yep as you point out reservoir is up top left of the photo (drivers side), it's probably a little too small, but the only way i can get a bigger reservoir is custom or remote mount maybe but i'm not keen on that.
the intercooler has two laminova cores in it, they run the length of the cooler.. flow characteristics wise, i don't agree with the way it has been setup because as per the picture below, the air is to cross across the fins
so what actually happens is that the air diverts around a plate to the outside of the cooler, across the fins and then out the centre of the other end, but adam assures me that there wouldn't be a whole lot of pressure loss based on the pics i've sent him (below). i guess also it's a road car.. soo.. you know. doesn't matter that much.
i'm running two heat exchangers in series, the pissy litttle 4-row one that it was originally sold with, plus another 8-row that the guy in the usa sold me as well as per the pics below
there are other things i need to improve a well, mostly with heat shielding. for example after the motor is rebuilt i'm going to install some heat shielding under the cooler to block heat from the motor, i have a larger bonnet scoop to install and i'm looking into options to shield heat from the supercharger as well.
there are a lot of opinions on the net about heat exchanger and reservoir sizing. mostly they run along the lines of for drag racing you want a massive reservoir with little to no heat exchanger, on the street you want a big heat exchanger without paying much attention to the reservoir.. my opinion, living in brisbane in summer you want as much water as you can fit. i'll be the first to admit i don't think i have enough because my reservoir is only as big as a can of softdrink. if you can fit 1 or 2 litres of reservoir, do it and get the biggest heat exchanger you can fit. after running pretty hard my water always runs at around 40 degrees. i run my pump runs full speed all the time.
my comments on the whole shebang would be:
- seat of the pants the car felt more responsive with the w2a installed
- obd reading showed cooler running IATs
- as everyone rightly points out, recovery is quick but heat soak is worse.. try shield your water loop from heat. maximise your water if you can.
- it's a bitch to install
- more water to check is annoying
i'm one of only 2 people in australia with the laminova kit in my mini though and it's not sold anymore so..