We started the intercooler project last night. I'm working with Kevin from DTR Performance in Florence, KY so we were using his shop and equipment.
After looking at my radiator and battery in the caddy, I decided to go with the idea of making the intercooler inlet and outlet route through the passenger side of the engine / radiator area. There just wasn't an easy way to do the "flow through design" without buying a new battery or relocating other components. In addition, the return piping would have actually been LONGER than the "same side" idea we went with. You'll see later on.
The first step was to pull the radiator and reroute some fuel lines, vacuum lines and a block heater cord from the valve cover area. Since my fuel filter is in the passenger fender well, I'm going to try to route everything around the airbox to the front, then up to the pump.
Next, Kevin took the port-a-band to the Starion intercooler and started adapting the new inlet / outlets. We're going for 2" piping on this install, so the original OEM outlets had to come off. I ordered a 2" mandrel bend from Burns_Stainless for this part...
Here's a shot of Kevin tigging the outlets on there (that's the twin VR6-T Corrado in the background, by the way)....
Here's a shot of the first test fits with and without the radiator.
In this one, you can see how the return piping parallels the IC on its way back to the side of the radiator. Fits great! The radiator sits in the factory location with no problems. The other cool part is that the whole setup is somewhat visible through the grill from the front.
The IC is offset to the passenger side, so the inlet is basically a straight shot down.
I had originally ordered carbon steel tubing for the piping, but we decided to go with stainless at the last minute. I'm not so much interested in the "bling" factor so much as I am with keeping rust at bay...
Now... Kevin prides himself on "clean" installs, so we came up with the idea to run the charge piping next to each other. It became clear that there were some problems with this design in that the piping would block the oil filler cap, the pop-off valve piping, etc. In addition, the stock intake "spigot" is at the wrong angle. We spent some time reconfiguring some hoses and Kevin spent some time eyeballing the angles. He then got the first pipe tacked together...
They pipes will be parallel to each other until they have to go around the oil cap. As far as the spigot goes, we decided to make a new one with a 2" inlet and the correct angle. Kevin had some spare aluminum, so I started on making a flange for that.
Here's the second pipe (the return) in progress...
I'll be picking the silicone hoses up here locally, but as of last night, we made good progress. Here's a little cheater shot of roughly how the pipes will look when installed. The pipes are actually next to each other... in the pic, it looks like they're on top of each other. You'll just have to imagine that the hoses and new spigot are on there.
So far, things have gone really quickly and Kevin / DTR has done a great job of adding a personal touch to the project. More updates to come!
