Intercooler

tvinson86 · May 18, 2004

Ive been looking into alot of summer mods for my 2.3T, and since i have such a horrible hood, and practically non-intercooled boost, i want to switch to a front mount intercooler. Ive been looking at the volvo intercooler, but i was wondering about the piping. Do you have to have it routed by a shop, or what? Ive never really fabricated an intercooler setup, so im a little lost.

Pro-Hawk · May 18, 2004

tvinson86 said:
Ive been looking into alot of summer mods for my 2.3T, and since i have such a horrible hood, and practically non-intercooled boost, i want to switch to a front mount intercooler. Ive been looking at the volvo intercooler, but i was wondering about the piping. Do you have to have it routed by a shop, or what? Ive never really fabricated an intercooler setup, so im a little lost.

Fabricate it your self. You can buy kits that come with a assortment of bends and rubber cuplings but you will still need to work on some of the pices to fit. If it was me I would look at pcitures of other peoples cars to get a idea of what you would like. Check out the "Readers Rides" section of Bobs site its got some under the hood shoots that may help or look at cars for sell on Ebay etc. I think MikeSVO was using PVC for a while and then the was Craig Gillis car in MM&FF that had some custom aluminum pips made up.

http://www.40bob.com/

Hope it helps

140cilx · May 18, 2004

There's a pic of my LX's FMIC on this page: http://140cilx.stangnet.com/ and then a pic of my SVO's FMIC on the svo page. Perhaps they might help your creativity.

-sorry some of the links no longer work. I lost my pics host. I'll fix this soon.

-just to note, the LX still has A/C so I have the "radiator" for it in it's stock position (called a condensor? - don't recall), then the Volvo IC, then an electric fan, then an Afco radiator. I put everything in the box I fabbed so I could force the fan to "pull through" the IC and then force the air through the radiator. Works perfect like that.

On the SVO I have a ranger '84 V6 4.0 A/C model radiator (3 core) which is narrower than stock to allow the IC tubing to pass around it to a Turbocoupe IC mounted in front of the radiator under/behind the from bumper. Works very well too - and was cheap. Stinger has part #'s for those rubber pipe connections on his website which you can get from Napa.

-140

351wcoupe · May 18, 2004

I would like to just let you know that I have a Volvo cooler that I decided not to use. Otherwise I'll be ebaying it. If you want you can come check this one out. Sorry I've gotten most of the ones out of the junk yards in the area. M&M salvage in ruckersville probably still has them but they wanted $100 or more for them...I can do better than that if you want one.

Pro-Hawk · May 18, 2004

140cilx said:
There's a pic of my LX's FMIC on this page: http://140cilx.stangnet.com/ and then a pic of my SVO's FMIC on the svo page. Perhaps they might help your creativity.

-sorry some of the links no longer work. I lost my pics host. I'll fix this soon.

-just to note, the LX still has A/C so I have the "radiator" for it in it's stock position (called a condensor? - don't recall), then the Volvo IC, then an electric fan, then an Afco radiator. I put everything in the box I fabbed so I could force the fan to "pull through" the IC and then force the air through the radiator. Works perfect like that.

On the SVO I have a ranger '84 V6 4.0 A/C model radiator (3 core) which is narrower than stock to allow the IC tubing to pass around it to a Turbocoupe IC mounted in front of the radiator under/behind the from bumper. Works very well too - and was cheap. Stinger has part #'s for those rubber pipe connections on his website which you can get from Napa.

-140

Man if I was you I would get reed of that car...Tell ya what since I like you I'll haul it off for free J/K that is a pretty clean set up you got there, where did you get the plumbing from? Also wheres the VAM at or are you using something else like a SDS/MAF?

140cilx · May 19, 2004

The tubing was pretty easy, I just bought mandrel bends and a Mig welder, learned to weld (still learning) and welded them up. Welding is a blast!

Wish I had a tuner, but I'm not there yet, so the VAM is hidden in the inner fender, supported by a bracket I made. I thought it looked cleaner that way.

