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Ford
Powerstroke Intercooler
Last
modified: 02/06/02
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- The pictures you see here
are NOT of my car.
- I have not done this intercooler
install yet to my car.
- All this information was
gathered from various sources on the Internet (Web
pages, emails, etc.). I am simply gathering this information
and putting it together all in one location for everyone
to see.
- If you have any questions
please feel free to email
me, but please look at the Links
and Contacts sections below
firs
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Navigation:
I became interested in this project back in September of
2001 while coming across the subject on the www.turbobuick.com
tech forum. Since then, I have gathered all the info I could,
and even took some pictures myself (see link to pictures of
GNX423's car below). I have yet to start this project myself,
but am seriously considering to do so this winter.
The intercooler in question, is one from the Ford Powerstroke
Diesel (F-250 & 350) pickup trucks ('99 and newer). The
majority of information I've seen appears to say that everyone
is using the intercooler from the 1999 - 2001 model years.
Noe, there are two variations of this intercooler. 1) An all
aluminum version (core and end tanks). 2) A composite/plastic
version (aluminum core, composite/plastic end tanks). Reports
are sketchy if the all aluminum version was a factory piece,
or if it is now available from Ford as a factory replacement.
The majority of people that have done this swap into a Turbo
Buick have used the plastic/composite version. No durability
issues have been reported as of yet. Rhumor has it that this
intercooler can handle well over 30# of boost.
Most of the Turbo Buick bulletin boards have had several
threads discussing the topic of this intercooler install.
It appears that the primary appeal of this intercooler is
it's size and price. With that being said, it is also important
to know (Disclaimer) that to the best of my knowledge, there
have not been any detailed tests on this intercooler versus
the other frontmount intercoolers being marketed for the Buick
community. The people that have done this install (10+) all
seem to be pretty satisfied (besides the sometimes lengthy
install time) with the end result. I have NOT seen anyone
say that this intercooler did not improve performance... but
at the same time, there have not been any back-to-back tests
versus stock.
SPECS:
PART NUMBERS:
- REDS HOT AIR (newport news, va)
[email protected]
I run 2 1/2 piping so i got two 3-2 1/2 adapter hoses from
percision turbo and a 2-2 1/2 adapter for coming off the
turbo.
- (All pipes are aluminized 2.5" mandrel bent
exhaust tubing)
- (1) Stock uppipe
- (2) 90* bend 2.5" pipes.
- (1) "U" shaped bend 2.5" pipe cut in
half.
- (1) 2.5" to 2" reducer hose from Precision
Turbo.
- T-bolt hose clamps.
- High pressure 2.5" hose.
- More to come (under development).
- Reds Hot Air's Buick & Powerstroke intercooler:
See photos.
- Misc. photos seen online:
- Turbonut (Indianapolis,IN)
[email protected]
Instructions: On my 86 I had to cut the core support a little
for the pipes and trim the inside of the header panel. Mine
is drag only so I just hacked away but after looking at
it, there is just enough room for it to fit and keep the
high beams. One other thing I left out of the parts list
was the adapter from Cotton's from the turbo to the 3" IC
pipe. I got some 3' mandrel bends for NAPA and some connectors
a exhaust reducer to meet up with the turbo. I also made
a air dam out of a 30 gallon trash can to direct air to
the radiator so it would not heat up (yes intercooler covers
the entire thing).
For pictures see: http://www.angelfire.com/super/buickgn/Powerstroke_page.html
- REDS HOT AIR (newport news, va)
[email protected]
Date: 11/3/01
Instructions: I've got mine in now too. as far as dropping
it down to not stick above the radiator support you would
have to cut out the whole support that bolts the rad. support
to the frame which to me would not be worth it . i took
my time and only cut what was needed as far as around the
headlight buckets and i have my high beams in. i dont have
side to side adjusters but i moved the spring from the corner
of the headlight bucket to the bottom center of it directly
below the top adjuster so the up and down adjuster still
works and if you drill the hole far enough back to put plenty
of tension on the spring you can set the side to side manually
and they are tight enough that they shouldnt move.
Date: 11/19/01
I forgot who but somebody posted that they had fliped em
(headlight adjuster to the oppposite side of the headlight
bucket) but cant remember who it was. on my high beams i
took the spring from the corner of the bucket and drilled
a hole for it at the bottom center of the bucket ...if you
drill the hole in the header panel back far enough to have
plenty of tension on it you can manually set the side to
side and you still have the acjuster for up and down. i
have put just over 1,000 miles on my car since then and
they havent moved yet. i got adapter hoses from presicion
turbo and dropped to 2 1/2 at the i/c it makes life alot
easier and will flow way more than the t/b will. im still
using a stock uppipe in my plumbing but its the pipe coming
off the turbo toward the inlet of the i/c other than that
pipe i got mandrel bent ext tubing from jc whitney and did
the rest of the bends... after fitting all the pipes you
will need a bead of weld around the end of every pipe for
the hose clamp to get a grip on.
