Homemade intercooler

[Jim P]

I am thinking about making an aluminum tube grille, kind of like the ones that are available for the older Chevy trucks. The only difference is that the air from the turbo would pass through the tubes before entering the engine. I know you have to weld vertical tubes on each end to attach the turbo and intake lines to but I think it could be done. The only draw back is how efficient it would be at cooling the air. Any thoughts?

[pannhead]

obvious to all that there is a space problem with verticle intercooler installations....your idea in theory is VERY cool..i would only question the actual amount of heat transfer surface, ie (fins like on a radiator)...i really like the idea of the grill actually being the intercooler itself...you could name it a "stealth intercooler" and make a million bucks...then share some it with me :D

[Kidd]

Sounds like a winner to me. Think I might try it myself, stainless steel comes to mind, though black steel might be more efficient. :cool:
K.D.

[tom.mcinerney]

The notion is very cool. Rectangular crossection tubing might allow more volume for I/C flow.
But two considerations: 1.) Such a design might BLOCK too much flow to radiator, 2.)even with rect tubes you'd still have just a small fraction of the surface area provided by all the 'foil' between the tubes of a conventional heat exchanger. Don't know.

[Cowracer]

one hell of an inovative thought, but I think that cooling wouldn't be very good. The big factor in radiator (or intercooler) heat transfer is fin density, without fins, I dont know if you would get enough cooling to make it worth the effort.

The other question is what would you do it the idiot in the minivan at Home Depot backs into your grill and prangs it? Would the truck still run ok?

Tim

[Phil Holmen]

I saw somewhere that a guy made one for his mid 80's style truck out of copper tubing...

[mike micklich]

I had toyed the idea of a behind the grill cooler using comercial slant fin heater it like the baseboard stuff in your house but 1" tube but your idea sound neat use copper and paint it its better at conducting than steel or aluminum. Any cooling is better than no cooling!
I just got a small mack intercooler at the scrap yard for 20 bucks one tiny hole but it can work some how

[GMCfourX4]

I just finished making a Cummins intercooler fit behind my A/C condenser. It required a decent amount of cutting the square brackets on the radiator support, installing electric fans, moving the batteries, air filter, and radiator supports, but its in. I am still trying to find the pieces I need to plumb the thing (its in, but I'm still running turbo --> intake just like stock). I wanted an intercooler, but I didn't like the idea of spending upwards of $1200-$1300 to have the thing hanging below the bumper like that (I have scratches all over the plastic piece that sits there now, and can only image what would happen to my $1400 intercooler if something fell off the back of a truck on the highway...). I also think the flow potential is far better in the grille. I'm hoping there will be a dyno day up in the NE some time soon after I'm done so I can get some idea what the change is. The word on the street (Bill Heath reinforced this when I talked to him while purchasing my Turbo Master) is that the Cummins intercooler (2nd gen....) is one of the best stock intercoolers out there, and can handle gobs of boost quite well and quite efficiently. The intercooler itself only cost me ~$350, but others would have to weight that along with the electric fans (~$400) and all the mods/fabrication involved. If anyone knows where to get cast aluminum elbows, silicone couplings, etc, for a reasonable price, please let me know. (Its still pretty tight in there, and the inlet/outlet tubes are 3.75", which apparently is an odd size...)
I also toyed with the idea of putting in a water/air intercooler, with a separate radiator in front of the existing one to just cool the water for the intercooler... If I ever intercool a 6.5 again, this may be the way I go... :D

-Chris

-Chris

[JoeyD]

I would like to check out you progress if you don't mind. I am not that far from you. I have some ideas about using the Cummins intercooler as well so your project will help.
jdecampo@rcn.com

[kowsoc]

I like the tube grill thing also. One thing, even without fins, which are important, the tubes still have first shot at the fresh air rushing past. Any amount of cooling for the hot intake charge is a big help. Good luck, keep us informed. smile.gif

[jeffreydmet]

I really like this idea. I think it could be done with enough tubing to work fairly well. I also thought of another idea. I think someone artistic enough (such as an industrial designer) could disguise an intercooler with the fins and every thing that would fit between the uprights mounts of a brush guard. I've seen some guys like this make some pretty ugly mechanical things look cool.

Anyone up to the challenge? Maybe they could do some rough sketches.

[catmandoo]

i picked up some about 1 3/4 ribbed copper tubing from my junk man this stuff is fairly flexible if anyone is interested i could go get some more of it comes in about 3 ft lengths i was thinking of shaping the ends to a d shape and solder 2 together and then solder to say a radiator outlet pipe end i took a pic of it email me if you'ld like to look at it? kjmoore66@hotmail.com

[GMC Hauler]

I looked at the price of the intercooler from kennedydiesel.com and just cringed. So i did a search on ebay and found lots of intercoolers for sale at great prices. Like many posts i see, i dont want to put the intercooler so low on the truck or have to remove my skid plate. Can you put a fan on the intercooler (i have seen kits), and is is as efficent,less, or more than pushing air through it while you are driving? In this case, you may be able to put the intercooler between the frame rails. I want an intercooler also, but dont want to pay that price for one. Anybody fone this route??

[BuffaloGuy]

Hey GMC Hauler. Been there done that. I hung a digital thermometer in my proposed location (under the drivers seat right in front of the fuel tank) and got readings of over 120F real easy. I was surprised how warm it is under the truck. Not too bad empty but loaded it got very warm very fast.

Not a good location.
Ken

[MTTwister]

What about in the Front Wheel well - maybe with a gravel screen to protect it from debris? Higher pressure area, but not sure about air flow.