Some of you may have seen my 3" intake horn thread. I picked up an aluminum ps intercooler for $80.

My truck is an auto with ac. I had to relocate the stock transmission cooler. I moved the ac rad back to right infrot of the rad. Placed the intercooler in front of the ac condenser. It was a fairly easy install but I do have 2 welders and a plasma cutter that made it much easier.

Things that are required:

1. Notch out rad support where intercooler tubes pass through.
2. Removed existing intercooler mounting brackets.
3. Mount ac rad and removed existing mounts on the sides.( I welded a bracket to the top and bolted it on and made two holders for the bottom out of angle iron.
4. Cut out hood latch support piece.
5. Cut off intercooler mounting tabs.
I welded my own tabs to the top of the ic and made it sit in a little angle iron tray on the bottom.
6. Notch the sheetmetal piece that the grille attaches too.
7. I did not have to modify the grill in any way.

I still have to move my batteries over so I'm not 100% done yet but will finish up tomorrow. More pictures and driving results tomorrow. BTW I filled my stock IC up with water and there were about 20 small leaks in it, wonder if it had any affect on my boost. Before numbers were 30psi and max 1000deg pre-turbo.

http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs094.snc1/4690_218608930098_639050098_7083985_5101463_n.jpg
http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs094.snc1/4690_218608935098_639050098_7083986_4266296_n.jpg
http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs094.snc1/4690_218608945098_639050098_7083988_2518609_n.jpg
http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs114.snc1/4690_218608950098_639050098_7083989_338220_n.jpg
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http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs114.snc1/4690_218608960098_639050098_7083991_2090839_n.jpg

I like that passenger side pipe - gonna get plenty of flow through there! :cool:

nice looking tubes, exspecially the welds.

looks real good. How do you like that he351cw?

Got the install completed. Off to test drive now.

I love the he351. I only wish it had a *slightly* larger turbine housing.

In my opinion it is great for a daily driver, responsive, keeps cool, CHEAP. Lets face it 99% of first gens are under 400hp. This turbo fits that power level awesome. An ht3b could be added for a cheap twins setup as well.

Nice work.

and beautiful welds.

very nice, what are your egts like with the he351 and is there anything done to your pump?

Nice install! Did you put the A/C condenser in between the IC and the rad, or out front?

I think he sandwiched it in between I/C and Rad....Man...very nice welds..steady hand...

How many psig can the PS IC hold? :confused:

Not only is he a pipe fitter but a welder too. Fantastic job. Ok whats the verdict on the boost? EGT? Power? And as BC847 ask how much boost will the PS I/C hold? Anyone know? You PS I/C guys whats the max boost you have thrown at it? Good job on your truck.

I have only thrown 34 psi at my 89 with the ps cooler. I am trying to make the stock head gasket live.

Ac condenser is sandwiched between the rad and intercooler. I figured its the best way without disconnecting it and it fits nicely by the stock rad.

Driving results. Biggest difference I noticed is the sound and high rpm response. I have my silencer ring in but it sounds like I removed it. I can hear the turbo singing at high rpm now. Must be flowing a larger volume of air.

I picked up 2-3psi of boost. This is surprising as I was hoping to lose some boost. I guess my stock ic was leaking quite a bit. Egts stayed the same, but it takes longer to get to 1000deg. My opinion is that I am not pushing enough fuel to notice a difference in egts. If I had aftermarket injectors or a smaller turbo and was running 1300 degrees or more then I would expect some temp drops. I'm sure the intake air temps are lower. It is also slower to spool up. Not very noticeable though.

Power has increased, most noticeably at higher rpms.

I am running a PDR rebuilt injection pump. They label it as their 230hp pump which as far as I know is just the fuel screw tweaked a bit.

My dads friend has a powerstroke with the cummins swapped in. He ran the stock ps ic with twins and quite a bit of boost 50+ and the ic held up. It is all aluminum.

http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs114.snc1/4690_219121550098_639050098_7095382_4975504_n.jpg

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Sdubfid, those are some smooth lookin' pipes you got there, looks awesome. I am rounding up parts and researching to do mine as well. On the drivers side, did you use a 45* elbow, or is that a custom job?

at the beginning of the thread, you mentioned you cut out the hood latch support piece. Was this to let the PS ic in, and then you welded it back on, or did you modify the latch?

Could not one plumb in a "boost"-gauge between the turbo and inter-cooler, as well as the common one after the inter-cooler, and thereby monitor just how much boost-pressure differential there is ??

It would be an interesting comparison between the original I/C and the larger ones.


On another note, it would be advisable when reworking the hood-latch to install an emergency release cable, just in case the modifications bring on the early demise of an already weakened/aged hood-release.:cool:

Yah I'm going to look into an emergency release. All that was modified on the hood latch was removing the bar that runs vertically down to the lower rad support. It didn't do much anyways.

Yes you could run 2 boost gauges before and after the intercooler. This would tell you the pressure drop of the ic. The powerstroke intercooler is still garbage compared to a spearco core for example. It is an improvement over stock but not much. Its still an OEM piece and oem does not design things for performance.

The elbow I used for the 45 is just a 90 cut in half.

How many psig can the PS IC hold? :confused:Mine holds 40 psi on a regular basis. :)

Mine holds 40 psi on a regular basis. :)
Not to hijack the mans thread . ..
I guess truthfully my real question is can the PS IC regularly hold at least 75psig. :D I'm running one of the early Banks pre91.5 ICs (like Crossy's son's Dad's got for sale). It can be improved upon. ;)


sdubfid, that's a smart install and certainly some fancy torch-work. ;)

I was able to retain my safety latch by simply grinding about 3/8" (the max I felt comfortable with) off the bottom of the hook and position the IC so it just cleared with the hood closed. I actually dented the top of it a bit during the fitting process, but it works, you have to get everything positioned "just so." [duhhh]

I cut mine in the middle and took a section out. I then re welded it back together.





http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg308/1958johndeere620/2ndcoolerinstallpics005.jpg




http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg308/1958johndeere620/2ndcoolerinstallpics003.jpg

i just moved mine over.

My latch just dented the top of the cooler and it will stay that way. I have to just close the hood slower. I may try grinding the bottom. Thanks for the idea.

BC847- no need to worry about hijacking, you can do whatever you want haha, I am grateful for your writeups. Is the banks ic the same dimensions as the stock one? Personally if I had your truck I wouldn't use a ps intercooler (depends on your budget though). Only reason I used a ps intercooler is because I'm young and cheap. I would go to an aftermarket core and weld custom end tanks on like that glhs guy has. My dad said his friend went down 200degrees from the ps intercooler to the replacement spearco intercooler.

is the inlet and outlet of the cooler roughly in the same location of the factory cooler?
im hoping to swap one in my truck soon, and was wondering how i was going to plumb it in

roughly in the same location just a tiny bit wider. Nothing major.

is the inlet and outlet of the cooler roughly in the same location of the factory cooler?
im hoping to swap one in my truck soon, and was wondering how i was going to plumb it in


On yours you have to make the holes bigger in the core support but they are close to the same. My 89 on the other hand,, Choppy choppy.[laugh]

What is everyone using for a PS intercooler?

Ford Power Joke, Power Smoke, Rattle Joke.

Ford just calls it Power Stroke

99-01 aluminum ends. I believe is the right model they use. Don't get one with plastic ends I hear it can't handle higher boost.