randy merritt
Donating Member
I have been asked about my intercooler setup a few times, so I thought I would post what I did. I have kept my A/C, and my stock fan and shroud. First, a few qualifications. My battery has been relocated, which is necessary for this to fit. This will require some cutting of the core support and inner fender. I have solid motor mounts, so anyone installing this on a truck with stock mounts will have to make some provisions to allow for the motor flex against a solid mounted intercooler. My turbo is not stock, so I am not sure what would be needed piping wise to install on a stock turbo truck, but I am sure it could be done. I reused my intercooler to TB steel pipe that my truck had on it, so I won't go into much under hood piping. I don’t have any data about before and after IAT’s because I have always had a front mount intercooler. I can tell you, though, that the increase in intercooler size and piping from 2” (that I had), to 2.5” has made a big difference on my upper RPM power (seat of the pants dyno). The intercooler is rated at 700 CFM, and CXracing claims it will support 700 HP. I think anyone could do this setup for around $300 - $400.
Here is the intercooler:
http://www.cxracing.com/mm5/merchan...R&Product_Code=IC0010-25-A&Category_Code=INCO
I also bought a 2.5 inch intercooler piping kit, which I did not use much of. I’m pretty sure I got this one:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Universal-H...ash=item3d078e6099:g:LkMAAOSwl8NVbLwM&vxp=mtr
I also got a 2” to 2.5” reducing 90 to connect my 2” discharge turbo to the piping, as well as a 2 foot section of 2.5” silicone tube in order to make some longer couplers. The 2 foot section would come in handy for making a piping joint that could flex with stock motor mounts. These items were bought from Silicone Intakes off the internet.
During installation, it may require some cutting of piping to make it fit good. I found that simple wire crimp pliers are great for making a raised bead around cut piping.
The core support front bracing must be cut out to allow the intercooler to fit. The intercooler will rest on the core support, so I put a piece of split heater hose over the exposed metal.
I cut a hole in the core support just below the passenger headlight, on the flat area. I found that a dremel tool works good for this, as it is tight getting in there.
Both pipes will fit, but it is very tight and will require some trial and error to get the grill to clear.
To support the intercooler, I used a simple 4 foot piece of 2 inch wide flat steel (3/16”, I think), and cut it to length. I took two cut pieces of the flat steel (about 4” long) and put them in a vice and bent two angle brackets to be welded to the main flat steel bar that will bolt to the intercooler. I mocked everything up using vice grips to hold the angle brackets to the flat bar before welding them. The mounting bracket attaches to some existing holes in the core support.
Here is a finished mounting.
Getting the grill to clear is the tricky part. I got lucky and found an aftermarket junkyard grill that was extremely thin (cheap), so it fit pretty good with only slight trimming of the grill fins. The bottom of the grill must be cut off in order for it to fit. I took my chrome junkyard grill and rattle canned it black. My unmolested stock grill is shown for comparison.
Even when installed, there is still a slight gap at the bottom of the grill on either side, but I can live with that.
The piping inside the engine compartment will vary from truck to truck, so I won’t get to deep into that, but here is a pic of what my piping looks like coming thru the core support.
And here is the trimmed inner fender.
I did have to make a small “L” bracket to give the hood latch some support on the intercooler bracket, and it has worked fine so far.
Finished view from the top.
And front:
Here is the intercooler:
http://www.cxracing.com/mm5/merchan...R&Product_Code=IC0010-25-A&Category_Code=INCO
I also bought a 2.5 inch intercooler piping kit, which I did not use much of. I’m pretty sure I got this one:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Universal-H...ash=item3d078e6099:g:LkMAAOSwl8NVbLwM&vxp=mtr
I also got a 2” to 2.5” reducing 90 to connect my 2” discharge turbo to the piping, as well as a 2 foot section of 2.5” silicone tube in order to make some longer couplers. The 2 foot section would come in handy for making a piping joint that could flex with stock motor mounts. These items were bought from Silicone Intakes off the internet.
During installation, it may require some cutting of piping to make it fit good. I found that simple wire crimp pliers are great for making a raised bead around cut piping.
The core support front bracing must be cut out to allow the intercooler to fit. The intercooler will rest on the core support, so I put a piece of split heater hose over the exposed metal.
I cut a hole in the core support just below the passenger headlight, on the flat area. I found that a dremel tool works good for this, as it is tight getting in there.
Both pipes will fit, but it is very tight and will require some trial and error to get the grill to clear.
To support the intercooler, I used a simple 4 foot piece of 2 inch wide flat steel (3/16”, I think), and cut it to length. I took two cut pieces of the flat steel (about 4” long) and put them in a vice and bent two angle brackets to be welded to the main flat steel bar that will bolt to the intercooler. I mocked everything up using vice grips to hold the angle brackets to the flat bar before welding them. The mounting bracket attaches to some existing holes in the core support.
Here is a finished mounting.
Getting the grill to clear is the tricky part. I got lucky and found an aftermarket junkyard grill that was extremely thin (cheap), so it fit pretty good with only slight trimming of the grill fins. The bottom of the grill must be cut off in order for it to fit. I took my chrome junkyard grill and rattle canned it black. My unmolested stock grill is shown for comparison.
Even when installed, there is still a slight gap at the bottom of the grill on either side, but I can live with that.
The piping inside the engine compartment will vary from truck to truck, so I won’t get to deep into that, but here is a pic of what my piping looks like coming thru the core support.
And here is the trimmed inner fender.
I did have to make a small “L” bracket to give the hood latch some support on the intercooler bracket, and it has worked fine so far.
Finished view from the top.
And front:
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