Engine/Transmission (1994 - 1998) spearco intercooler my real world test

[CodySanders]

so after great thought on weather to spend the $$$$ on the new intercooler i was a buyer. so was the purchase worth the money? the truck is the 98 12 valve it has all in the sig plus s&b intake, plate 1/8 less than half way, screw all the way out, 34 12 tires and new 4. 10 gears,air intake horn. here is what i have noticed so far.



not towing just driving



half my smoke disappeared. wow (this is just a guess but i can see threw the smoke now and not before, (black out).



before intercooler max egt would be about 1400 as high as i could make it go.

after intercooler max egt was 1250 as high as i could make it go



down the road on flat ground would run 1000 at 75 down interstate

down the road on flat ground now runs 750 at 75 down interstate



spool up was definitely a noticeable gain and overall driveability was improved

some will say i had boost leaks before and that is why the gain. well i thought of that too. so i did a pressure test (not just air but with soap and water also) before install (no leaks). i have not pressure tested new unit but will after a few days of driving.



did it add horsepower by the seat of my pants test, yes but anytime you spend that much money on something it always drives better lol. i have not had it dyno'd yet but will try to.



overall i say it is the best mod for the guy looking to lower egts and help a turbo spool. would i buy this for a stock truck, heck no i would go buy a plate or turbo first. if you have some fuel and air upgrades done this is worth the money.



is spearco better than other brands that are cheaper? i don't know but the overall fit and finish was very nice. only one problem with the unit was the lower passenger side boot. it did not fit quite right and felt that it would blow off way to easy. fix was a new boot about 1. 5 inches longer. i feel this could be due to my aftermarket turbo and manifold. the only other intercooler i can compare is my city diesel and the bd (bd was horrible) unit that was on my 06 and that is a totally different truck but overall the spearco was much nicer than both. the polished down tubes are a nice eye candy bonus for the money spent and look great.



would i spend the money again? yes and yes again!!! i want to do some tow testing but i was to lazy this weekend. i will tow next week to a new town and will post here again for the results of the tow test. hope all this helps for those wondering if you should upgrade the intercooler. if you have any questions or want to slam me have at it but i am sold on the upgrade and would recommend it to anyone with a truck that has at least a plate and turbo upgrade (mabe just a plate).

 

[fox]

Good, give more info, like where you bought it and size and price.

I need on for my Durango /4BT conversion.

 

[Hammer]

I seen the same with the Dura-Lite charge air cooler I installed on mine last year. Its amazing at how restrictive the stock charge air cooler is. When you look into the openings they neck down so small its easy to see where some of the flow issues arise from. I ran a intake air temp gauge on mine before and after and seen a big difference in temps from the stocker to the aftermarket.



Are they worth the money????... .

While being pricey and most would overlook them I'd say in my experience the addition was well worth the outlay of cash. Mine was changed due to the stocker being cracked,even if you have no issues its worth the purchase.

did it add horsepower by the seat of my pants test, yes but anytime you spend that much money on something it always drives better lol. i have not had it dyno'd yet but will try to.

LOL... Now thats a good comment and very true... LOL:-laf:-laf..... Andy

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

I wonder if the OEM intercoolers stayed pretty much the same all thru 2nd generation truck production - or if improvements were made at various times, as engine power was increased?

 

[SpencerC]

so after great thought on weather to spend the $$$$ on the new intercooler i was a buyer. so was the purchase worth the money? the truck is the 98 12 valve it has all in the sig plus s&b intake, plate 1/8 less than half way, screw all the way out, 34 12 tires and new 4. 10 gears,air intake horn. here is what i have noticed so far.



not towing just driving



half my smoke disappeared. wow (this is just a guess but i can see threw the smoke now and not before, (black out).



before intercooler max egt would be about 1400 as high as i could make it go.

after intercooler max egt was 1250 as high as i could make it go



down the road on flat ground would run 1000 at 75 down interstate

down the road on flat ground now runs 750 at 75 down interstate



spool up was definitely a noticeable gain and overall driveability was improved

some will say i had boost leaks before and that is why the gain. well i thought of that too. so i did a pressure test (not just air but with soap and water also) before install (no leaks). i have not pressure tested new unit but will after a few days of driving.



did it add horsepower by the seat of my pants test, yes but anytime you spend that much money on something it always drives better lol. i have not had it dyno'd yet but will try to.



overall i say it is the best mod for the guy looking to lower egts and help a turbo spool. would i buy this for a stock truck, heck no i would go buy a plate or turbo first. if you have some fuel and air upgrades done this is worth the money.



