intercooler waste of money or not

[Vin82k3500]

Ok so I got an 82 chevy 1 ton srw wich i have had since i was 17 so i have had this truck for almost 22 years it has been trough many metamorphoses and recently a few months back is now a 6.2 diesel I have a turbo but have not installed the last 6 years I ran the truck with a gas v6. My plan is to do a duramax swap I have an nv4500 trans in it behind the 6.2 now my questin at hand is if I installed an intercooler would I benefit or would it be a waste of money I dont want to sound like a follower saying my buddies said but they all say I need one and the manufactures say these engines dont respond well to them personally to my satisfaction the engine has more than sufficient power with no turbo at allat least for me and what I am using it for right now I was just looking to see what i could get out of it but i may just save the cash for the duramax swap that I am dead set on and I am dead set against a cummins swap its a great alternative but a chevy aint a chevy if it sounds like a dodge aka six cylinder drone vs v8 bark and baving to chop my mint frame vs denting a downpipe.

[Vin82k3500]

suposed to say waste of money gues this is why i shouldnt type in the dark

[john8662]

It's all about boost.

Banks turbo setup gets you 9psi max, with some mods you can get 12max out of it.

With an intercooler you're taking up volume that the turbo has to make up for before your engine even sees boost pressure.

In the 5-12psi range the intercooler isn't really necessary. Sustained pressures of 9-12 you might, but lower than that not really.

It'd just contribute to the "turbo lag"

Turbo it, see how you like it. Intercool it and see if it helps or hurts.

For the test you'll need gauges. Boost, Pyrometer, Air Intake Temperature.

J

[More Power]

Those who use their truck to tow/work will see a benefit from an intercooler. An IC on a TD 6.2/6.5 isn't all that much of a benefit otherwise.

As an aside, I've talked to a couple Dmax conversion guys who are running their engine without an IC. In a light-duty use conversion, it's probably OK.

Jim

[Robyn]

There are some cool little gadgits from "Frozen Boost"

These are small sized liquid cooler charge coolers.

They dont take up much room and will take care of the heat from the 6.2/6.5 easily.

Simple glycol coolant system with an electric pump to cycle the glycol through the after cooler and then transfers the heat out through a small air cooler out front.

Easy to install and does not take up a huge amount of room.

The little charge coolers are small enough that you dont see the big turbo lag either.

As long as you can keep the charge air temp at ambient your OK.

The trouble comes when you start seeing intake air temps that are way above ambient. This is what really sends the EGT off into the OZONES.

Missy

[convert2diesel]

A couple of years ago, I saw an article from Europe where a guy used a heater core and placed it over the intake. A little duct work and he got an air tight seal. The neet thing was he didn't connect it to a glycol recirc pump but rather filled the heater core with Parrafin Wax and sealed up the two coolent ports.

His reasoning was this. Parrafin melts at 50 degrees C (122 F), When his intake air reached this temp. it would stabalize there for how ever long it took to melt all the parrafin. In his case, at full boost, about 6 minutes. Even on the autobahn at 100 MPH, his beemer never went over about 40C except on the hills. 6 minutes at 100 MPH is a looooong hill. He did say it took awhile to cool off (again the temps stayed at 50C until the wax solidified again) but he did say that during cool off he didn't need the boost so that was okay.

Anyways it seems to be a good idea if your up for some fab work. No pipes, intercooler lines, pumps etc. Just an old heater core and some thick wall sheet metal.

Bill

[Vin82k3500]

thanks for all the advice I am waiting for my custom bellhousing from the machine shop I got sick of the hydraulic clutch failure issues I had with the 4.3 slave cylinders and masters after i get that back I am putting my gm8 back on with a custom made piping system to clear all my assescories I am not in a big hurry to toss an intercooler on right now but when I swap in a d max I am not considdering not having one even though I will only run the duramax engine stock the truck does tow I am anxious to see the difference on hills with the turbo but consider this I allready have seen a difference over my last engine I can still maintain the speed limit towing a full size car on trailer up hill with my na 6.2 and our highway speed limit here is 75 mph was lucky to maintain 45 with the 4.3