-thanks, I'm glad you liked it, I worked my butt off on that thing.

Pro-Hawk · May 19, 2004

140cilx said:
the VAM is hidden in the inner fender, supported by a bracket I made. I thought it looked cleaner that way.

Thats fair out dude I bet it was a pain to get it set up that way I really need to get a air compressor, welder and a bench; I'm missing out on a lot of fun What are those pipes made of aluminum?

140cilx · May 19, 2004

Pro-Hawk said:
Thats fair out dude I bet it was a pain to get it set up that way I really need to get a air compressor, welder and a bench; I'm missing out on a lot of fun What are those pipes made of aluminum?

thanks again it was tough making a bracket and taking my time fabbing so future filter changes are a snap & no tubing rubs the chassis and is centered, but once done it's no biggy.

Pipes are standard galvanized I sanded, primered, painted after welding.

I've got big TB's ready to put on both cars now, so they are about to go under the knife again. Moving the VAM on the SVO to a a blow through setup just before the TB, and if I like the results may do so on the LX. If Stinger ever get's the bugs worked out of his tuner I might just copy him and go MAF on it though. dunno.

David Wilkinson · May 19, 2004

Like 140cilx, I welded up some mandrel bends (Dynomax 2½") for my setup. I use a stock upper intake, however.

There are a few photos of my setup in my album at foureyedpride.com, here:
http://www.foureyedpride.com/phpBB2/album_personal.php?user_id=1545

140cilx, beautiful work!

Dave

Pro-Hawk · May 19, 2004

David Wilkinson said:
Like 140cilx, I welded up some mandrel bends (Dynomax 2½") for my setup. I use a stock upper intake, however.

There are a few photos of my setup in my album at foureyedpride.com, here:
http://www.foureyedpride.com/phpBB2/album_personal.php?user_id=1545

140cilx, beautiful work!

Dave

Not bad the both of you I like the way your car looks like a plain Jane Capri, I bet you kill a lot of unspecting people with that car

David Wilkinson · May 19, 2004

The turbo engine is in my '90 Mustang, not in the Capri... The Capri now sports a 3.8 V6, which will be yanked this summer in favour of a 2.3 n/a with a 5 speed.

The Mustang, being red, and sporting 16" polished turbocoupe wheels, and dual tailpipes, doesn't really fool anybody...

Dave

Pro-Hawk · May 19, 2004

David Wilkinson said:
The turbo engine is in my '90 Mustang, not in the Capri... The Capri now sports a 3.8 V6, which will be yanked this summer in favour of a 2.3 n/a with a 5 speed.

The Mustang, being red, and sporting 16" polished turbocoupe wheels, and dual tailpipes, doesn't really fool anybody...

Dave

Well aslong as it don't look like a SVO, than you should do good Most people know what a SVO is now days so its heard for me to mess around with people

David Wilkinson · May 19, 2004

You'd probably have more luck around here, SVO's are few and far between here...

I've had a few people comment on the Turbo emblem I put on the hatch (replacing the LX emblem), so it gets noticed... That and the blow-off valve

I had a look at your site... Nice stuff! When do you expect the SVO to be running?

Dave

Pro-Hawk · May 19, 2004

David Wilkinson said:
You'd probably have more luck around here, SVO's are few and far between here...

I've had a few people comment on the Turbo emblem I put on the hatch (replacing the LX emblem), so it gets noticed... That and the blow-off valve

I had a look at your site... Nice stuff! When do you expect the SVO to be running?

Dave

I need a BOV they have to be fun

Thanks on the comment about the site. I could put her back together now but I'm undecided about my intakes. I got them port matched but I'm wondering if I sould knife edge the lower and gut the upper. I was just going to do the bottom but they say it want work right without a gutting upper. Well see I don't want to loose my low end toqrue because of no runners. I'm just not sure I want to spend all that time working on the upper either. I already spent a ton making it look nice and that was some work I'm just going to powder coat the lower to save me some time and make it look nice. Just don't know what to do

01PonyGT · May 19, 2004

David Wilkinson said:
Like 140cilx, I welded up some mandrel bends (Dynomax 2½") for my setup. I use a stock upper intake, however.

