Im looking to intercool my truck now but im not sure what would be an ideal air cooler to get. I know that one of the powerstroke intercoolers could be had pretty cheap but don't know what year or how much psi they are good for. My truck will be going into body hopefully next week and this would be the best time to put one on while it is all apart. Thanks for the help

 

I cant think of the name but there is a member on here who has a powerstroke on his first gen.
I hear it is a lot of work to add an IC to an NON IC truck. I have looked into it a little but it looked like a lot of work and money.

 

I know there arew some people on here who have done it I was just looking for some info on what year the intercooler was and how much psi they are good for. Also looking to see if the ps cooler is the best option/bang for the buck

 

Unfortunately the early trucks have different grills and radiator supports. I guess you would have to pull your grill and do some measuring to see what would fit, the other option is to replace your front clip with a late 91 or newer to fit a resonable size air to air.
I installed an 03 Dodge air to air, it is huge, no room for the condensor unfortunately. I installed it on my 92 and saw a huge EGT drop over the stock unit.
Good luck

 

i plan on getting a new rad support and not a late 91 and up either

 

Sammy340 put a PSD intercooler in his, I'm sure he'll chime in when he sees this thread.

 

I put an intercooler on my 90 model I had. It wasn't a whole lot of work but some of it was already done for me I guess. I dont have any idea what it was from, just that it had 2.5 inch in/out. I bought used from SeriousDiesel.com.

It had tabs on it for mounting and he had TIG'd elbows on it so they wrapped around the radiator and back into the engine compartment of the truck (originally it had nipples that stuck straight out toward the headlights). I had to make all new intake plumbing, get a new intake horn (a shorter one that I could turn toward the drivers side), flip the plate around ontop of the manifold so that the intake hat was between cyl 3 and 4, as opposed to 4 and 5 to clear the master cylinder, and remove the A/C condensor.

The A/C condensor was no big deal b/c the A/C hadn't worked for several years.

One thing I recommend would be to look in the Summit catalog and order some of there U or J bend 2.5 inch mandrels. I did a terrible job with my intake pipes. For the 90* bends I used pre-bent radiator hose as boots that I had to go to several parts stores to find anything close to fitting, and for slight bends I miter cut straight pipes and arc welded them back together to make the bends.

Long story short, I had leaky pipes because I wanted it done that day and I didnt have the right tools or materials to do it right. My welds leaked (should have been TIG or MIG'd) and radiator hose didn't quite fit right. After I ordered all the stuff to take my time and do it right, I ended up wrecking it.

Hope that helps you some. I know you still dont know where to get the intercooler, but maybe some of the plumbing will be a little easier

Adam

 

I want to get a intercooler with 3in inlets and outlets and get a custom 3in intake made at the same time

 

I installed an air intake off a second gen. It is 3". I had to bend the #1 injection line to clear the second gen intake.

 

Well i ended up putting the PSD intercooler in my truck and yes i think it was definately worth it. It's hard to tell what "JUST" the intercooler did as i added a HTT stage 4 at the exact same time as i did the IC. But with my setup right now i can't hit over 800 F post turbo, whereas before it would be over 900 F within 5 seconds of WOT. This intercooler has 3" inlet/outlet and is huge. I'm sure it's very comparable to a new cummins IC as the one frostie has. I ended up welding all the IC tubing and let me tell you it can be tricky because the turbo outlet doesn't match to the IC inlet very well, depending on how you got it in there.

For the intake i just ended up cutting and welding part of the stock intake to make it work along with some 3" pipng and elbows. Pics in gallery. I have a second gen intake that i'd like to put on ASAP.


Jeff

 

Heres the dimentions for a ford ps intercooler 39" x 18" x 2.5"
3" I/O. Supposibly 99-04 are the best years to get for them and some of these years had plastic tanks and some were all aluminum, Im not sure why. Id guess the all aluminum like Sammy340 has would be better then the plastic tanks

 

Just for grins I ordered a Banks I/C for my 89 from a left coast vendor that still listed it on their site. Yea I know they don't make 1st gen any more but I thought maybe as an apparently uninformed vendor they might lean on them to knock one out. After I ordered I got an e-mail back saying it is a 2-3 week build, do I still want it? Heck yes!! I was feeling pretty good . After 4 weeks I emailed them about the delay. They said they needed another week to week and a half, did I still want it? Once again, heck yes!! A couple of days ago I got another email...sorry this item has been discontinued...jeez make up my mind .

Tim

 

If this is any thicker than stock 91.5-93 intercoolers it won't work with your 89-90 grill and hood latch support. Those 91-93 owners have more room in there for thicker IC's. Find out the thickness on the 91.5-93 IC. Mine is in the shop or I'd measure for ya. You can fit one in with your grill just have to trim a little material off the inside of the grill and make a small notch in the hood latch support.
Beyond that, the next option is an intercooled core support and grill. Or maybe a gasser core support from 91-93 and that style grill. Once you have the room between core support and grill, then you can start fitting odd and end IC's like our other members have done, such as 3rd gen, PSD, 2nd gen intercoolers etc.

 

Im not worried about hood latch, grill or the core support as I got that all covered already but I appreciate your concerns.

I mostly just want to know what the best intercooler to do the swap with (with decent price of course) would be whether its a 2nd gen or a PSD etc etc

P.S. bgilbert is your truck in getting the studs and orings/fire rings right now?

 

''I mostly just want to know what the best intercooler to do the swap with (with decent price of course) would be whether its a 2nd gen or a PSD etc etc''

Anything off a new truck is gonna be far and away better than even a 2nd gen IC. The 2nd gen IC is positively tiny when compared to either a 3rd gen, 6.0h-no or a d-max. Like was said, all three are going for next to nothing on e-bay 'cause the owners are 'stepping up' to a Bank$ unit As to which factory unit would prove the most effective, it may help to find the intercooler manufacturer's website to look up specs.