Re: Power Question
Yeah CO2 would be somewhat of a show-stopper!
You're talking about a "Charge Air Cooler" So you could actually use a "box" with dry ice, but it would have to be like an Intercooler. It would have to have isolation between cooling medium (dry ice) and the intake air. Just like an air-to-air or water-to-air intercooler! Of course, you'd have to keep replenishing the dry ice and you would have to keep the "exhaust" CO2 away from the air intake, but it work great......just wouldn't be practical....
By the way charge air coolers are almost always used with turbo and super-charged engines to lower the air temp increase that is caused by pressurizing the air with the turbo/supercharger. They're usually not used on normally aspirated engines. If you plumb an intake tube so that you get your combustion air from the "outside" instead of the hot engine compartment, there is a increased risk of direct water ingestion .....that's a bit of a "show stopper" too.....usually permanent!
If you take a look at the actual Mercury installation specifications it talks about having enough airflow into the engine compartment to operate the engine. If memory serves it's on the order of a few hundred to several hundred CFM. If one was to put a temp gage into the engine compartment you might find, shortly after shut down, the temp might be high. If you start and run at high RPM, the air temp drops considerably after a very short time. The temp would again climb quickly after engine shut down. It's probably not as much of a problem as one might think. The cool fuel system etc is mainly to prevent vapor lock in a heat soaked engine & compartment. Having an exhaust blower running continuously can help too.
Around 180 degrees F comes to mind when figuring how hot is too hot in the engine compartment......
If you were to install and use an alternate or external "combustion air source" you would absolutely need to have exhaust blowers running continuously since that would be the only source of fresh ambient air thru the engine compartment.
The following link (this is ok now right?) outlines airflow requirements for most Merc installations. Scroll down to "ENGINE COMPARTMENT VENTILATION" on page 11
http://www.boatfix.com/merc/Install/gas/86017200.pdf
Cheers,
