No isnt in my vocabulary. Haha but no what?

 

Blake, you wrote the sentences above, rigth?, and in my vocabulary ALL means TODOS, and to my I understand the spyders has 5 ports, or am I wrong?, and the ports which goes to the plennums are 2 3/8" O.D., and the others which goes to the IC pipes are 3" O.D. and I think that which connects to the turbo its 3" O.D. but Im not sure in this one.
Or maybe I misunderstood what you meant.

 

...................

 

Thanks for catching that, you are correct on this. And i did not know they were 2 3/8", always thought it was 2" so i guess i learned something today. I may have been trying to mention the plenum ports more than the IC ports and shouldn't have said All, but i guess i was wrong on that size too lol. Thanks for clearing this up sir

 

................. LOL.

 

This is all very good info... I have along way to go with this and hopefully here in May I'll go ahead and purchase all the parts to get it done.... I also would be very interested to get flow numbers on the heads. If it is pointless to step up to the 3 inch plenum if the heads will not flow the purpose then I will not do it and try to find a stock 2" spider.

I plan on sticking with the 6.0 Cooler though.

 

Just found this thread, good info! I also have a 97 obs that i'm weighing my intercooler options also. Hope the project is done nossliw. If so what did u end up with and does it all work as planned? Thx....

 

Yup its all finished. I kept a stock turbo for the time being, went with a 6.0 intercooler, 3" SD plenums, and 3" piping...

Here are a few pics, let me know if you have any questions.

 

Jason, I am just up the road from you. If you want to see my setup, I'd meet you somewhere. It doesn't look as good as nossliw's, but it works for me for now. I plan on making some changes at some point. Too many other dogs nipping at my heels right now.

That setup looks good Nossliw.

 

Wow the setup turned out pretty nice looking, were u able to do a performanc comparison? If so whats the outcome. Is that a custom made spider for 2" stock turbo but 3" in/out pipes (6.0L intercooler). So then it necks back down to 2" for the stock intake plenums? Am i correct or way off, sorry lol.

Deadsenator: yeah that sounds great! I'm not doin' much this weekend and i'd love to talk trucks in person. Preferably with a cold brewski....haha! Your place my place or meet somewhere too. Heck we could set up a lunch somewhere and get more people involved for a truck talk meet n' greet...let me know if any of those ideas sound good to you, and thx for the offer.

 

I was not able to do an at wheel performance comparison because I really didn't want to build the system for 2" plenums, and retro fit to 3" plenums.

Regarding the spider its not custom at all... fairly simple to make with a welder(which will be used anyways for the IC piping), 90 bend and hack saw. I used the original y pipe for the turbo outlet flange and welded a tight radius 90 onto it, and then stepped the 2 1/4' pipe up to 3". I wasn't worried about restriction on the hot side since you are now compressing a large plenum volume across the intercooler. The y pipe that splits into the intake now is simple a 99.5+ spider with half of the spider cut off. I just wanted the 3" inlet to split into (2) 3" outlets.

I did not neck down to the stock 2" plenums. I had a minor plenum leak and figured if I was pulling them off I might as well jump up to 3" for less restriction and better flow rate. I'm not getting into the arguement like I did with a group of idiots from PSN.. FORD went to 3" plenums for a reason... and it wasn't for looks or the fact the outlet on 99.5+ on the turbo was 3"... it flows more volume.. even though the heads can only allow for a certain flow rate, under a compressed volume, the 3" plenums WILL perform better... its very simple, its the ideal gas law :-) It works better with a large charge plenum (the intercooler)

So I hope that helps.. I had no idea what I was doing when I started with this truck, it was my first diesel, and after sitting down and doing a bit of homework/math and after talking to a few head shops that have built drag 7.3's. I went that route. Local guy here has ran low 10's in his obs 7.3... at bandimere... I haven't seen the truck for a long time, but it was called the frog :-)

Some people will argue its pointless to go to 3" plenums... that is fine, staying with 2" may be less time, but really not much easier besides the time it take to fab the two intake and turbo outlet piece(took maybe 30 min...including paint) Either way you have to buy a new spider, and guys are charging waaaay too much for early 99 x pipes...think my 99.5+ x pipe was 25 bucks shipped off ebay.

To be honest taking the front valence off the truck and removing my bumper, and reassembly took longer than fabbing the pipes and IC install. I followed a thread off a towrig site, but I think their forum has been taken down for good...

All in all I had into it:

75$ for 6.0 Ic off craigslist
25$(I think) for the spyder
120$ for the 3" plenums with Riff Raff billet inserts
70$ for the tubing and bends
Boots were around a 100$ I think.

All in all for around 400 give or take a little I has an IC setup and plenum conversion... In my mind it performs just as well as a Banks kit if not better and is a fourth the cost!

The nice part is someday when I save the pennies for a s366 I wound have to do much for modifications to the IC system...only will have to mess with 1 pipe.

 

In this link you can see my set up and maybe helps you a little:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...installed.html

 

Well, I'm busier than a one-legged man at an a$$-kicking contest, so how about we meet at the Fred Meyer parking lot in Sumner for an hour or so. Say 4 o'clock? That's on my way to another contest. SouthEast corner is the lightest on parking.

 

Ok I could probably do that. So today at 4pm correct........

 

Nossliw, looks like you did your homework a little bit. Yeah I agree with you on the intake plenums, might as well go 3" since you have 3" coming to it in pipe. Where did u get the 3" elbows for your ic pipes from? I haven't looked around much for someone that makes em/sells em....are they factory pieces. Also, so you used 99.5 to 2003 intake 3" plenums i take it. Sorry for all the ?s, thx again.