intercooling my 6.5

[ktmracer]

well,i`ve been doing my homework and costantly read the diesel page, mucho good info on this site.today i got lucky and was able to get the intercooler from a 2001 ford powerstroke. the insurance company paid to replace the original one, but it was only slightly swayed, not broken.sooo, my ? is; for the people that have i/c`ed their truck, did you buy the setup as a complete kit or did you piece it togeteher? is there a decent place to find hoses,pipes,etc. of different sizes and shapes w/ out spending countless hours searching? i only have the intercooler, nothing else.also,when i finally accumulate enough stuff to do this, what, if any method should i use to raise the boost pressure? this truck is normally only moving when there is about 14,000lbs. hooked to it, so it`s primary goal in life is to tow.i am just looking for a little more power but i want to keep longevity and reliability at a maximum. the truck is a dually, that is not in my sig. i appreciate all the help y`all can give and any correct info.

[ktmracer]

so. noone here has any first hand knowledge or any good info. for this project? seems to me i see intercooled 6.5s listed on here all the time. who does these? i know some of you have the kind of info i need, so i`m asking again.thanks.

[pannhead]

for the pipes the best thing to to go to a good muffler shop..if you know how to weld you can get mandrel bend pipes from JC Whitney for a reasonable price...fitting that intercooler wont be easy....good luck ;)

[ktmracer]

pannhead,thanks. also, is this intercooler about the right size as what most people use? i do weld,fabricate,etc, and my brother in law owns a muffler shop. how about a place to pick up the rubber pipe connections? any good ideas?
btw, i used to own a `51 pan/shovel.

[pannhead]

i bet you're kicking yourself about getting rid of the pan ;) ....as for the intercooler i dont think its what most people use,although most people would like to..its alot of intercooler for such a small amount of space up front,not impossible though...just alot of stuff to think thru...for the rubber reducers and couplers etc the best place i found is e-bay,just search keyword: intercooler....iirc, the ps intercooler is for 3 1/2" pipe so you will need to reduce twice since reducers are only in 1/2" increments...another trick to remember is that you can turn the air horn (upper intake) 180 degrees which will take care of the space problem between the turbo and intake....there is someone on the DP that did a dodge intercooler and i was real impressed...hopefully he'll chime in....good luck ;)

[ktmracer]

pannhead, man, you`re right. i`ve been doing some preliminary measuring and there ain`t much room there! maybe i could mount it on the roof like a solar panel? any suggestions from anyone?

[britannic]

Originally posted by ktmracer:
pannhead, man, you`re right. i`ve been doing some preliminary measuring and there ain`t much room there! maybe i could mount it on the roof like a solar panel? any suggestions from anyone? Bear in the mind that long runs of piping to the roof will introduce turbo lag, as there will more volume to pressurize.

[Peter J. Bierman]

I did some intercooling things with alien material on my 6.2 TTD.
For more detail read the story Boost on a budget and get an idea what it takes. :rolleyes:
It can be done if you can fit in the intercooler.

Goodluck Peter

[grape]

I'm thinking the powerstroke IC would be tough to fit in the core support of the newer gen trucks. My old body style truck took the cutting of both uprights in the core support and fabricating new support braces for under the hood hinge. I was lucky there is just enough room for the cooler to slide in and the radiator can go back in the stock location. This isn't fun, i had the whole core support out trying to figure out how to mount it.

[GMCfourX4]

ktmracer;
I managed to squeeze a Dodge Cummins intetrcooler in front of my radiator, but it took quite a bit of work, and I still haven't finished with the plumbing (its in, but its not connected yet....) I had to cut out a significant portion of the two braces on either side of the radiator to get it to fit width-wise (the radiator fits almost perfectly between the inlet-outlet tubes), and I also had to go to electric fans, cut the excess portion of the water pump shaft, and go from studs to bolts on the water pump pulley. Because of the location of the tubes on the Cummins intercooler, I also ended up moving both batteries, and re-locating my airbox. I have ordered a couple pieces of aluminum plate, which I plan to cut to replace the upper intake. I'm going to cut a hole right in the middle of the plate, and have a mandrel-bent aluminum elbow welded in, so that there is much smoother flow, and I won't have that big upper intake piece obstructing the other things on top of the engine. I haven't got all the tubing I need yet, but I've decided to go with mandrel-bent aluminum, b/c I've heard that there can be issues with trying to keep steel from rusting inside (don't want anything flaking off and getting sucked into the engine) and the aluminum is also lighter. If you are interested in what I did, e-mail me at gmc4by@yahoo.com and I'll send you links to a few pictures I took, and some of the web-pages where I've found aluminum tubing and silicone connectors. It can be done, but I haven't seen anyone try the Ford intercooler yet. Good Luck!
-Chris

[cruzer]

GMCfourX4, The I/C I purchase as a Kit came w/steel tubing. From what I see, the air is inter-mixed with oil vapor from the CDR, so rust should not be a huge problem. My 2cts.

[ktmracer]

GMCfourx4,
i tried to e-mail you several times but it comes back as "undeliverable."

[GMCfourX4]

ktmracer.... Hmmm... I don't know why that would be. I got an e-mail from Peter Bierman.... The pics can be found here: FTP Site (ftp://66.152.236.149/TruckPictures) I haven't added any pics since I actually finished it and got it back on the road (well, it still isn't hooked up yet, I'm talking to a local exhaust/custom shop who mandrel-bends aluminum to see if I can get it done....). I also apologise for the poor quality of some of the pictures. I'm going to try to get them on a website or something that's easier to read/navigate. I also got some aluminum plate today from eBay, which I'm going to cut in the shape of the upper intake gasket, and use it to make a new upper intake. My idea is to take off the existing upper intake, and replace it with a flat plate with a piece of ~3" mandrel ben tubing which I can have welded in the center, and point whichever way makes it easiest (the tube will point straight down into the motor....) Hopefully I can take some more pics, and get them up there.

-Chris