BanningCohen.com > Buick > Powerstroke

Powerstroke Intercooler Overview
Last Updated: 9/18/2004

DISCLAIMER:
The pictures you see here are NOT of my car.

All this information was gathered from various sources on the Internet (Web pages, emails, etc.). I am simply gathering this information and putting it together all in one location for everyone to see.

If you have any questions please feel free to email me, but please look at the Links and Contacts sections below first.

Navigation:

Background & Misc. Info

Powerstroke Intercooler
Photo courtesy of: The Dodge Garage Intercooler ID Page

I became interested in this project back in September of 2001 while coming across the subject on the www.turbobuick.com tech forum. Since then, I have gathered all the info I could, and even took some pictures myself (see link to pictures of GNX423's car below). I have yet to start this project myself, but am seriously considering to do so this winter.

The intercooler in question, is one from the Ford Powerstroke Diesel (F-250 & 350) pickup trucks ('99 and newer). The majority of information I've seen appears to say that everyone is using the intercooler from the 1999 - 2001 model years. Noe, there are two variations of this intercooler. 1) An all aluminum version (core and end tanks). 2) A composite/plastic version (aluminum core, composite/plastic end tanks). Reports are sketchy if the all aluminum version was a factory piece, or if it is now available from Ford as a factory replacement. The majority of people that have done this swap into a Turbo Buick have used the plastic/composite version. No durability issues have been reported as of yet. Rhumor has it that this intercooler can handle well over 30# of boost.

Most of the Turbo Buick bulletin boards have had several threads discussing the topic of this intercooler install. It appears that the primary appeal of this intercooler is it's size and price. With that being said, it is also important to know (Disclaimer) that to the best of my knowledge, there have not been any detailed tests on this intercooler versus the other frontmount intercoolers being marketed for the Buick community. The people that have done this install (10+) all seem to be pretty satisfied (besides the sometimes lengthy install time) with the end result. I have NOT seen anyone say that this intercooler did not improve performance... but at the same time, there have not been any back-to-back tests versus stock.

 

Specs & Part Numbers

SPECS:

  • Ford Powerstroke diesel Intercooler dimensions:
    Source: http://www.thedodgegarage.com/turbo_coolers.html

    • 39" x 18" x 2.5"
    3" I/O

  • Dimensions, flow & cooling areas:
    Source: turbobuick.com

    Core size:
    PTE: 4.5x11x18.5
    Ford: 2x18x30

    Crosssectional (flow) area:
    PTE: 49.5 sq in
    Ford: 36 sq in

    Cooling area (area getting hit by fresh air):
    PTE: 203.5 sq in
    Ford: 540 sq in

  • Turboford.org Powerstroke stats:
    Source: turbobuick.com

    • Flow: 351cfm.
    Inlet/outlet temps: 289/92
    Pressure drop: .02
    Heat rejected: 73305 btu/hr
    Calculated heat exchange area: 3278 square inches.

    http://www.turboford.org

  • More to come (under development).

PART NUMBERS:

  • Turbonut (Indianapolis,IN)
    raflyer@home.com
    Here are the part numbers from NAPA.

    • - (Walker exhaust) #41972-1ea
    - #42344-1ea
    - #41685-3ea
    - #620 2.5-3Ft
    - Cotton's adapter hose is $22.00

    I have a total of 335.80 in the whole deal!! All the tubing listed is 3" mandrel bent aluminized tubing.

  • REDS HOT AIR (newport news, va)
    redsbdassel@home.com
    I run 2 1/2 piping so i got two 3-2 1/2 adapter hoses from percision turbo and a 2-2 1/2 adapter for coming off the turbo.

    - (All pipes are aluminized 2.5" mandrel bent exhaust tubing)
    - (1) Stock uppipe
    - (2) 90* bend 2.5" pipes.
    - (1) "U" shaped bend 2.5" pipe cut in half.
    - (1) 2.5" to 2" reducer hose from Precision Turbo.
    - T-bolt hose clamps.
    - High pressure 2.5" hose.

