Home / PNR Trunk Mounted Ice Tanks
PNR Trunk Mounted Ice Tanks

PNR Ice Tanks: Tech Tips & FAQs

We don’t know about where you live, but here in South Florida it is dreadfully HOT for pretty much 85% of the year. That heat is rough on a supercharged car, bringing the temps WAY up even just on a single pass.


To help offset that heat, we installed one of PNR Welding’s trunk mounted ice tanks on our 2018 Mustang GT and lowered the temps by over 40°F. Now, we want to show you the how’s & why’s of these awesome ice tank kits (oh, and give some real-time results).

 

Check out Jared’s video here for the basic rundown:

 

What is this tank and why do I need one?

The PNR Welding tank mounts in the spare tire well of your trunk and sits flush under the carpet. Each kit comes with a pump and hose setup. You can fill the tank with ice for the coolest of cool water, which stays cooler at the back of the car than it would mounted up in the engine bay. The included pump will pump it back up to the supercharger & intercooler, giving you an extreme drop in ACT temps and therefore won’t let heat soak rob you of any horsepower.

 

 

What do the tank kits come with?

 

The kits (found here) come in 4 stages, all starting at $560.00. Each stage will include the tank, 50’ of insulated hose, drain setup, clamps, fittings and hardware as well as a pump (the type of pump depends on which stage you purchase). PNR even provides rubber grommets used for passing the hose through the spare tire well for the feed, return and drain.

 

Stage 1

  • 5 gallon tank w/ lid
  • 1100gph internal rule pump
  • This is the more budget friendly kit out of the bunch

 

Stage 2

  • 7 gallon tank w/ lid
  • 2000ghp internal rule pump
  • This is one of the most popular kits
  • Due to the height of the pump, this kit may not be flush under carpet

 

Stage 3

  • 7 gallon tank w/ lid
  • Davies Craig 150 external pump

 

Stage 4

  • 7 gallon tank w/lid
  • Stewart EMP 4600rpm (this is the top flowing pump available from PNR, flowing roughly 2x more than the DC 150 pump in the Stage 3 kits)
  • Comes with correct fitting size to feed the pump and still use your factory intercooler and heat exchanger

 

 

Pump Breakdown:

 

Rule 1100gph and 2000gph Pumps

These are the most popular pumps. It is a simple internal bilge pump and will be installed inside of the tank.  It is the more affordable option and will be able to push ice/water to the front of the vehicle, but at a slower rate compared to the larger external pumps. They are not recommended for a daily driver vehicle. Because these are built as boat pumps and not for automotive use, they carry no warranty.

 

Davies Craig EWP 150 Pump

This is an external pump that is great as a less costly alternative to the Stewart EMP pump, but more powerful than the rule pump.

 

Stewart EMP 4600rpm Pump

This external pump is the best of the best, programmed to 4600rpm. It is the most efficient pump on the market and carries a good manufacturer warranty. It is the most expensive and requires a special bracket for installation, but it is definitely worth the splurge.

 

All of the half moon tank kit here will come standard with the extra large black cap, with the option to switch to a black/clear cap or a black/red ring cap.

 

NOTE: The black and clear caps have been known to crack at the clear center due to excess heat in trunk. PNR recommends the full black cap OR the black and red ring cap. The black/red ring cap is the best out there for sealing. It has ten mounting bolts instead of 6 like the standard one, and has outside threads. However, the black and red cap will not fit flush under carpet and sits 1” taller. 

 

 

What does Lethal Performance run on their car and did it work?

 

We installed a black powder coated Stage 4 trunk kit on our 2018 Mustang GT, aka Project Goldmember, complete with the EMP 4600 external pump.

 

YES, she worked great!

 

We pulled the logs from our previous outing at the track when we ran a 9.04 @ 152mph. The temperature that day at the track was 82°F and our ACT temps hit a high of 135°F at the height of our run. That’s HOT.  Here’s the log:

 

 

After installing the tank, we ran a pass with just water and no ice, to see if just running a trunk mounted tank made a difference. The temperature outside was MUCH hotter on this day at 95°F. On that pass, we saw a high of just 108°F at the height of the pass. Here’s the log:

 

 

For our next runs, we added 20lbs of ice to the tank. We definitely think this helped us get our 8.97 @ 151mph run in the 95° heat. On this log, we saw a max of 99° however that was only at the very beginning during the burnout! During the run, the temps actually DROPPED to 90°F and then slowly climbed back up, only to 97°. We were impressed and can’t wait to see how the tank performance in cooler weather. Here’s the log:

 

 

 

OK you’ve sold me, how do I order one?

 

That’s easy, just click here to order the complete kits for your Fox Body, SN95, S197 or S550 Mustang!

 

If you have any other questions, please feel free to give us a shout!

#teamlethal