Intercoolers yes or no?

[Kiohio]

WHo has them and who doesn't on the pre-intercooler 1st gens?

Just how much have you done to your truck, are the temps manageable?

I will start playing with mine as soon as I get a Pyro at least.

Just wondering if it is worth the hassle for a daily driver occasianal tow vehicle.

This truck will have a limited budget and the 'coolers seem to be pretty expensive.

Thanks, KO

 

[Greenleaf]

You will NOT require one if your simply driving the thing... with the occasional hot rodding and pulling mild loads like a wagon of wire wood etc. You'd be suprised at the $$$ we lay down for stuff like this (nozzels/turbo/three piece manifold/tipple lock etc. ) whhen in all reality it's useless 98. 8% of the time.



I have one with and one with out to answer your question.



This is what it DOES do. It will cool the compressed air. As you know, the compressed air is hot. Sometimes VERY hot. This will contribute to excessive EGT AND it's less dense than cool/cold air.



So... . IF you need to get every ounce of power from the fuel you have..... keep EGT's to a bear minimum and require the most HP from your truck engine then by all means you'll need one. But ask yourself. How important is the HP race to you and how often will you be traveling on the express-way with a Five-er at 70/75 MPH???



Bill Gilbert would have made more power IF he had a larger IC with the same amount of fuel he had available at the time. However, it wasn't that important to him to gain (say 20 HP, for sake of argument) by spending a grand on a larger IC.



Nuff said

 

[JLEONARD]

KO,

I'm not intercooled and have no issue at all with EGT... now before I get jumped all over, I'm not fuelled to the max either... you can look at my signature for my mods. My truck is a daily driver and I haul light loads occasionally, but rarely nore than about 1000 lbs.



I haven't dynoed since I was stock, (other than for emissions) so I don't know where I am for power, other than to say I feel I have plenty of driving power to remain respectable.

I'm sure I could add more fuel before I'd get into EGT trouble (I have to work to get to 1200 F) but I'm content for the moment

Hope this helps.

Jay

 

[Kiohio]

I am content at not running the heck out of it, or hot rodding it to the max.

If it starts to climb in egt's just get off of it correct?

I have pulled decent sized loads with my '03 and know that this can't compete in stock trim. I do need it to pull approx 10k short distances from time to time, does that change everything? I don't care to win any drag races towing, just get it there.



KO

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

You won't see much power increase on a dyno, because dyno runs are so short duration the intake air really doesn't have much time to rise in temperature, as compared to a long hard pull up in the hills.



In addition to plain and simple power and EGT issues, is the side benefit of keeping the WHOLE engine cooler - 1st generation, intercooler-less trucks were pretty notorious for poor cooling systems that allowed serious overheating - anything that reduces overall engine temps is a plus.



Sitting alongside the road waiting for your truck to cool off really isn't very entertaining!



I added a Banks intercooler to my early '91 - never had any EGT issues - but never had gauges before the intercooler install, either...

 

[NIsaacs]

Based on what you are going to use your truck for, I would say no. They were mainly used for emissions reasons, with a slight increase in power as secondary. Some people swear by them, but having driven lot'sa big trucks without them and then adding one as a bomb didn't seem to make much difference. In fact if you add one without any other mod, you will see a decrease in boost. However the cooler air will give a slight increase in power with the same EGT's. The main limiting performance factor on the first gen. were the small radiators.





"NICK"

 

[bgilbert]

If you keep it stock you shouldn't have any issues towing up to the factory rated weight. You start adding injectors, adjusting the pump, then you'll be driving by the pyro.

 

[Kiohio]

I'm sure I will adjust the pump...

Nothing radical, but at the moment it doesn't even smoke when you mash it.

So far have only str8 piped it and backed out the governor stop screw, adjusted throttle linkage. That's it.



KO

 

[DieselTweaker]

Jeff,



If nothing else a nice little water injection kit from snow performance might be a decent idea you can use it when you need it, since we just have a few hill's down around here you wouldnt need it that often LOL... ...

 

[Kiohio]

Hills? What hills LOL.



KO

 

[pepecat]

intercooler

You have a bunch of cheap mods before you have to down the 1200 to be intercooled. Even at that, we have a few other things going against us like a smaller turbo, smaller (non crossflow) radiator, and finicky things like the 3. 07's in the auto that need to be preserved. I got my '89 two years ago and have tried a lot of different combos with the free mods. I have towed a 26. 5ft TT to WA and such. but use it mostly as a daily driver 40 miles or so to work one way.

Before I headed up I-5 to WA towing I turned the full fuel screw back to stock, and had stock intake and still had to drive by the pyro and watch the water temp coming up thru redding fully loaded up a long grade... I was going 35 MPH and about half throttle at 1200 degrees and 210 deg water temp. in that case I think that a non gauged truck would've sustained some irreversable damage and/or melted a piston... . But on the flats it would cruise at 800 deg pyro with 8 psi boost between 55 and 60. Needless to say I was very impressed towing wise for a "weak" non i/c truck. When you compress air, the air heats up... it is a fact of physics. the intercooler counteracts this to a point.

The biggest problem I had with Egt's was when I had my full fuel screw tunred up about 3-4 full turns from stock. The truck was overfueled to the point that a romp from 35 - say, 75mph up a slight grade would exhibit a huge black cloud, even at 75, that never cleared up @ 30++ psi boost. The pyro would jump up almost as fast as the boost gauge . I hit 1300 once, by accident because of this. I have settled back to fueling at 1 turn with the other mods (bhaf and 4" straight exhuast/3200 gsk/no starwheel/fuel cone turned highest). I find that throttle is more like a governed diesel, instead of being touchy - with a huge dead spot in the middle of the throttle range while cruising, like a gasser. better drivability, imo. And lower stall on the stock TC which is nice. PLUS is can still lay a nice cloud, and is very fuel efficient even without OD. I have babbled long enough, good luck

 

[WyattEarp]

mine is intercooled and has no guages, okay neither truck has guages but im not pulling any 5v'er either, hauling wood or pulling a small trailer is about it for now, i plan on putting in a hidden ball in the 92 and running a pyrometer won't be hard to do. I think with the non-intercooled trucks a pyrometer would be a must as to watch your egt's to keep from having a problem, but as another member said if you don't go beyond the ability of the truck and its still stock you shouldn't have a problem with egt's. Another option is to adapt an aux. fan to your radiator(not sure about clearance between grill and radiator) just make sure its centered as to get straight air flow through and across your fan.