IC sprayer?

[SUBhuman]

I live in Alabama, and our summers stay at 90+ (with occasional 100+) for several months with extremely high humidity. At this time, I'd really rather not install a front-mount intercooler, particularly after reading about the benefits of each setup. However, I can pretty much guarantee that heat soak will become an issue in a few months. Do you guys think it would be worthwhile to make an IC sprayer? I found a good write-up about a DIY project on a Forester forum, and it really doesn't seem difficult.

Do any of you live in the south, or another place where heat soak is a daily issue in the summer? Has anyone done this? I'd love your opinions on the matter.

[Mikie13]

Its probably not that big of a deal. I have had my current STI going on 3 years now...and haven't pressed the I/C sprayer once. And yes, it gets quite hot up here in the Philly area as well.

Only time I ever used it is when I was hot lapping at the drag strip in my first STI years back. I'd actually put ice water and a rubbing alcohol mixture into the sprayer tank and would continually hit the sprayer while staging. Outside of a situation like that, its probably not worth the money IMO.

[SUBhuman]

I see... maybe I'll wait and see what happens first.

I found a link to the guide I was talking about... fairly clever, but I think it could be easily improved upon with some good nozzles.
Quality DIY intercooler sprayer for under $50. - DirtyImpreza Forums

What worries me more than just the heat is that we routinely (read: every day) have humidity in the 90%+ range at 90+ degrees. I may very well be wrong here, and please correct me if so, but it seems to me that heat soak would be more of an issue with higher humidity.

You're probably right though, for now I'd likely be better off getting a turbo heatshield (none currently) and foglights (or covers) and the plastic bits that go underneath to better control incoming air.

What does heat soak "feel" like anyway? A rapid degradation of power while sitting in traffic?

[MainFrame]

I never had a problem with heat soak in TX where we regularly have two months or more with straight 100°F+ temps. My car ran fine on stock TMIC at 110°F+.. yeah, the car makes noticeably less power in the summer, but that's to be expected.