There are a few photos of my setup in my album at foureyedpride.com, here:
http://www.foureyedpride.com/phpBB2/album_personal.php?user_id=1545

140cilx, beautiful work!

Dave

Hey Dave,
Nice set-up in the Mustang. I assume that's a Volvo IC sandwiched between the a/c condensor and your radiator, right? I see that you elongated the top brackets to mount the radiator, but what did you do to support it at the bottom? Also, what radiator are you using?? I have Volvo IC sitting in the garage that I plan on mounting the same way when I get around to actually putting the 2.3T into my '92 Notch.

Thanks,
WES

David Wilkinson · May 20, 2004

Pro-Hawk,

I need a BOV they have to be fun

Oh, yeah!

About your intakes, if you invested time into port matching them and all, then I'd run them as they are, especially if you're apprehensive about losing torque with a gutted set-up! If you want to experiment later on with a gutted set-up, you could always get another intake set, and do the gutted/knife edge mod to them, and test the two set-ups back to back, and see which you prefer.

01PonyGT,

Yes, thats a Volvo intercooler.

On the bottom of the intercooler, I used a set of brackets that support the bottom of the radiator (pirated from the T-bird donor), and made little stand-offs (¾ to 1 inch) to raise the intercooler a bit (it's not as tall as the radiator). For the radiator, I used brackets that support the condensor, which I extended. The radiator is a 3-row I had made up at a local radiator shop, the core is the same width as the Volvo intercooler's (18 inch?). They used Mustang/T-bird tanks.

Dave

Pro-Hawk · May 20, 2004

David Wilkinson said:
Pro-Hawk,

Oh, yeah!

About your intakes, if you invested time into port matching them and all, then I'd run them as they are, especially if you're apprehensive about losing torque with a gutted set-up! If you want to experiment later on with a gutted set-up, you could always get another intake set, and do the gutted/knife edge mod to them, and test the two set-ups back to back, and see which you prefer.

01PonyGT,

Yes, thats a Volvo intercooler.

On the bottom of the intercooler, I used a set of brackets that support the bottom of the radiator (pirated from the T-bird donor), and made little stand-offs (¾ to 1 inch) to raise the intercooler a bit (it's not as tall as the radiator). For the radiator, I used brackets that support the condensor, which I extended. The radiator is a 3-row I had made up at a local radiator shop, the core is the same width as the Volvo intercooler's (18 inch?). They used Mustang/T-bird tanks.

Dave

Intakes.

I think your right If I get time I'm taking the lower to the pwoder coater today and be done with it. Once I get it back I will start putting her back together.

IC/Radiator.

So how hard would it be for you to reproduce this set up minus the Volvo IC ?

David Wilkinson · May 21, 2004

So how hard would it be for you to reproduce this set up minus the Volvo IC ?

If you mean install a different intercooler, I would take a different approach. On my Capri, I checked, and it looks like I can snake a 2½" pipe between the radiator and the rad support. If I swap a 2.3 Turbo into the Capri (possibly next year), I'd run a TC intercooler up front and run the pipes by the radiator, and not have to change the radiator, relocate the overflow bottle, or anything like that.

Dave

Pro-Hawk · May 21, 2004

David Wilkinson said:
Yes, thats a Volvo intercooler.

On the bottom of the intercooler, I used a set of brackets that support the bottom of the radiator (pirated from the T-bird donor), and made little stand-offs (¾ to 1 inch) to raise the intercooler a bit (it's not as tall as the radiator). For the radiator, I used brackets that support the condensor, which I extended. The radiator is a 3-row I had made up at a local radiator shop, the core is the same width as the Volvo intercooler's (18 inch?). They used Mustang/T-bird tanks.

Dave

I was just wondering about getting a set of FMIC/Radiator brakects for my SVO

Intercooler

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