Ace

There are three tricks to getting this done: 1) the condenser is rescessed about an inch behind the front face of the core support mounting surface. 2) The IC is mounted as high as possible. And 3) The original lower IC mounts must be removed completely. The grill seems designed to kinda curve more outward towards the top, so there's a little more room behind it higher up. Mine is actually touching the IC and pulled in a half inch on each bottom corner with the mounting screws, so it's not exactly right, as it should be. If I had been able grind the original lower mounts flush with the support, the valence triming would have been really trivial if necessary at all and it would have went on perfectly. But it's close enough. Someone witha smaller grinder or plasma cutter could do this easily.

There is one "gotcha to look out for. The top passenger side mount is extremely close to the AC condeser line outlet. This required fabbing a braket with the nut welded on. The is no way to get a wrench in there. Also, you can do it without removing the bumper, but it's tricky. There is enough room to slide the condernser and the IC in and out together at the same time, but not seperately. That might be possible but probably would have required removing more of the condenser mounting bracket than I was comfortable with. I had to bend the bottom edge of the battery tray in a half inch or so as to not abrade the hump hose. No biggie.

So here it is, blow, by blow.

This is what we're talking about, in case you are wondering why anybody would want to do this:

http://72.19.150.167/PhotoAlbum/Cars/Pics/CTD_98.jpg

Here's how the condenser goes back in. The bottom piece is a soft mount whose only purpose is to stabilize the condenser, since the two side hard mounts are fairly high up. Maybe not necessary, but I wanted to make sure it wasn't blowing in the wind.

http://72.19.150.167/PhotoAlbum/Cars/Pics/CTD_101.jpg
http://72.19.150.167/PhotoAlbum/Cars/Pics/CTD_99.jpg
http://72.19.150.167/PhotoAlbum/Cars/Pics/CTD_100.jpg
http://72.19.150.167/PhotoAlbum/Cars/Pics/CTD_102.jpg

Here's the top mounts. I cut the large bushed brackets off and used the smaller hole in back (can't see it here. This is what enables it to be mounted higher. The trick piece for the passenger side must be that small to avoid abraiding the condenser line. This is fairly light hardware, but plenty adequate. The bottom mounts provide most of the support.

http://72.19.150.167/PhotoAlbum/Cars/Pics/CTD_97.jpg
http://72.19.150.167/PhotoAlbum/Cars/Pics/CTD_103.jpg
http://72.19.150.167/PhotoAlbum/Cars/Pics/CTD_104.jpg

The IC must be tucked in this tight. There is about a quarter inch shaved off that back edge and it is right up against the middle support brace.

http://72.19.150.167/PhotoAlbum/Cars/Pics/CTD_105.jpg

Bottom mount. You can also see the other Ford cooler behind the bumper. That goes to the power steering.

http://72.19.150.167/PhotoAlbum/Cars/Pics/CTD_107.jpg

Here's what the valence needs. Minor really, a half x six inch piece off each side, more or less and a couple small dents.

http://72.19.150.167/PhotoAlbum/Cars/Pics/CTD_106.jpg
http://72.19.150.167/PhotoAlbum/Cars/Pics/CTD_108.jpg

And there it is. Three inches all the way through now, save for the ol' H1C

http://72.19.150.167/PhotoAlbum/Cars/Pics/CTD_109.jpg
http://72.19.150.167/PhotoAlbum/Cars/Pics/CTD_110.jpg
http://72.19.150.167/PhotoAlbum/Cars/Pics/CTD_111.jpg

It cools alot better. I only had it out a couple times today, and EGT seems to be averaging around 100 degrees cooler. But I lost about 5lbs boost. Guess I'm in the market for a compressor upgrade now. It should be able to sustain some really heavy towing. I'm not too impressed by engines that can only generate big numbers for a short period of time. It's ready for some real fuel and serious work one of these days.

We wanted to make sure the pics were available as long as DTR is around, so I've attached the first 5 to this post. Further on I have posted the rest. The links in this post work for now, but if that changes the attachments will still be here - wannadiesel

Bubba29

Is that a factory intercooler? If not what is the year range that can be fabbed in like your's?

farmer0_1

looks good , wonder if i can stuff somthing of that nature behind that 78 dodge grill when the time comes.

bigragu

ace, you have a nice...I mean really nice, looking rig. Now, is that IC off of a 7.3, 6.0, or the 2008 6.4 ?

MikeThomas

Ace, I really appreciate the time you put into fabrication. A little patience and a lot of measuring shows in the final product. Kudos to the work! Keep us posted on the IC and how it affects your mods! PS: Love the grill guard, might have to make one for myself!

Ace

Thanks, it was supposed to be for a 2000 7.3. At least that's what the eBay ad said. But I don't trust much I see on eBay. Looks just like Wanna's, judging by comparing the pics.

Seems the boost issue is pretty much only at max boost. Normal boost levels seem about the same, with a bit more lag. It obviously takes alot more air to fill that thing up now. But it won't go much over 20lbs. under full load anymore, where before I was at around 25. It's a good example of how the stock package was a really well matched setup. Now I have a much better intake tract, but not enough air (or fuel! ) for it.

BTW, the old kit is in the classifieds. Cheap, all good.

wannadiesel

That's very nice! Way to think outside the box, Ace! I never thought about putting the condenser behind the IC. The only drawback i can think of is the A/C might not work well while pulling heavy up a hill in hot weather. I think I'm gonna redo mine sometime this summer.

Ace

I thought of that too. But those situations are a small amount of time compared to most normal daily driving, and it won't hurt anything, so I figured, what the heck. That was the only way I could see to do it without major surgery.

Besides, what's the priority: Lower EGT or lower AC temp?

Oh, and I noticed on a hard top gear run going home on the interstate today it pushed up to 23psi. So looks like I only lost a couple pounds of max boost. It does seem to like running on cooler air better in any case, though.

kiszka6911

Does the hood safety latch still work as intended or did it need to be modified. Secondly what is more import cool working truck or cool comfortable occupants?

Did you use the cooler tubes of the passenger side from the turbo to the intercooler. Can you get a picture of that routing?

Thanks

Ace

Yes, the hood latching is not affected at all, and I do have the 3" tube connecting the turbo to the IC. It's not really much to see, just a straight piece of 3" pipe replacing the stocker.

I'm really looking forward to seeing the results of a compressor upgrade pushing alot more air through there, maybe sometime later this summer.

kiszka6911

Are you stock now? I have the HTT stage 3 and the 16cm housing. Did Tim provide you the straight 3"?

Ace

Yes, and yes. Putting the 16cm exhaust housing on is all I've done with the turbo so far. I was intending to go straight to an HTB2 and EDMs or something like that, but ran out of money.

Mcmopar

Nice Job!! Very nice truck!!

Why didn't you use the second gen dodge intercooler? Has anyone been able to squeeze the IC, radiator and AC condenser in a 72-89 Dodge? I am putting a CTD in my 75 and I want to keep the stock grill AND keep my A/C.

Ace

Thanks. I heard tell the Powerstroke cooler was a close fit and found one on fleaBay for what seemed like a good price, so I just went with that. No idea about the dimensions or anythng else on the later Dodge coolers. G1625s put a 3rd gen cooler in his, but that thing is huge and required major modifcation to the frame. The only actual chassis modification required to get the Powerstroke cooler in is cutting off the lower IC mounts.

2stroke

Wanna Come West And Do My Truck?