is spearco better than other brands that are cheaper? i don't know but the overall fit and finish was very nice. only one problem with the unit was the lower passenger side boot. it did not fit quite right and felt that it would blow off way to easy. fix was a new boot about 1. 5 inches longer. i feel this could be due to my aftermarket turbo and manifold. the only other intercooler i can compare is my city diesel and the bd (bd was horrible) unit that was on my 06 and that is a totally different truck but overall the spearco was much nicer than both. the polished down tubes are a nice eye candy bonus for the money spent and look great.



would i spend the money again? yes and yes again!!! i want to do some tow testing but i was to lazy this weekend. i will tow next week to a new town and will post here again for the results of the tow test. hope all this helps for those wondering if you should upgrade the intercooler. if you have any questions or want to slam me have at it but i am sold on the upgrade and would recommend it to anyone with a truck that has at least a plate and turbo upgrade (mabe just a plate).

you were running a 1000deg EGT going down a flat road @75mph with no trailer in tow? Does no one else find this high? I used to run at about 650-700 stock in comparable conditions...

 

[DCreed]

Hey Spence, welcome to the board! Please notice that his truck is NOT stock and higher EGTs are common on modified engines. Though it seems he is working on that issue. :-laf

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

I wonder if the OEM intercoolers stayed pretty much the same all thru 2nd generation truck production - or if improvements were made at various times, as engine power was increased?

Gary I posed this question on a couple boards but didn't get much of an answer (DTR and NWB). I know the 24V intercooler is a little better than the 12V, but I don't know if the SO and HO 24V intercoolers are the same or not.

 

[Hammer]

Gary and Vaughn...

The only change in the second generation charge air coolers was when the motors were changed from the older 12v's to the newer 24v's. When the new electronic computer scooters were installed the charge air coolers went a bit larger in height and thickness. The one seen in the shot of my truck below is actually a CAC for a 24v truck installed in mine instead of the smaller 12v version. I can get the dimension differences for you if you want. The was no difference in CAC's from the ETH and ETC trucks as they both utilized the same cooler... ..... Andy

 

[JGK]

you were running a 1000deg EGT going down a flat road @75mph with no trailer in tow? Does no one else find this high? I used to run at about 650-700 stock in comparable conditions...

Yeah, I noticed that. Like you, I run much cooler than 1000 degrees at 75mph.



-Jay

 

[BPINE]

you were running a 1000deg EGT going down a flat road @75mph with no trailer in tow? Does no one else find this high? I used to run at about 650-700 stock in comparable conditions...

Yep doesn't seem right to me either, I have run 20+ different turbo's on my truck with almost every mod you can think of and have never ran 1000 degrees going down the highway empty.



I am not calling anyone a liar but just doesn't seem right to me.



In May I put a Griffin intercooler (had a 24 valve in before) in and it did help a bit but IMO not worth the money. If anyone is thinking of putting a 24 valve intercooler in a 12 valver don't do it unless it is free because you aren't going to see much of an improvement there either.



Blair

 

[Forrest Nearing]

agreed, I've run various turbos... largest was a silver bullet that didn't really smack untill ~2500rpm or so. This was in a 4wd truck w/ a leveling kit and 33's, and empty cruising EGT's were never 1000* at any speed.



I'm literally driving my 2wd 98 RIGHT NOW, and I'm at 75mh, it's about 93* outside and very humid.



DDP4's, 16* timing, sps62 turbo.



I've got right at 700* showing on the pyro and ~4psi boost.



higher altitude will obviously effect this, and if your definition of "normal, flat ground" includes a number of hills, that's a different story, but on purely level empty cruise, that sounds high to me.



though my truck is a 2wd, it's got about 1200 worth of equipment in the bed and a 5hp air compressor mounted ON TOP of my headache rack, so it's not exactly super svelte when it comes to aerodynamics

 

[JGK]

Forrest,



I hope you aren't actually driving your truck and typing on the 'net at the same time



Shame on you!



-Jay

 

[CodySanders]

Yes this is on flat ground and the temps are taken from my autometer pyro guage before and after. this is pre turbo temp not post. the intercooler was purchased from allaboutdiesel.com , carl is a wonderfull guy to work with and has more than bent over backwards for me many times. Cost of the unit i will let you discuss with him but he beat the best price i could find it online for. as for the size of the spearco unit it is deffinetly much larger than the stocker. about a . 5 inch larger in width and deffinetly taller and wider not sure how much though. the intercooler from spearco is for both 12 and 24valve trucks. it is designed to fit both trucks. as for my egts on flat ground i don't know why they run high all the time but they do. my 06 will run 700 doing the same test with more fuel but it also has two turbo's. as for comparison with that truck i did it all at once all 30k worth of stuff and what a nightmare it was. if anyone has any ideas of why my 12 valve runs high egts not towing let me know but as for now i am a happy camper. when i towed before the intercooler i would run 1050 to 1250 (if i let off the gas) egts all the time towing. i hope after i tow now egt's will be 900 to 1150 all the time but we shall see next weekend. I have ben wondering if my turbo is not working quite right, i have high egt's but if i keep it up in rpm they actually move down about as fast as they went up. it is real wierd how this turbo works but i am not use to a single turbo either. to me it seemed like my stock turbo did a better job of cooling the truck at all rpms except 2800 plus. industrial said i don't have enough fuel to the truck for the turbo to work right, but their add says it is the best towing turbo on the market, but if i add enough fuel to get to there 550 hp level (they recomended) my egts would be way to high for towing. any ideas let me know.