  • More to come (under development).
Photos

Misc. photos seen online:

 

 

Instructions

  • Turbonut (Indianapolis,IN)
    raflyer@home.com
    Instructions: On my 86 I had to cut the core support a little for the pipes and trim the inside of the header panel. Mine is drag only so I just hacked away but after looking at it, there is just enough room for it to fit and keep the high beams. One other thing I left out of the parts list was the adapter from Cotton's from the turbo to the 3" IC pipe. I got some 3' mandrel bends for NAPA and some connectors a exhaust reducer to meet up with the turbo. I also made a air dam out of a 30 gallon trash can to direct air to the radiator so it would not heat up (yes intercooler covers the entire thing).

    For pictures see: http://www.angelfire.com/super/buickgn/Powerstroke_page.html
  • REDS HOT AIR (newport news, va)
    redsbdassel@home.com
    Date: 11/3/01
    Instructions: I've got mine in now too. as far as dropping it down to not stick above the radiator support you would have to cut out the whole support that bolts the rad. support to the frame which to me would not be worth it . i took my time and only cut what was needed as far as around the headlight buckets and i have my high beams in. i dont have side to side adjusters but i moved the spring from the corner of the headlight bucket to the bottom center of it directly below the top adjuster so the up and down adjuster still works and if you drill the hole far enough back to put plenty of tension on the spring you can set the side to side manually and they are tight enough that they shouldnt move.

    Date: 11/19/01
    I forgot who but somebody posted that they had fliped em (headlight adjuster to the oppposite side of the headlight bucket) but cant remember who it was. on my high beams i took the spring from the corner of the bucket and drilled a hole for it at the bottom center of the bucket ...if you drill the hole in the header panel back far enough to have plenty of tension on it you can manually set the side to side and you still have the acjuster for up and down. i have put just over 1,000 miles on my car since then and they havent moved yet. i got adapter hoses from presicion turbo and dropped to 2 1/2 at the i/c it makes life alot easier and will flow way more than the t/b will. im still using a stock uppipe in my plumbing but its the pipe coming off the turbo toward the inlet of the i/c other than that pipe i got mandrel bent ext tubing from jc whitney and did the rest of the bends... after fitting all the pipes you will need a bead of weld around the end of every pipe for the hose clamp to get a grip on.

    For pictures see: Photos of Reds Hot Air's Buick
  • WSLN 6 (Saskatoon, SK.Canada)
    sean.friesen@sk.sympatico.ca
    Date: 12/06/01
    Instructions: I am right in the middle of the Ford IC install. There is a lot of cutting to do, but I think it depends if the intercooler has plastic end tanks or not. Mine has aluminum tanks, and they seem to take up a bit more room than the plastic, people's pics for the install were a little different from mine. On the other hand, I was able to port the inlet/outlet on the aluminum tanks, and it should
  • dfast1 (laMonte, MO)
    fast_v6@hotmail.com
    Date: 12/10/01
    Instructions: I ran 2.5 inch piping. Three inch looked impossiable if i didn't cut into the fenders to istall it. My biggest problem was getting the piping to fit. i had to take it to a exchaust shop and have them bend the tubing for me. It looks awesome and i still have my high beams and everything.
  • GNX423 (Englishtown, NJ)
    Email: GNX423@hotmail.com
    Iused a torch, because it was the only thing i had. after the cutting it does fit in there pretty good.

    For pictures see: Photos of GNX423's 87 GN
  • More to come (under development).

 

Performance Claims
  • gn4u2c (Baltimore, MD)
    gn4u2c@hotmail.com
    Date: 6/20/01
    If someone in the Baltimore area has a scanner ,or digital camera I can bring my car over for pics that can be posted it's installed car does not overheat and it's a very noticeable improvement I was stuck at 12.0's and 12.1's last week I went 11.70 and it was almost 15 deg hotter outside everything else the same. I did adjust the boost some I had knock at 22 lbs wit 110 before now no knock until 24/25 range could be faster
  • Turbonut (Indianapolis,IN)
    raflyer@home.com
    Date: 7/31/01
    side street testing showed some good results so far, Boost is 4 psi HIGHER! Outlet pipe is substantially cooler to the touch than the inlet to the IC.

