Aftercooler for Comptech CT Engineering TSX

First off, I want to say thanks to a few people:1) Josh and Jamie @ Excelerate Performance for all the custom fabrication work
2) Derek @ Innovative Motorworks for the great tune
3) Jose @ MercRacing for a great productI started off just wanting to add an aftercooler, but I figured I’d just go all out and see what the K24/M62 combo was capable of, so these are the parts added in Phase 7:- MercRacing aftercooler system
– custom 3″ XLR8 straight-tube CAI
– custom 3″ XLR8 header-back single-exit exhaust
– 08-09 K24 crank pulley
– 625mL nozzle for water/meth injection

The aftercooler system was originally designed for the RSX engine bay, so a number of brackets had to be custom made to mount the heat exchanger and the water pump, hence the additional time to install.

The single-exit exhaust is made up of a combination of parts from Vibrant (high-flow cat, muffler) and Aero Turbine (resonator). The exhaust is considerably louder than my old HyTech cat+Comptech catback setup, but the tone is deep and racey with zero rasp. There was some pretty noticeable drone @ 3k RPMs, so we swapped out to a larger resonator from Aero Turbine which fixed the problem.

Because I was running such a conservative tune before, I was able to dial in more water/methanol to offset the leaning out of my A/F ratios from the aftercooler and the new exhaust system which in turn allowed me to make the 4-hr drive to Innovative Motorworks. Additionally, I also lost about 2psi of boost due to the aftercooler and decreased backpressure from the exhaust system.

To regain the lost boost, I added the 08-09 K24 crank pulley which is larger in diameter than our stock crank pulley by 0.4″. Running the new crank pulley now allows me to spin the M62 to 16k RPMs at my 7600 redline and hit 10psi of boost.

However, 16k RPMs is outside of the M62’s peak efficiency, so in addition to the aftercooler, we added a 625mL nozzle to almost double my water/meth injection flow. The cooling combination of the MercRacing aftercooler and the water/meth injection is spectacular. IATs dropped significantly and the blower stayed cool enough to touch with your bare hands even after 10 successive dyno pulls. By comparison, a non-cooled M62 @ 5psi would be scalding hot after 4-5 dyno pulls.

After Derek did his magic with K-Pro, I was able to hit 350whp/267wtq on his Dynapack dyno. Suffice it to say I’m extremely happy with the results. These numbers are most likely a bit high compared to a Dynojet, so I will be going for some runs on a Dynojet as a basis of comparison. Regardless, I’m sure you guys can guess the car is just absurdly fun to drive. Truly, it boggled my mind on the ride home today. The beauty of the M62 is that 90% of peak torque is available from 3k RPMs to redline. The really is just so much power EVERYWHERE in any gear.

Here are a few pics/vids showing the progression from yesterday to today:

Dyno Plot (thanks Derek)

Last night, a few revs in my garage with the old resonator

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This morning, highway run – 50-100MPH (pre-tuning)

I was short shifting because I didn’t want to push the car before the tune

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Dyno pull with the new resonator (rear)

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Dyno pull (front)

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Highway run at night – 50-110MPH (post-tuning)

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Here are two pics of the on/off switch for the heat exchanger pump in the aftercooler system. I guess Excelerate raided an old military missle silo for the switch…personally, I freaking love it.

Off

On

A pic of my engine bay currently. I plan to powdercoat the new intake to match my valve cover

A pic of the front-mounted heat exchanger for the aftercooler

Power-wise, I think I’m done modding. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be a Phase 8…stay tuned