Turbo Intercooler Sizes/Upgrades

I'm putting an intercooler in my '86 it is out of a 04? dodge. I did have to cut it down a little. The inlet and outlet are 3". I think I may be it the market for a different turbo sometime in the future. I would like to run 2.5" piping as that is what is on my intake hat and maybe a little easier to fit. What is the most common size on popular turbo compressor outlets? Would I have to replace 2.5" with 3" if I was to do something crazy like add one of those Moose Boosts?

Is a turbo off a 99 or so powerstroke a viable option for a 6.9? (I have a direct mount exhaust brake for one)

If you weld, really you can use any turbo you want.
People have used the 7.3 psd turbos, 5.9 cummins turbos, 6.7 cummins turbos, tractor turbos, etc.
The 99 SD turbo should work good. Throw a wicked wheel II in it, 3 inch down pipe, 4" or so exhaust. Should be doing pretty good.


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I do t mean to intrude but im actually carious about maken a home made intercooler too. An would like to start learning about what parts would be good an cheap to look for. That also being said ive got a banks non waistgated turbo in my 7.3 an I hate it. It only really makes 10-12 pounds boost when ur in the high high rpms an you wanna shift by then. I can weld an id like to find a turbo I can adapt to the ol banks Y pipe. Ive had issues trying to find any good write ups an pictures on peoples mods maybe you guys could help me

stacy santens said:

I do t mean to intrude but im actually carious about maken a home made intercooler too. An would like to start learning about what parts would be good an cheap to look for. That also being said ive got a banks non waistgated turbo in my 7.3 an I hate it. It only really makes 10-12 pounds boost when ur in the high high rpms an you wanna shift by then. I can weld an id like to find a turbo I can adapt to the ol banks Y pipe. Ive had issues trying to find any good write ups an pictures on peoples mods maybe you guys could help me

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I just went through the whole intercooler experiment with my 89 and failed. I spent a fortune at Hypermax buying an intake hat, the supply and return plumbing etc. My issue was not finding the right IC on ebay, I tried 2 different ones with no luck and ended up taking everything back off the truck.
Think I'm going to try the air/water route next.

To the OP, I think my issues were too small of coolers. What you are talking about using, should get you going pretty good.

I'm running a water to air setup that seems to work decently. 2-1/2" is what I'm using and it seems fine to me. The HX35 outlet is ~2-1/2. I think most original (banks, ATS, etc) turbos are ~2" outlet, but I'd still use 2-1/2. Easy to get a adapter silicone coupler.

How did your IC setup 'fail'? Unless you're running something off a lawnmower it should be fine - really not much to go wrong there as long as it physically fits. Harder to optimize, but shouldn't be hard to get something that at least does a bit.

jaluhn83 said:

I'm running a water to air setup that seems to work decently. 2-1/2" is what I'm using and it seems fine to me. The HX35 outlet is ~2-1/2. I think most original (banks, ATS, etc) turbos are ~2" outlet, but I'd still use 2-1/2. Easy to get a adapter silicone coupler.

How did your IC setup 'fail'? Unless you're running something off a lawnmower it should be fine - really not much to go wrong there as long as it physically fits. Harder to optimize, but shouldn't be hard to get something that at least does a bit.

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The Hypermax plumbing design puts both pipes to the right hand side of the truck. The first IC I bought, was a same side unit with 2.5" inlet and outlet. The Hypermax pipes are 2.25, so I bought reducers. The physical size of the IC was fine but I guess by design, was very restrictive. I took off down the street and had zero boost, lots of rattle and tons of black smoke.

The second IC I bought was an end to end unit but was probably too small. Keep in mind as I mentioned earlier, the supply and return pipes are on one side of the truck, so I had to use an IC that was short enough, to be able to do a U-turn out the other end and back to my return pipe. The second IC was 25" wide but only 7" high. It worked ok but no change in power and no drop in egt's, just dont think it was large enough.
I need to keep my width in the 25" area but also need to find something quite a bit taller. I have all the parts laying in the garage and whenever I find the correct unit, can have it all put back on in just a matter of minutes.
The Hypermax intake hat was not cheap by any means, nor was the plumbing, so I hate to **** can the project altogether, just need to find something that will work.

Sounds like the hypermax unit was plugged somehow - even a restrictive cooler should have had some boost. That reads to me as a plugged pipe somewhere in the system.

jaluhn83 said:

Sounds like the hypermax unit was plugged somehow - even a restrictive cooler should have had some boost. That reads to me as a plugged pipe somewhere in the system.

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The first IC wasnt a Hypermax unit, just some ebay same side unit. It was just restrictive by design. The end to end unit was free flowing but just didnt have enough cooling surface to it, too small.

If I go air/water, I'd like to put it in place of the right side battery and tie the Hypermax plumbing into it. I just need to figure out where to relocate the battery.

I was able to squeeze the intercooler between the engine and wheel well aft of the radiator - sort of where the vacuum pump is. I have pictures of it somewhere on here, don't remember exactly where. Mind you, I deleted the vacuum pump (hydroboost + electric pump for HVAC) so it might not fit unless you do this.

jaluhn83 said:

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I was able to squeeze the intercooler between the engine and wheel well aft of the radiator - sort of where the vacuum pump is. I have pictures of it somewhere on here, don't remember exactly where. Mind you, I deleted the vacuum pump (hydroboost + electric pump for HVAC) so it might not fit unless you do this.

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Wow, it just fits in there. How much does that air/water setup lower your egt's? Does it heat soak on long runs?

What kind of water temps do you guys see with/water set ups?

It seemed to drop EGTs about 100* or so, maybe more I don't recall exactly. Haven't seen any sign of heat soaking, but I don't really have the instruments to really see anything - I want to put temp sensors on the water & air in/out pipes and really see what it does, but haven't yet.

No idea what the water temp on the intercooler is. I was running straight water and never saw any sign of boiling, so not that hot. I'd bet around 150*, maybe up to 180* or so...

jaluhn83 said:

It seemed to drop EGTs about 100* or so, maybe more I don't recall exactly. Haven't seen any sign of heat soaking, but I don't really have the instruments to really see anything - I want to put temp sensors on the water & air in/out pipes and really see what it does, but haven't yet.

No idea what the water temp on the intercooler is. I was running straight water and never saw any sign of boiling, so not that hot. I'd bet around 150*, maybe up to 180* or so...

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I've got my fuel turned down enough at the moment where it doesnt seem to wanna go over 1100 on hard pulls but anyway of dropping the temps more would be great.
I was thinking if I went air/water, it would be nice to have some kind of device to turn the pump on. I was thinking one could use a pressure switch on the boost line but I would almost rather have a temp sensing device that would come on say after 800 degrees, that way It wouldnt be running for just basic city driving, which is what I do most.