    Date: 8/03/01
    I did some checking with my temp sensor, outlet at turbo was 148, inlet to TB was 85, ambient temp was 82!!! That was highway driving.

    Date: 8/07/01
    The cheap 2"to 3" adapter I had on the turbo didn't hold, split a big hole in it! I'll be ordering the proper one from cotton's tomorrow, that being said, I only got 150' pass out of it. I compared the DS info from todays short 150' blast to the one I had with the 11.98 run (stock IC). It was 8 degrees hotter tonight than the previous run, and I had the same 60ft times (1.78). The 11.98 pass was 3.68 at 150', 4.96@330', today was 3.0@150' and 4mph faster! I coasted from exactly that point to a 5.1 330!! Folks that was with 6psi LESS boost. 60'-- -- 1.78 330- -- 5.14 660---- 9.21 mph--- 53.06 1000 13.78 1320 18.34 mph 46.92
  • TurboJohnLarkin (Columbus, OH)
    Jlarkin2@columbus.rr.com
    Date: 8/08/01
    Guys, his (Turbonut's) IC fits real nice and with the side tank inlet and outlets, there's no under-coresupport issues as with traditional FM's or with misaligned piping. The thing fits just fine around the radiator. Plenty of room for the hoses to slide on. Only issue there was, is how to mount the high beams since the end tanks have ears that protrude into the headlamp bucket area. That can be addressed in time though. He got a 1.78 60' level as heck on an 8psi launch
  • REDS HOT AIR (newport news, va)
    redsbdassel@home.com
    Date: 12/07/01
    So far nobody seems to have a problem running hot with the ford i/c with stock cooling system because the air can flow thru it were the others have the big tanks blocking up the radiator. Ihave duel fans on mine with the ford i/c and i dont see a problem but wont know for sure till i turn the a/c on next summer

    Date: 12/06/01
    first road trip (with powerstroke intercooler) mine got alil warm but i hadent put the air dam back under the radiator support. since i've put that back on i can run it hard on the highway and dont even sweat it. i have a duel fan set-up on my car but dont ever need the second fan...that may change when running ac this summer. i really like my i/c its big its bad and its wont getin my way when changing my turbo.
  • cool 84 (Bakersfield, CA)
    serrenia@webtv.net
    Date: 12/06/01
    I just thought I'd share this. I had a small FM IC before the powerstroke in which the tanks blocked a lot of the airflow and the core was almost 4" thick. Even going down the freeway if I turned my fans off the car would overheat. I had to be going in the 100mph range to be able to turn the fans off in the summer time. I noticed a couple months ago on my first drive with the Ford IC I had forgotten to turn my fans on and even after the 20 min trip home averaging about 40mph the car was dead on 160. Has anyone else had the same experience? It seems to make no difference whatsoever on engine cooling vs no intercooler.

 

  • More to come (under development).
Links

Note: For turbobuick.com and turbobuicks.com, go to either site and do a search for "Ford intercooler", "Powerstroke", etc. It is to hard for me to post all the links to these sites, they are always changing, thus making it to hard for me to keep on top of.

Powerstroke links:

 

Contacts

Note: Not all of these people have done the instal, but they have been involved in one way or another (gotten parts, helped a friend with instal, etc.). In addition, the user names listed are mostly from www.turbobuick.com. There may be some from www.turbobuicks.com.

