Anybody out there install a Banks Intercooler??

[Jaddison]

Banks offering an intercooler with all the piping and a tube grill to make room for the intercooler ($895). They make it sound easy, but??



Doesn't the turbo housing need to be separated and then rotated so it points down instead of up and across?? The salesman says not.



I think that the cooler plus turning the fuel up a bit will give more power and yet run cooler egt.

I'm trying to stay with the orig 18cm housing. I'm OK with the acceleration as it is.



(Already did the 3" to 4" exhaust, straight thru muffler, egt/boost gage).



Thanks!

 

[Forrest Nearing]

why not buy a Powerstroke cooler for a couple hundred bucks and have a muffler shop bend you some to and from tubing?



intercoolers crack me up... people pay WAY too much for them...



Forrest

 

[bvanetten]

PSD intercoolers are to narrow to fit around the radiator. The inlet and outlet would have to be cut and pointed at the finders or paralell to the core support. It could be done. I took a 94 dodge intercooler and made it fit on a 72 burb!

 

[Forrest Nearing]

I haven't done the measurements... just saying... at $900, I'd be inclined to "make something work" for less than half, but I'm just a po' boy...



on my turbo/gas drag car, we built a cooler using a Mack truck core... I've got less than $100 in the actual cooler... I'll have ~$150 after fabbing discharge tubing... it's got more core volume than a Powerstroke cooler, and about 3 times the core volume of the cooler Spearco wanted over a grand for for my application!



Forrest

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

IF you want something that installs relatively easily, fits properly, and comes with ALL the required castings, pipe and mounting hardware, SPEND the money on the Banks!



I have one on my early '91, it works and looks great, the original grille still fits normally with only minor mods as outlined clearly in the Banks instructions... The bit about rotating the turbo housing is true - but JEEZE it only requires loosening the retaining clamp, rotate the housing, and re-tighten the clamp - takes all of about 3 minutes...



OR, sure, you CAN haywire up some "shadetree", backyard frankenstein mongrel, and SAVE a few bucks...

 

[Forrest Nearing]

some of us don't have as much money as others... just giving a different opinion...



my "hobby" is going fast for cheap... it really ticks off the Z06 boys when you out gun them in the 1/4 with a car that has a total of $2k in it... INCLUDING the cost of the car!!! so that's where I come from...



clearly, you can plunk a grand on it, and it'll bolt in and work...



Forrest

 

[bvanetten]

"OR, sure, you CAN haywire up some "shadetree", backyard frankenstein mongrel"



I guess my truck is the poster child for "frankenstein mongrel".

72 suburban body

93 dodge chassis

94 dodge transmission & intercooler







Bruce

 

[Forrest Nearing]

Bruce,



you rule!



Forrest

 

[jjohn]

Jaddison

I am trying to get a few questions answered from banks myself. My 1990 w250 has a factory transmission cooler ( at least I think its factory) located at the top front of the radiator. I need to know if this is allowed for with the Banks cooler or not. If not another kink in my plans.

I was initially planning on the power pack kit from banks $2350 or so I was quoted. I would rather have I local shop do the exhaust custom with a different “down turned” exhaust tip, Rather than what banks offers. Also a new turbo down tube the shop claims is much better, who makes it, I don’t know yet.

The power pack also offer the quick turbo kit. But again because the early Cummins has higher boost than the factory intercooled cummins am I gaining that much with the banks turbo housing?

The banks muffler looks offset rather than straight threw anyone know why Banks does it that way?

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

Wasn't trying to offend anyone - and certainly, the ability to improvise and innovate IS an enviable trait - shucks, *I* do it too!



BUT, I'm also sorta picky about the way my vehicles LOOK, *and* operate (see pointer below!), so even tho' my stuff may NOT be shiny new, it all DOES look nice INSIDE and OUT!



But I realize that SOME simply view their trucks as basic work vehicles and transportation - so whatever rocks yer boat...



And NO, in MY view, the Banks turbo housing ISN'T worth installing, since the early Cummins used pre '91 1/2 already had plenty of boost - in fact, at the time I bought my Banks exhaust and intercooler package (back in '92), the Banks rep himself stated it probably wasn't worth it on the older trucks...

 

[bvanetten]

Gary, no offence taken or even thought of! I'll wear the frankenstein badge with pride. Generally I tend to be more of a "if it ain't stock it ain't right" kind of a guy. Boy, I sure strayed from my roots on this one! Other than the 1100lbs of Cummins under the hood you can't tell that anything has been hacked. Looks almost factory. If GM would just put a good diesel in their suburbans I would have to resort to such drastic measures!



Bruce

 

[jjohn]

Hey Bruce I thought you might like this Suburban

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[Forrest Nearing]

oh, I was just givin' ya a hard time... I hear ya... there is something to be said about being able to bolt in and go! (I just can't ever seem to afford it! LOL!)



as for the power pack? rip off... on the turbine housing... you can just buy one off of a later truck for pennies on the Banks dollar... have a shop do the exhaust... the main cork is the muffler... I could not justify practically doubling the cost of my vehicle on those parts when I could achieve the same thing for MUCH less...



but, as the man said... whatever floats your boat!



Forrest

 

[Matt S]

Money vs. Skill

It all comes down to your abilities and comfort levels. You are going to have to pay for what you can't do. Installing the intercooler wasn't too difficult but fabbing one isn't what I had in mind. Tried that on a friends car but couldn't get the pipes welded air tight so we needed some JB weld. I just wasn't into doing that on my truck. That would be the only Banks product that I would buy due to price. The exhaust and turbo housing can be had for a lot less money.

 

[bvanetten]

Yeh, I drooled over that one for several months. Got it off of the cummins repower page right? I talked to the owner of that page about the burb. He said he had lost contact with the owner. What did he want... like 50K or something?

 

[drives mopars]

wasnt it 4 sale

was this the one 4 sale for about 35k

 

[jjohn]

d mopars the site for cummins repower that bvanetten mentioned says 58K negotablehttp://cgi2.x-pointcgi.com/~dieselrepower/

 

[KEENO]

I saw this truck....

Believe it or Not... I saw this truck in the parking lot @ "Old Faithful" in Yellowstone this past Summer! I heard it first or I would of never looked any closer!



KEENO

 

[CrewCabDiesel]

I DID go with a Banks intercooler setup for my "early 91"/ 85 Crew Cab. The installation of the Banks intercooler is a breeze, you don't have to be a master mechanic to install it. And I can say that I am VERY happy with the way it fits, looks and performs, as for Banks customer service it is getting better, but more improvement is still needed. The Banks gauge set SUCKS, it is cheaply made and I feel it is of poor quality. I would NOT buy the complete package, get the turbo from Piers, and the exhaust from Stans Headers . The K&N air filter get from your local Napa store. If you want to go all out get a set of "old blue" injectors from Big Don. I am running all of the above except the "old blue" injectors and I get around 23mpg highway(running 70mph) and light the tires at will.



Hope this helps

Kyle



PS, I spent around the $750 for my intercooler with shipping.

 

[jjohn]

Thanks for the advice/comments crewcabdiesel

Can you tell me if it looks like there is room allowed with the banks cooler when you have the small tranmission cooler in the upper front of the radiator? what gauges did you choose?



Your crewcab is looking good from the last picture you posted. is she going to stay Blue?