Let's Talk Intercoolers

[towcat]

Rob-
as far as the blankets for the pipes goes, I got one of thos ricer mags and was taking a look through their perf ads for the insulation. That is something I too want to address when I get back to Ca.
Here's yet another IC plumbing job by "6point9diesel" on his 81-86 f-series. Note, this is a gen2 Banks setup for those of you who have this kit. whoever did the welding, did a fantastic job. he's also using a full height IC and its an early 99 PSD unit (all aluminum). he also deleted his AC setup too. pics below.....(thanks Paul for letting me repost it here)

 

[F350camper]

WOW, nice looking setup. Those curves look so purdy the pics almost belong in the GGG section.

 

[towcat]

WOW, nice looking setup. Those curves look so purdy the pics almost belong in the GGG section.

Man....your mind is turning into mush ever since faith hill stopped hanging around your truck.....

 

[apextrans]

That really is a clean job. Did he delete the A/C because of the install or other reasons? I use mine all the time. What did he do for the intake? Was it nessecary to turn the turbo upwards to attach the hot side pipe? And finally, does he sell these or was that a one of? Sorry for all the questions, but this looks like the next big mod for me, so I'm in fact finding mode. Thanks

 

[towcat]

From the looks of it, it doesn't look like enough room for the AC to be there.
I would believe that the IC opening is right in front of the PS pump and that would be the first issue, not to mention the air filter would need to be shortened. If this was mime, I would relocate the air filter 90 deg, and hood it so it could be plumbed for "cowl air" because I can testify the pipe coming out of the turbo is damn hot! its hot enough that you can't touch the pipe. his turbo has been rotated as well as the intake hat. I am gonna be interested on seeing his temp numbers once he gets it rolling. Gotta admit tho, for a truck in rust country, it looks pretty nice.

 

[tuckerd1]

That is one sharp looking piping job for welded!

 

[argve]

That is one sweet set up

I think with being in Minn they don't need AC but maybe a week or two out of the year at best. I know here in Indiana we don't need it but 2 weeks out fo the year. The times that I use it it's because I don't want the wind noise it's not because of the temp.

 

[apextrans]

I could live with the noise. The temp would kill me. Gotta be a way to do something similar w/AC. There's a powerchoke IC on ebay for 76.00

 

[6point9diesel]

Fellas,

Just to answer a few of your questions:

I did have to turn up the outlet of the turbo...total about 1/4". I had to do this to clear the intake plenum. The intake plenum I used was from a factory '94 Ford idi turbo setup. I actually found the last one available from Ford. I talked with ATS to try and get one from them. I thought they would be cheaper since they made it for Ford, but they weren't very helpful on the phone. It actually worked out well. Since this is a discontinued item from Ford they could sell it for their price.

To make it work with a hose attachment I brought it to a machine shop to have it turned down to 2.5". They chucked it up with the machined inside of the housing inlet. They turned it down so I had about an inch of material to attach the hose. This didn't turn out to be enough, so the shop that did the IC tubes welded an extension on the end. I'm really happy with this because they were then able to roll a barb on the end to keep the silicone hose on better.

There is quite a bit of material on the inside of the inlet side of the housing. This is where the factory turbo comes into the housing. This can mostly be removed with a die grinder or coarse grit drum sander on a drill press or hand drill.

The tubes were made by a local shop. It took me some time to find someone that would do what I wanted. The shop makes headers for NHRA top fuelers. So far I'm pretty happy with what they've done, but I haven't fired it up yet.

The intercooler is the standard aluminum PSD intercooler...found it on ebay. I looked at that radiator support for 3 weeks while I was working on other stuff before I could make the first cut. I'm not a big AC guy. It does get pretty warm and humid up here in the summer, but after looking at the situation the idea of having the IC high enough to mostly avoid the bumper and having a more straight forward shot for the plumbing over powered any desires I had of staying cool. I had to bend the front grill support and shim it up with a few washers to get clearance around the intercooler, but it all fits pretty nice. I've got about a half inch of clearance between the intercooler and the front grill support. The factory intercooler to radiator seals that come with the intercooler are actually pressed nicely against the radiator. There is about 1/4" to 1/2" of clearance between the intercooler and the radiator. During the whole process I didn't have to cut any of the heavier material that makes up the radiator support.