 

[SpencerC]

how many psi are you running down the highway? have you made sure you have no cold pipe leaks anywhere? that 62/14 shouldnt have a problem with EGTs in that power range. .

 

[CodySanders]

i run no boost going down the hyw but will get up to 42 when i hammer down. i posted a few weeks ago about the no boost down the hwy and everyone seemed to say it was normal. my twins on the 06 run 10psi or so on flat and the stock turbo ran 5ish down the freeway flat but no boost with this turbo at all on flat ground 75.

 

[CodySanders]

not sure what egts were with stock turbo cause my guage was not in for egt's yet. turbo, manifold, egt gauge, plate and 4k gov kit was istalled all at same time.

 

[AClayton]

I have the Spearco in my truck and have noticed the turbo spool-up to much faster than before,however,the egt has remained much the same while cruising without load. Towing my trailer on level ground I noticed only a slightly lower egt but under hard towing or accelerating up a hill,the new CAC is simply a mod that all CTD owners... . with mods!!!... . should consider. Under full boost with my trailer at 19K GCWR ,I cannot get the egt over 1300 even on hot days. Before CAc,the egt could easily stay at 1500 going up hills. I would always have to lift to keep egt at 1300. Now i just drive as if the truck was unloaded and go!!Very sturdy unit also... . only gripe was the holes for my A/C condensor and trans cooler did not line up 100% but a drill bit was all that was needed to alleviate the problem. Took me about 2 1/2 hours to install myself. Great upgrade and would do it again if I bought another truck. The other issue was that I told my wife i needed a new radiator and bought the intercooler ... . she noticed the shiny inercooler gleaming through the grill a couple of days later in the driveway. I was still at work so she popped the hood and had my neighbor over to look at it... . well my neighbor didn't lie and I had some explaining to do after she looked up how much a "radiator" costs.

 

[SpencerC]

well, if your gauge is correct and your line isnt damaged anywhere then that could be your problem, anyone running down the interstate at 75mph should be seeing around 4+ psi on flat ground.



I only know enough to know I dont know enough so, like everything else you read on the internet, take it for what its worth. .

 

[SpencerC]

I have the Spearco in my truck and have noticed the turbo spool-up to much faster than before,however,the egt has remained much the same while cruising without load. Towing my trailer on level ground I noticed only a slightly lower egt but under hard towing or accelerating up a hill,the new CAC is simply a mod that all CTD owners... . with mods!!!... . should consider. Under full boost with my trailer at 19K GCWR ,I cannot get the egt over 1300 even on hot days. Before CAc,the egt could easily stay at 1500 going up hills. I would always have to lift to keep egt at 1300. Now i just drive as if the truck was unloaded and go!!Very sturdy unit also... . only gripe was the holes for my A/C condensor and trans cooler did not line up 100% but a drill bit was all that was needed to alleviate the problem. Took me about 2 1/2 hours to install myself. Great upgrade and would do it again if I bought another truck. The other issue was that I told my wife i needed a new radiator and bought the intercooler ... . she noticed the shiny inercooler gleaming through the grill a couple of days later in the driveway. I was still at work so she popped the hood and had my neighbor over to look at it... . well my neighbor didn't lie and I had some explaining to do after she looked up how much a "radiator" costs.

LOL someone slept in the doghouse...

 

[WaynesWorld]

Guys,



My experience has so far less than desirable with my Spearco install.

1] No ribs at the end of the intercooler to hold boot on. I popped it at 50 lbs.

2] The chrome pipes are so slippery that I popped them twice. Once in my driveway at 35 lbs.

3] The pipes are bent at a bad angle to make a proper fit. Thus the short boots will not stay on due to lack of length.



I used the spring clamps that hold extra tight. They still didn't keep the boots on.

I will await the longer boots so I can use my pipes which are thicker & grip the boots better.

Has anyone else had these issues ?

Has anyone pushed these units over 50 lbs. of boost ?



WAYNES WORLD