For pictures see: Photos
of Reds Hot Air's Buick
- WSLN 6 (Saskatoon, SK.Canada)
[email protected]
Date: 12/06/01
Instructions: I am right in the middle of the Ford IC install.
There is a lot of cutting to do, but I think it depends
if the intercooler has plastic end tanks or not. Mine has
aluminum tanks, and they seem to take up a bit more room
than the plastic, people's pics for the install were a little
different from mine. On the other hand, I was able to port
the inlet/outlet on the aluminum tanks, and it should
- dfast1 (laMonte, MO)
[email protected]
Date: 12/10/01
Instructions: I ran 2.5 inch piping. Three inch looked impossiable
if i didn't cut into the fenders to istall it. My biggest
problem was getting the piping to fit. i had to take it
to a exchaust shop and have them bend the tubing for me.
It looks awesome and i still have my high beams and everything.
- More to come (under development).
- gn4u2c (Baltimore, MD)
[email protected]
Date: 6/20/0
If someone in the Baltimore area has a scanner ,or digital
camera I can bring my car over for pics that can be posted
it's installed car does not overheat and it's a very noticeable
improvement I was stuck at 12.0's and 12.1's last week I
went 11.70 and it was almost 15 deg hotter outside everything
else the same. I did adjust the boost some I had knock at
22 lbs wit 110 before now no knock until 24/25 range could
be faster
- Turbonut (Indianapolis,IN)
[email protected]
Date: 7/31/01
side street testing showed some good results so far, Boost
is 4 psi HIGHER! Outlet pipe is substantially cooler to
the touch than the inlet to the IC.
Date: 8/03/01
I did some checking with my temp sensor, outlet at turbo
was 148, inlet to TB was 85, ambient temp was 82!!! That
was highway driving.
Date: 8/07/01
The cheap 2"to 3" adapter I had on the turbo didn't hold,
split a big hole in it! I'll be ordering the proper one
from cotton's tomorrow, that being said, I only got 150'
pass out of it. I compared the DS info from todays short
150' blast to the one I had with the 11.98 run (stock IC).
It was 8 degrees hotter tonight than the previous run, and
I had the same 60ft times (1.78). The 11.98 pass was 3.68
at 150', 4.96@330', today was 3.0@150' and 4mph faster!
I coasted from exactly that point to a 5.1 330!! Folks that
was with 6psi LESS boost. 60'-- -- 1.78 330- -- 5.14 660----
9.21 mph--- 53.06 1000 13.78 1320 18.34 mph 46.92
- TurboJohnLarkin (Columbus, OH)
[email protected]
Date: 8/08/01
Guys, his (Turbonut's) IC fits real nice and with the side
tank inlet and outlets, there's no under-coresupport issues
as with traditional FM's or with misaligned piping. The
thing fits just fine around the radiator. Plenty of room
for the hoses to slide on. Only issue there was, is how
to mount the high beams since the end tanks have ears that
protrude into the headlamp bucket area. That can be addressed
in time though. He got a 1.78 60' level as heck on an 8psi
launch
- REDS HOT AIR (newport news, va)
[email protected]
Date: 12/07/01
So far nobody seems to have a problem running hot with the
ford i/c with stock cooling system because the air can flow
thru it were the others have the big tanks blocking up the
radiator. Ihave duel fans on mine with the ford i/c and
i dont see a problem but wont know for sure till i turn
the a/c on next summer
Date: 12/06/01
first road trip (with powerstroke intercooler) mine got
alil warm but i hadent put the air dam back under the radiator
support. since i've put that back on i can run it hard on
the highway and dont even sweat it. i have a duel fan set-up
on my car but dont ever need the second fan...that may change
when running ac this summer. i really like my i/c its big
its bad and its wont getin my way when changing my turbo.
- cool 84 (Bakersfield, CA)
[email protected]
Date: 12/06/01
I just thought I'd share this. I had a small FM IC before
the powerstroke in which the tanks blocked a lot of the
airflow and the core was almost 4" thick. Even going down
the freeway if I turned my fans off the car would overheat.
I had to be going in the 100mph range to be able to turn
the fans off in the summer time. I noticed a couple months
ago on my first drive with the Ford IC I had forgotten to
turn my fans on and even after the 20 min trip home averaging
about 40mph the car was dead on 160. Has anyone else had
the same experience? It seems to make no difference whatsoever
on engine cooling vs no intercooler.
- More to come (under development).
Note: For turbobuick.com and turbobuicks.com, go to either
site and do a search for "Ford intercooler", "Powerstroke",
etc. It is to hard for me to post all the links to these sites,
they are always changing, thus making it to hard for me to
keep on top of.
- More to come (under development).
Powerstroke links:
Note: Not all of these people have done the instal, but they
have been involved in one way or another (gotten parts, helped
a friend with instal, etc.). In addition, the user names listed
are mostly from www.turbobuick.com.