  • gn4u2c (Baltimore, MD)
    Email: gn4u2c@hotmail.com
  • Turbonut (Indianapolis,IN)
    Email: raflyer@home.com
    Vehicle info: 87 Turbo T, 3450lbs with me in it, PTE51, Budget FMIC , stock longblock and TC, 62mm JJ T-body, MSD 50's, 16 pos Maxeffort, 340&hotwired, THDP w/3"single shot exhaust, 90/10frt-60/40rear shocks, longer boxed lower arms, snubber, airbags, batt in trunk, fiberglass hood, Directscan, egt, etc. etc. 11.38@119 1.62 60' 7.31@94 1/8th
  • cool 84 (Bakersfield, CA)
    Email: serrenia@webtv.net
    Vehicle info: 84 hotair GN. Stock longblock and a couple boltons. 12.9 @ 110.3mph 2.3 60' 18psi. Just another hotair slug. Updated: T-64, ported heads and intake, Ford FM IC, 009s, 206-206 comp cam, KB headers, LT 3" DP, Max Effort, 3,200rpm convertor, and a bunch of little stuff. No times yet.
  • GNX423 (Englishtown, NJ)
    Email: GNX423@hotmail.com
    Vehicle info: 86 GN,.30 over, ported irons ,MM208, 62mm Tbody,009's,reds chip,hotwired 340,atr cold air. *new*TA51 turbo,"Budget" front mount IC.
  • flynbrian (Eustis, Florida)
    Email: Stangjunka@yahoo.com
    Vehicle info: I posted wanted ads on the different Ford Diesel sites, within an hour I had purchased one out of 2001 powerstroke dually for $150.00 delivered to my door.
  • REDS HOT AIR (newport news, va)
    Email: redsbdassel@home.com
    Vehicle info: hot-air motor running 13:0's when pulled with stock turbo,injectors and stock chip.(gotta figure out what to put it in) 87 motor best with ta-49 turbo 11:60 @121.5.!! with a 1.91 60 stock pistons with total seals 204-214 speed pro cam two steel shim head gaskets arp head bolts now has pte-51 jj t/b msd 50's self ported heads and intake powerstroke i/c with 2 1/2 plumbing walbro 340 only street trim pass on jl 93 chip 12:07@114 with 1.95 60ft only full pass on JL 110 chip 11:60@121.54 with 1.91 60 ft stock d5 converter boxed and polly bushed rear control arms
  • TurboJohnLarkin (Columbus, OH)
    Email: Jlarkin2@columbus.rr.com
    Vehicle info: 87 GN: TA-54, stretch IC, 55lbers, 3"DP/Exh, SMC, 3200 PTS 9/11 conv, stacked plate trans cooler, cold air, billet AFPR, Walbro 340 hotwired, JTesta chip
  • six shooter (San Diego,CA)
    Email: sterhighman@webtv.net
    Vehicle info: I just bought one of these (Ford Intercoolers) and your part number is the same as the one on my box.
  • bruce
    Email: nacelp@bright.net
    Vehicle info: I drove over to Rob's (Turbonut), and after looking at his I will be doing it to mine. If you never had done sheetmetal work, figuring on taking a while, it's close in a few areas, but doable. I think he said he picked up a .4-.5 in the 1/4.
  • dfast1 (laMonte, MO)
    Email: fast_v6@hotmail.com
    Vehicle info: My car is basically stock except for fuel system and air filter. Red stripe inj and Walbro fuel pump hot wired. I didn't notice any boost gains but it was only set to 8 psi anyways. No extra lag. I noticed a lot more power than it had before when running the same boost levels.
  • turbowrenchhead (WI)
    Email: turbobuickwh1@aol.com
    Vehicle info: 84 Regal T WH1 50k original miles, Stage II shift kit, 87 radiator and electric fan, 87 coil, 87 ecm, caspers 25 degree timing chip, ATR cat back, test pipe and up pipe, cold air kit, heated O2, adjustable wastegate, SMC alcohol injection, 208-224 eastern cam, 90pd valve springs, Adjustable fuel pressure regulator, boost and knock gauge, BF drag radials, PTS 9/11 3200 stall. Ford f/m intercooler and turbomotion V2, Homemade 8 gauge hotwire kit. Welded and ported stock headers, Stock turbo and downpipe, 13.42 at 98.2 mph. Always more to come.
  • WSLN 6 (Saskatoon, SK.Canada)
    Email: sean.friesen@sk.sympatico.ca
    Vehicle info: 86 TR. Leather,column,astroroof. SMC alky,2800 stall,340 Walbro. Stock turbo,injectors,IC. Best time on street tires(No drag radials). 12.78 at 107.5mph 2.05 60ft. Soon to complete the Ford IC project.........
  • GS70350 (Jacksonville, Alabama)
    Email: GS70350@aol.com
    Vehicle info: 1984 black Turbo TType w/87 GN drivetrain. 12.9 @ 90mph. 1.7 short time.Lifting due to 3rd gear electrical crash.
  • More to come (under development).