How To Install A Co2 Spray Bar On Your Intercooler
The first step is to figure out where you want to mount the Co2 bottle. This customer wanted it on the left-hand side of the trunk.
Adding a nitrous spray bar to an intercooler is a proven way to lower the intake air temps and consequently give a more dense charge to the combustion chamber for more horsepower. We’ve been seeing more and more intercooler spray bars popping up on both performance and show-n-go cars.
But here’s the deal: you can achieve nearly the same performance and aesthetic improvements using Co2 instead of nitrous and you will save yourself a decent amount of pocket money every time you refill the bottle. Carbon dioxide (Co2) works excellent as a chill factor and Design Engineering Inc. (DEI) in Avon, Ohio, has developed a kit to take advantage of this fact. The CryO2 Intercooler Sprayer, when combined with DEI’s CryO2 tank and installation kit, gives you everything needed to operate all CryO2 components. We’re talking a 5-pound Co2 tank, solenoid valve, fittings, wide-open switch, wiring kit and 14 feet of stainless steel hose.
The carpet is pulled back and the bracket is positioned so that the trunk floor can be marked with a Sharpie.
Always check underneath the car to make sure you’re not drilling through the gas tank, wiring, brake hoses or other important parts.
Justin Butler drills a small pilot hole first, checks under the car and then follows up with a bigger drill.
The tank is slipped into position to see if the bracket is in the perfect spot. The second bracket was then moved into place and the mounting holes drilled.
We heard that T&R Performance Solutions in Simi Valley, California, was scheduled to install a DEI kit on an ’02 Subaru WRX, so we invited ourselves over with camera and notepad in hand. Owners Tim and Ron Porco have a nice shop that caters to both the compact and 4×4 crowds (talk about diversity) and they bring a wealth of knowledge to the table. This shop is a no-BS zone with the Porcos counseling car owners on appropriate mods, without the baggage of pushing certain products just because they are getting dusty on the shelves.
Let’s get right to it and follow along as Tim and his able assistant, Justin Butler, install a DEI CryO2 kit on this Subaru.
A hole saw is used to drill into the floor for the Co2 stainless steel line to pass through.
The hole is filed to get rid of any burrs or lips that could snap the line.
Here’s a look at the bolts sticking through the bottom of the trunk floor.
This is a step that takes two people to accomplish. Butler puts a wrench on the bolts from inside the trunk while Tim Porco gets a socket on the nuts from underneath.
Liquid Teflon sealant is applied to the tank adapter.
Butler swears by liquid Teflon sealant because it won’t break off like regular tape and clog the system.
The tank adapter is tightened down firmly in a vise.
Porco attaches the tank adapter to the tank.
The stainless steel line is threaded into the tank adapter.
The bottle mounts are secured.
Here’s the bottle fully mounted with the line running out the bottom of the trunk. You’re done in here now. The heat shield needs to be replaced underneath the trunk.
The line is going to need to be run up to the engine compartment. Make sure it doesn’t kink or rub against anything that will abrade it.
Porco wanted to keep the line up close to the floor of the car, so he decided to drill a hole in this brace to run the line through and not run under it.
The hole is filed smooth so that it won’t cut the line.
The line is snaked through the hole in the brace.
Rubber hose is cut in preparation for using it as a line protector.
The hose is split and then run over the stainless steel line.
The line is pulled into position and the rubber hose is aligned with the holes in the brace.
Plastic zip ties on both ends of the rubber hose will keep it in place.
Rubber-coated holders are slipped over the stainless steel line along the length of the car.
The holders are attached onto the bottom of the car with self-tapping screws.
The line is worked up through the engine compartment from underneath. Care must be taken to avoid the exhaust, battery terminals and other potentially problematic areas.
The spray bar can’t be installed on the intercooler while it’s still in the car, so the intercooler must be removed.
Access to the intercooler is pretty uncomplicated.
A couple of rubber hoses have to be pulled loose.
The bypass valve must be removed.
Butler pulls the intercooler from the car and heads to the workbench.
The liquid Teflon sealant is brought back out for application on the spray bar.
The solenoid is threaded onto the spray bar.
A fitting is threaded onto the solenoid to allow the Co2 line to hook up.
Porco searches for the right spot on the intercooler to mount the spray bar.
The kit includes connectors that are like metal zip ties to attach the spray bar to the intercooler. Here, Porco threads one through the intercooler from the back side.
The metal zip tie is tightened and then clipped off with side cutters.
A total of four zip ties are used to hold the spray bar in place.
With the spray bar in place, the intercooler is returned to the engine compartment.
A big pry bar is used to gently persuade the intercooler back into position.
After all the bolts are tightened back up, don’t forget to reattach the hoses.
Butler positions the bypass valve for reattachment.
The stainless steel Co2 line is attached to the solenoid on the spray bar.
Porco uses zip ties to route the hose as compactly as possible.
The hose is run along a rubber hose in the engine compartment and securely held with multiple zip ties.
The full-throttle activation switch has to be mounted, but there’s no help from the universal instructions.
A universal mounting bracket is included and Porco made a couple of modifications to it.
This looks like it will work. Now it needs something to attach to.
A piece of steel was cut out to serve as the bracket.
A notch was added for clearance. All that’s left for this bracket is to drill some holes and mount it.
He checks to make sure that the full-throttle activation switch will get tripped if it’s mounted here.
He figures out how far over a mounting bracket needs to go.
Here’s the finished deal. The full-throttle activation switch is mounted in an accessible location and looks good.
A power wire is run to the full-throttle activation switch.
Moving to the inside of the car, Porco removes the plastic cover on the dash in order to mount the arming switch and purge button.
The bracing on the back of the cover has to be removed.
First, a pilot hole was drilled through the cover. Then a bigger hole that’s the size of the switch is drilled.
The activation switch is screwed onto the plastic cover.
Moving on to the purge button, Porco holds the collar up to the dash to determine where it will be mounted.
After marking the dash, he drills a pilot hole and then a larger hole to mount the purge button.
It’s time to start running the wiring.
After crimping the supplied terminal ends onto the wiring, he runs the wires through the dash and then connects them to the back of the switch.
The wires are connected to the back of the purge button.
The collar is threaded onto the purge button and then the switch is mounted by popping the plastic cover back into place.
A piece of welding rod was fished through a firewall grommet and the wiring was taped to the wire. The wire was then pulled back through the grommet to get the wiring into the engine compartment.
The ground wire was run under an existing bolt head.
Plastic wire loom is used to clean up the engine compartment.
A voltmeter is used to find power.
The final step is to install the fuse. (Actually, the real final step is to get the bottle filled with Co2 and go for a ride.)
Flip that switch up and the system is activated. When you put the pedal to the floor the Co2 will flow into the intercooler and boost power output. The purge button can help pre-cool the incoming air before an important run.
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