Intercooler project

[dakman]

I put my BS on ramps to look underneath for future maintenance. While grabbing my ramps I ran across my ic out of my ST which really grabbed my attention. It had barely 4k on it when replaced with a steeda. After dropping the felt pan I still couldn't see the ic. I could get some measurements. The inlet and outlet are the same width. I looked up a pic of the oem ic. The end tanks are a little different. The mounting looks very close, a little bracket for the top mount. The st one is taller and appears a little thicker. Next weekend maybe I'll take off the bumper cover and see if I can make it work and if it is bigger.

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[galavoxx]

Did you ever get into this?

 

[dakman]

I actually haven't yet. I want to pull the bumper which is a little more work than my ST and just haven't yet. I want to trim the lower bumper but Ford put the ecu right where I want to trim so I've been holding out some while figuring out if I can do what I want. When I get to that point the active grill shutters are coming out also.

 

[galavoxx]

Sounds good. I want to pull my bumper as well, just to install some horns. I saw how much work was involved and haven't put the time aside just yet. I'm not even familiar with the active grill shutters. I will have to look into that.

 

[dakman]

They shouldn't affect putting some horns on but will present a prob on a larger ic plus living in one of the hottest places around I don't want them getting stuck closed.

 

[Osco]

If your having cooling issues maybe get it looked at ?
That’s a lot of additional cooling.
Your thermostat will close more.
Desert or not seems like overkill.

 

[dakman]

No cooling problems but heat soak is a real thing.

 

[Mark S.]

No cooling problems but heat soak is a real thing.

Heat soak is an issue for turbocharged cars that use intercoolers. The intercooler reduces the heat added to intake air by the turbocharger. Once the intercooler gets hot (heat soaked) it looses cooling effectiveness, and the PCM must cut engine power output to prevent detonation. This can make your engine feel sluggish.

Heat soak will occur if ambient temperatures are high and:

• you're in stop-and-go traffic.
• an off-road driving situation requires sustained slow speeds.
• you're in a road race.
• etc.

As soon as you are moving fast enough to restore air flow the intercooler will regain cooling effectiveness. An upgraded intercooler can increase the amount of time before heat soak occurs, and reduce the time required to regain cooling. I can see how this would be beneficial in a road race, but I think it would only delay the inevitable in stop-and-go traffic or off-road scenarios.

What is your primary goal by upgrading your intercooler? Intercoolers are a popular upgrade for the Mustang EcoBoost community, but they cost upward of $500 plus installation. That's a lot of scratch compared to the benefits for typical, everyday driving conditions.

 

[dakman]

My typical everyday drive is on a 75 mph highway in the middle of nowhere with a very high volume of semi traffic. I feel heat soak everyday on my way home. I happen to have a ic that may or not be larger I don't have to purchase. I do plan on tuning this engine not to make it faster but for better driveability. I think there are others that are interested in this so just sharing.

 

[Meanderthal]

Heat soak is an issue for turbocharged cars that use intercoolers. The intercooler reduces the heat added to intake air by the turbocharger. Once the intercooler gets hot (heat soaked) it looses cooling effectiveness, and the PCM must cut engine power output to prevent detonation. This can make your engine feel sluggish.

Heat soak will occur if ambient temperatures are high and:

• you're in stop-and-go traffic.
• an off-road driving situation requires sustained slow speeds.
• you're in a road race.
• etc.

As soon as you are moving fast enough to restore air flow the intercooler will regain cooling effectiveness. An upgraded intercooler can increase the amount of time before heat soak occurs, and reduce the time required to regain cooling. I can see how this would be beneficial in a road race, but I think it would only delay the inevitable in stop-and-go traffic or off-road scenarios.

What is your primary goal by upgrading your intercooler? Intercoolers are a popular upgrade for the Mustang EcoBoost community, but they cost upward of $500 plus installation. That's a lot of scratch compared to the benefits for typical, everyday driving conditions.

I can't see how any power would be lost in slow speed situations. The turbo will essentially be doing nothing, whether that is stop-n-go traffic or an off road climb. Now maybe it could get heat soaked during that situation and when you really step on the throttle for some reason it might be a little warmer and take a second to cool back down. It won't be until you are in a boost scenario that heat soak would become an issue.

 

[dakman]

Ya I don't drive much at all in slow traffic stop and go. I do constantly have to avoid semis and don't need my vehicle hesitating when I need to move fast. I'm well versed on ics and tuning

 

[galavoxx]

Ya I don't drive much at all in slow traffic stop and go. I do constantly have to avoid semis and don't need my vehicle hesitating when I need to move fast. I'm well versed on ics and tuning

nice.

 

[Mark S.]

My typical everyday drive is on a 75 mph highway in the middle of nowhere with a very high volume of semi traffic. I feel heat soak everyday on my way home.

If you're driving 75 mph then there is more than sufficient air flow through the intercooler to prevent heat soak. Here's an article about someone running their 1.5L Bronco Sport on the German autobahn at nearly 119 mph, which is 1 mph less than Ford's advertised top speed for the vehicle. If you look closely in the photo you can see ambient temp is 71F. It seems to me if heat soak at speed were an issue with this car then this would not have been possible.

Have you done any testing to determine if your charge temps are significantly higher than ambient at speed? There are apps you can use to get the data.

I get it if you're just tinkering, but it sounds like you are looking for better performance (more power). I'd suggest getting the data before putting all the effort into major vehicle modifications.

 

[ScareCrow]

Ya I don't drive much at all in slow traffic stop and go. I do constantly have to avoid semis and don't need my vehicle hesitating when I need to move fast. I'm well versed on ics and tuning

Intercooler....... I got you intercooler baby!




Full Article, crazy shi#!...... love it.

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