Intercooler
(Blue and Silver for that cool look and feel)

March 2002

Finally decided that the commodore would look good with a dirty big intercooler hanging down it's nose, not to mention help me in my hunt for power. Searched high and low for a used truck intercooler, noting that a lot of these companies were not very helpful at all, and after finally finding some, and being quoted $1000 for a used intercooler, decided I might as well bite the bullet and fork out the cash for a proper custom job. A big thanks goes to sparra for all his help in searching for truck coolers. Cheers.

Thanks also goes out to my mate Simon from Radiator Warehouse for getting the intercooler core for my at a very decent price. It's a K&J unit made to the size that I measured up, which is the absolute biggest that will fit in the nose of the Commodore wihtout major modifications (I must be getting scared these days).

Might not look big in this pic, but that is an extra large roll of masking tape.

Core specs are :-

21" x 17" x 3"

or

525mm x 425mm x 75mm

Beginning the install

Nothing is more fun than taking to your pride and joy with an angle grinder and a jigsaw, especially the new replacent panels that probably have the best paint on the whole car. This said, the front apron had to be cut to make way for the monsta cooler.

The design calls for the RHS turbo to make it's way over to the LHS before entering the top tank, while the LHS turbo will venture through the inner guard and around and into the bottom tank on the LHS of the cooler. This design results in less than 1" difference in pipe length. The feed pipe will be a 4" unit that will exit the cooler on the bottom RHS, under the guard and then feed through the inner guard just behind the strut tower.

April 2002

Finally got the tanks fabbed and welded to the core thanks to Andy at ABS. Finished product ended up a bit bigger than I calculated, but hey, if it only just fits, it fits. Top turbo feed pipe looks a bit dodgy, but I'll figure out some way to do the pipe and maintain flow.

Also picked up the new carb hat which I'll be using for the new setup. It's off a LPG system, sits 3.5" high off the carb (which suits the Holley flange perfectly) and I'll be modifying the outlet to accomodate the 4" feed pipe. Pipes should be done in the next couple of weeks.

All that's needed now is a BOV and we're laughin'...

May 2002

She's Finished!

The intercooler, piping and new BOV are all installed in, under and through the flying frog. Got some 2" & 4" mandrel bends and with the help of Dave and his mate's MIG (Cheers buddy), cut and tacked the pipes into position. Couldn't master the welding part, so I left it to Rex down at Kev's to TIG them for me. A bit of rubber hose, some u-beaut hose clamps and a monster Vortech Mondo BOV, and the old girl started and ran first pop. Unfortunately, it was absolutely pissing down outside so a test drive was left to later...

First pipe done was the LHS feed, easy as with one rubber join to enable a 180 bend from the turbo to go through the guard.

Next was the other feed pipe, up and over, aroound and through the headlight housing, all pipes were given a good clean inside and out and a quick coat of chrome spray for the time being until funds allow HPC.

The tricky one was the 4" feed pipe (which is bloody huge as I was able to put my arm inside the pipe to clean it!). With the stiff 90/10 shocks up front there isn't much wheel travel at all and after careful testing, the pipe was routed up over the wheel (3" gap) and through the guard just behind the strut tower.

With the wheel on, the pipe looks a lot closer than it actually is, I think the only way it will hit is if the car lauches that hard that it wheel-stands on the rear bumper and then crashes down at the front, but if that happens, this feed pipe will be the least of my worries...

You can see the mods made to the hat to better adapt to the 4" pipe, the little clamps will be upgraded when some heavy-duty ones become available.

The new Vortech BOV, bloody huge and a little dirty, she'll cop a full polish job soon, as will all the new alloy parts, but for now it's test time