Intercooler

[Graminal95]

Just a quick note on what I have done today. I picked up a 63 ford falcon radiator, made a mount for it. Made a mount for the stock oil cooler and for my sierra cosworth intercooler. Moved my parking heater back so i have room for a real airbox/filter and tomorrow it all goes in.

I have to move one of the AC hoses so I'll have to make something up for that as well. I'll post some photos tomorrow once its all done.

[Graminal95]

Well I said I would up date with pictures today. So here they are,

I needed a new radiator as my original one was not cutting it in the summer with the AC on. So I started looking around for radiators that would fit and also give me another 1.5in. width wise so I could fit my intercooler. I was not really sure the intercooler would fit and I had to cut off all the excess material but it fits with about 1/2in to spare.
I had to make a mount for the radiator, as I wanted to use the stock mounting hose in the rad. support. I try had to make all the mods I do easily reversible so if I need I can go back with little effort. The rad. mount I made also allowed me to make an easy mount for the oil cooler. I was lucky to find the perfect lower rad. hose to go from the much larger rad. outlet to the MB therm housing.

I'm not going for ultimate power, but economy. I have been getting close to 36mpg on my commute and want to make that a little better. I have been making ~5-6psi at cruise and want to lower the inlet temp, so time for an intercooler.

The engine is very load because the intake just goes to an open filter, so I plan on finding a nice OEM filter box that will fit behind the pass. headlight. I'm hoping a volvo 940 turbo box will fit, it has a huge filter.

Enjoy the photos.

Very nice! It almost looks factory.

I doubt a Volvo box will fit, that fender has a lot less room to fit than it looks. You might consider a 1985 California filter system, its been working great for me and it fits perfect. $45/1-2years for a filter is a small price to pay for good filtration and flow.

For efficiency, you might want to swap the fixed fan for the clutched 300D 9-blade plastic fan.

[compress ignite]

graminal95,

Where is that Oil Return Flow coming from?

'Nice installation!

[DeliveryValve]

Originally Posted by compress ignite

...
Where is that Oil Return Flow coming from?..

I assume that is from his turbo.


graminal95,
Good Job on the setup. Like the idea.

[Graminal95]

Forced, I'm going to get a clutched fan one of these days, but its really a case of money right now. I had to spend the money on the radiator, and this fit the bill and was cheaper too. Total it cost me about 160bucks for the radiator, hoses, intercooler (I had it already) etc. I want to add a 300dt oil cooler down the road, and I may put on an electric fan ( I have a few on the shelf), but I like the mechanical one as it always works.

CI that is the oil return for the turbo. I didn't really have any better place to put it, but it has worked out great so far.

I just drove my 130mile commute to school and it seems to work great. The coolant temp is about the same, so I think it maybe getting time for a thermostat, and to also check the calibration of the gauge. The new radiator is a 3 core all copper and brass, it should have plenty of capacity for my needs. The EGT's are a little lower, but the wastegate is leaking, so its a lot slower to make boost. I'm going to install a boost controller so I can easily adjust max. boost and put more tension on the wastegate to stop the leak. After a spirited drive the intake manifold was cold to the touch, so the intercooler is working well.

[ConnClark]

It looks like all the air your sucking into the turbo has passed through the intercooler. This is going to reduce the effectiveness of the intercooler quite a bit. Any plans on rigging up a cold air intake?

[bgkast]

Very nice! It looks like a cali filter would fit in to that setup nicely. It would make servicing your headlight bulbs a pain though.

[Graminal95]

I do plan on putting in a real air box in the future. The noise from the cone filter is annoying at best, so it will be a nice noise and performance upgrade.

I forgot to reply to Forced comment about the cali air box. I was thinking about the cali unit after I saw yours on a different forum. It would be nice but I think I'm going to keep looking locally aka cheap yards... but if that comes up with nada, then it will be time to track down a cali unit.

[Graminal95]

I just finished installing my boost controller, raising the tension on the wastegate and fitting/securing the A/C hose that I had to shorten. I charged the system with propane and hope it does not leak. More testing tomorrow.

[Bajaman]

Excellent install. I agree it looks factory. Very nice work.

[bart_dood]

I'm curious to know if the intercooler helps fuel economy on these engines? I'm not really interested in performance myself but I would be interested in a few more mpg's.

Originally Posted by bart_dood

I'm curious to know if the intercooler helps fuel economy on these engines?

Nope. The intercooler is only a "safety" item to reduce temperatures to safe levels.

[ConnClark]

Originally Posted by ForcedInduction

Nope. The intercooler is only a "safety" item to reduce temperatures to safe levels.

Note true.

The cooler denser air reduces heat transfer to the block and cooling system keeping more energy in the working fluid. This translates to more power for the same amount of fuel used. Which means you can also get the same power for less fuel.

[Graminal95]

Actually my cruise EGT's are down a little, and I'm cruising at 70 now instead of low 60's and I'm still getting 35mpg. So I would say it does a little for economy but not very much.