There may be some from www.turbobuicks.com.
- Turbonut (Indianapolis,IN)
Email: [email protected]
Vehicle info: 87 Turbo T, 3450lbs with me in it, PTE51,
Budget FMIC , stock longblock and TC, 62mm JJ T-body, MSD
50's, 16 pos Maxeffort, 340&hotwired, THDP w/3"single shot
exhaust, 90/10frt-60/40rear shocks, longer boxed lower arms,
snubber, airbags, batt in trunk, fiberglass hood, Directscan,
egt, etc. etc. 11.38@119 1.62 60' 7.31@94 1/8th
- cool 84 (Bakersfield, CA)
Email: [email protected]
Vehicle info: 84 hotair GN. Stock longblock and a couple
boltons. 12.9 @ 110.3mph 2.3 60' 18psi. Just another hotair
slug. Updated: T-64, ported heads and intake, Ford FM IC,
009s, 206-206 comp cam, KB headers, LT 3" DP, Max Effort,
3,200rpm convertor, and a bunch of little stuff. No times
yet.
- GNX423 (Englishtown, NJ)
Email: [email protected]
Vehicle info: 86 GN,.30 over, ported irons ,MM208, 62mm
Tbody,009's,reds chip,hotwired 340,atr cold air. *new*TA51
turbo,"Budget" front mount IC.
- flynbrian (Eustis, Florida)
Email: [email protected]
Vehicle info: I posted wanted ads on the different Ford
Diesel sites, within an hour I had purchased one out of
2001 powerstroke dually for $150.00 delivered to my door.
- REDS HOT AIR (newport news, va)
Email: [email protected]
Vehicle info: hot-air motor running 13:0's when pulled with
stock turbo,injectors and stock chip.(gotta figure out what
to put it in) 87 motor best with ta-49 turbo 11:60 @121.5.!!
with a 1.91 60 stock pistons with total seals 204-214 speed
pro cam two steel shim head gaskets arp head bolts now has
pte-51 jj t/b msd 50's self ported heads and intake powerstroke
i/c with 2 1/2 plumbing walbro 340 only street trim pass
on jl 93 chip 12:07@114 with 1.95 60ft only full pass on
JL 110 chip 11:[email protected] with 1.91 60 ft stock d5 converter
boxed and polly bushed rear control arms
- TurboJohnLarkin (Columbus, OH)
Email: [email protected]
Vehicle info: 87 GN: TA-54, stretch IC, 55lbers, 3"DP/Exh,
SMC, 3200 PTS 9/11 conv, stacked plate trans cooler, cold
air, billet AFPR, Walbro 340 hotwired, JTesta chip
- six shooter (San Diego,CA)
Email: [email protected]
Vehicle info: I just bought one of these (Ford Intercoolers)
and your part number is the same as the one on my box.
- bruce
Email: [email protected]
Vehicle info: I drove over to Rob's (Turbonut), and after
looking at his I will be doing it to mine. If you never
had done sheetmetal work, figuring on taking a while, it's
close in a few areas, but doable. I think he said he picked
up a .4-.5 in the 1/4.
- dfast1 (laMonte, MO)
Email: [email protected]
Vehicle info: My car is basically stock except for fuel
system and air filter. Red stripe inj and Walbro fuel pump
hot wired. I didn't notice any boost gains but it was only
set to 8 psi anyways. No extra lag. I noticed a lot more
power than it had before when running the same boost levels.
- turbowrenchhead (WI)
Email: [email protected]
Vehicle info: 84 Regal T WH1 50k original miles, Stage II
shift kit, 87 radiator and electric fan, 87 coil, 87 ecm,
caspers 25 degree timing chip, ATR cat back, test pipe and
up pipe, cold air kit, heated O2, adjustable wastegate,
SMC alcohol injection, 208-224 eastern cam, 90pd valve springs,
Adjustable fuel pressure regulator, boost and knock gauge,
BF drag radials, PTS 9/11 3200 stall. Ford f/m intercooler
and turbomotion V2, Homemade 8 gauge hotwire kit. Welded
and ported stock headers, Stock turbo and downpipe, 13.42
at 98.2 mph. Always more to come.
- WSLN 6 (Saskatoon, SK.Canada)
Email: [email protected]
Vehicle info: 86 TR. Leather,column,astroroof. SMC alky,2800
stall,340 Walbro. Stock turbo,injectors,IC. Best time on
street tires(No drag radials). 12.78 at 107.5mph 2.05 60ft.
Soon to complete the Ford IC project.........
- GS70350 (Jacksonville, Alabama)
Email: [email protected]
Vehicle info: 1984 black Turbo TType w/87 GN drivetrain.
12.9 @ 90mph. 1.7 short time.Lifting due to 3rd gear electrical
crash.
- More to come (under development).
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