I have a 2004 f-150 with the roush s/c, it is non-intercooled. Does anyone know if I could add the intercooler to my setup? I know without the intercooler my tow rating is 50% of what the truck was originally rated for. Does anyone know what percent I could tow if i can add the intercooler?

 

No idea on the towing capacity before and after installation of an intercooler, I generally don't do aftermarket kits.

Plumbing one in is fairly easy... it's a matter of breaking apart the hose between the supercharger and the intake manifold, routing it in front of the radiator with new hoses, and installing an intercooler there, then mounting it.

I believe, with minor drilling in the radiator support, a powerstroke F250/F350 intercooler will fit in the F150. It's a big, big unit too.

 

I'm guessing this is a positive discplacement compressor being that it's a Roush unit...yes?
If so, an aftermarket intercooler/heat exchanger (like the GEN 2 L's upgrade to) would definately help.

A Powerstroke IC'er on your rig would take a bit of fab work being that the radiator is so wide...centrif or roots/twin screw.

 

Call a ford roush dealer if you don't mind spending some coin. I called with teh same issue. Expensive. $2472 was teh best price I got for the intercooler package (tune, injectors, manifold etc), plus $650 install.

 

where did you get the idea that you lose 50% of your towing the s/c adds over 100ftlbs of tq.

 

According to Mike T. roush says recreational towing in the warranty information. He had discussions with roush and they came up with 50%, because what is recreational towing? Roush never really specifies that. He said without the intercooler it will get to hot and could wreck the engine.

 

Not having an intercooler won't effect engine temperature, and it won't overheat. Overheating is due to the cooling system being inadequate, either by design, by defect, or poor maintanence.

The intercooler cools the air coming into the engine, as the turbo or supercharger makes it hotter by compressing it.

And the powerstroke intercooler is an EXCELLENT choice because it's designed to fit into the F-series as that's what it went into in the first place.

Four #12 or 1/4" sheet metal screws for mounting, and two 4.5" diameter holes to pass the the hoses through is all that is necessary to "hack" into your existing radiator support.

If the radiator support is rusty, bent, crummy, just buy a replacement one for $90 on ebay, for the diesel version of your year truck and all the holes will be prepunched for you, and all you have to do is install with four sheet metal screws.

No brackets, no hassle, easy as pie.

At least to physically mount. Plumbing of course may or may not be a hassle depending on a variety of things - hose diameters, where on the engine the supercharger is mounted, and so on.

The difference in radiator supports between diesel, and gas, are the mounting points for the front-mounted intercooler. That's it.

 

Instead of a intercooler,would you achieve the same results with a water+alcohol injection system which would be a cheaper alternative?

 

Yes and no, it depends on multiple things.

An intercooler, you have the hassle of plumbing it once, then it's there until your truck rots out.

Alky/water, while a good thing in many aspects, requires attention. You do not want to run out of water/akly while your turbo is producing 15psi. I have a mopar cylinder head somewhere that illustrates my point.

Also, with alky/water injection, you have to have more pressure on the feeds than you do from the turbo, as obviously you want to fluid to flow into the intake, and not have the air flow out of the intake into the fluid container. My first attempt at this on my old dodge twin turbo was to use a washer bottle. The hose feeding the bottle swelled under boost and eventually popped. I replaced it with fuel line, and then at high boost the washer bottle split like a banana. Though, I wasn't running 5-6psi, i was well into the double digits. To rectify this, I ended up adding injectors to the intake, making a new fuel rail, and using an EFI pump out of the washer bottle. Once I got the tuning correct, and hammered WOT to prove the system worked well, the fluid ran dry and the cylinder head popped. Obviously, I needed a larger tank, and ended up using an 11-gallon home depot air tank mounted underneath the cab, strapped to the frame rail, with the fuel pump drawing off the air fitting, which was at the bottom of the tank since I deliberately mounted it upside down. Still, I didn't have a level sensor. I just checked the tank every time I returned home, when I knew the RPMs/Boost was way out there.

One can also install an air-air intercooler, and "mist" it with CO2 from a large welding bottle, with the bottle tilted so the regulator is closer to the ground so it draws the much colder liquid. Mist it onto the intercooler and then you just swap tanks when the pressure is nil and go back to cooling the intercooler. One can also mist cold water onto the air-air intercooler. Or encase it in aluminum sheet, and pump cold water through the new casing to use it as a liquid to air intercooler. Of course, these solutions don't have an endless supply of cooling effect, as eventually the compessed gas tanks run out, and the coolant you use in the liquid to air system gets warm, then hot, then possibly boils over.

Under high boost levels, it's not uncommon for the intake air temperature to approach 300 degrees or so.

That's why I eventually came up with a not-so-ideal, but completely renewable solution to the problem, using a large homemade liquid to air intercooler - I fed the liquid side of the intercooler engine coolant, from the existing cooling system. I had to install a beefier radiator and a high volume water pump of course, but this kept the intake charge closer to 220 degrees at WOT, fairly consistantly. obviously at idle i was baking the incoming air and that required some tuning to compensate, but overall it was a decent system, and very consistant, which makes things easier to tune.

While I did "play" on the street with that truck, it was mostly used for "fast hauling" as my friends put it. With slicks it was a terror in a straight line, and with regular tires I could accelerate beyond expectations with a bed full of rocks, plywood, junk parts, or a trailer hitched. Diesel-like torque without the diesel engine. Of course this was more complex to fabricate than the average person would want to get involved with, however I did it as an experiment and it worked better than I thought it would. For a drag racing vehicle or something that will sustain high speeds for a long period of time, this is not the solution for you. A little bit of street play, and the ability to accelerate with 3000lbs of rocks in the bed, it's not a bad solution.