I have been trying to come up with some way of mounting the air cleaner in a different spot. I am really looking at getting it up front somewhere, but I'm going to wait till everything is mounted and running before I tackle that. I have found an intake off a Ford pickup with the 5.4 that may be the ticket, but I'm still working on this one.

If you guys have any more questions let me know. Right now I'm most concerned about what's going to happen with the temperatures. I'll get some info posted once I get it running

Oh and by the way...
Cab is from Montana, box is from Texas, doors are from Minnesota, and the front clip is a mixture of all of the above. Worst part of it all is that none of it is original. It has been a chore to try and find a body shop willing to help me out.

Paul

 

[towcat]

Paul-
thanks for posting!
You might want to take a look at how hypermax has the cowl induction set up. It will keep the clutter on your radiator support down.
BTW guys, I haven't thrown away my intake plenum when I changed it out with my ATS supplied unit. So, if somebody wants it for their project....talk to me via PM.

 

[apextrans]

Fellas,


To make it work with a hose attachment I brought it to a machine shop to have it turned down to 2.5". They chucked it up with the machined inside of the housing inlet. They turned it down so I had about an inch of material to attach the hose. This didn't turn out to be enough, so the shop that did the IC tubes welded an extension on the end. I'm really happy with this because they were then able to roll a barb on the end to keep the silicone hose on better.

There is quite a bit of material on the inside of the inlet side of the housing. This is where the factory turbo comes into the housing. This can mostly be removed with a die grinder or coarse grit drum sander on a drill press or hand drill.

I was staying with ya until you got to the important stuff. Are you saying you had to shorten the neck of the intake hat? Then I got completely lost on the material you removed from the housing. Is that the air inlet on the turbo itself? I'm not a mechanic by ANY stretch of the imagination, but I can usually get by with a little help. You're explanation isn't the problem, it's my lack of knowledge. Can you clarify those two points for me? Thanks & Welcome to the site (noticed it was your first post)

 

[beretzs]

That is an awesome set up, I hope mine looks half as good as that when I am done. Going to be awhile, since I have to recover from my HEADJOB, but that is going to be one of the first things I address. I think mounting the cooler is the easy part, getting all the rest of the piping and routing done will be the hard part. Scotty

 

[F350camper]

I think mounting the cooler is the easy part, getting all the rest of the piping and routing done will be the hard part. Scotty

Totally agree. I've had mine mounted for a couple of weeks now. I even have the intake hat done, but been working on the piping ever since.

 

[6point9diesel]

Scott:

Thanks for the welcome. Basically what I did was make the Ford intake plenum into a hypermax plenum (I call it a plenum some people call it a hat others call it the thingy on top of the dooflinker). The Ford plenum is designed such that the exhaust side of the turbo's intake turbine fits inside the plenum and is sealed with an o-ring. Therefore it isn't designed to have a hose fit around the outside like the hypermax unit. What I did was where the original turbo came into the intake plenum, I had it machined to 2.5 inches on the outside. Then the pipe fitter welded an extension onto that to give enough room for a hose clamp. Then to get the most air flow, I needed to clean up the inside where the O-Ring sat. If I were you I would talk to TowCat and see what he wants for his hypermax plenum. If that doesn't work out, I'd check with your local junk yard and see if they can find you a 93-94 turbo intake plenum. Total additional cost to get the Ford plenum to work with a hose was about $50.

Scotty:

Thanks. Glad to hear you got your rig back! It'll be interesting to see if you notice any difference after the heads were squared.

Rob:

Sounds like you may have a good start on your piping. If you get to the point where you get sick of it I've got an idea for you. Find a process piper that's doing work on a food/beverage plant near you. If the job's of any size they probably wont be from the area, so after work they wont have alot going on. They hang pipe for a living, and are second to none when it comes to welding stainless. Plus, in a food/beverage plant they use stainless everywhere, so there are always scraps laying around. I have no doubt that if they had all the materials they could have it done in an evening. Just a thought.

Paul

 

[apextrans]

Cool. I'm with ya now. I've never seen any of the hypermax parts up close, but I follow what your saying. Thanks for the "Intercooling For Dummies" version . Towcat might know of a set of door panels I'm interested in, so I'll add the "thingy for the dooflicker" to the cart.