Pass Heat Exchanger to the 80280PRO Pro-Series Dual Pass Heat Exchanger



Here's some dimensions of the tanks and core not including the mounting brackets, inlet/outlet tubes or fans



80280NDP

• Core - 23.000" wide x 8.750" tall x 2.250" thick = 201.250 sq. in. frontal area or 452.800 cubic inches
• Tanks - 1.625" wide x 9.000" tall x 3.000" thick = 43.875 cubic in. ea. or 87.750 cubic in. total (both tanks) and hold a total of 48.6 oz. of coolant
• Overall - 26.250" wide x 9.000" tall x 3.000" thick

80280PRO

• Core - 23.375" wide x 11.000" tall x 1.375" thick = 257.125 sq. in. frontal area or 353.600 cubic inches
• Tanks - 1.375" wide x 11.375" tall x 2.375" thick = 37.100 cubic in. ea. or 74.300 cubic in. total (both tanks) and hold a total of 41.2 oz. of coolant
• Overall - 26.125" wide x 11.375" tall x 2.375" thick

Summary

• The 80280NDP has a 99.2 cubic in. (21.9%) larger core
• The 80280NDP has 13.45 cubic in. (15.3%) larger tanks - holds 7.4 more oz. of coolant
• The 80280PRO has 55.875 sq. in. (27.8%) more frontal surface area than the 80280NDP

Some additional things to keep in mind:

• Both heat exchangers have a large portion of the core blocked by the front bumper support. The 80280PRO should have an advantage in that regard, as that same portion of the heat exchanger now has air flowing through it due to the dual Spal fans
• The 80280NDP has 21.9% more total core area. However, because that core is .875" thicker, the air flowing through that core may be heat saturated and not able to absorb any more heat.
• The 80280PRO has a 27.8% greater frontal surface area that the 80280NDP. This should result in greater heat dissipation.

Here's a couple pictures of the installation

You'll notice in this next picture the combined thickness of the Be Cool Radiator and Afco Pro-Series Dual Pass Heat Exchanger. The reason I have less room in front of the radiator is because Be Cool moves the A/C condenser, transmission cooler, and P/S cooler forward approx. 1.0". This makes for a very tight fit between the heat exchanger and P/S Cooler & A/C condenser

In this next picture you can see the bottom of the Meziere WP136S 20 GPM I/C pump which fills the heat exchanger from the bottom

I haven't been able to test IATs yet as I still have to fill the system with coolant and wire the fans.

I will be using the dual relays, fuses & harness supplied by Afco in conjunction with a coolant temperature switch in my I/C reservoir. The fans will not be wired to run all the time. When coolant temperature reaches 113* the fans come on and stay on until the coolant temperature drops to 100*.

Here's a link to Spal's website which has all the specs on the dual VA11-AP7/C-57A fans included with the 80280PRO.

I also want to check the decibels of the fans when there running. I'll post the results.

stay tuned for next weekends results