I'd ask this on the turbomustang forum, but I'm not a member, and I like this place better.

Anyhow, I was reading some of their old posts, and it seems they feel that vehicles running twin turbos should run a single intercooler.

Whyzat?

I've already gone and bought a pair of intercoolers to fit in front of my radiator, and I'm about 90% sure this is the right thing to do..but then I read these posts on the forum and that drops to about 50% sure.

My plan was to run two entire exhaust and turbo systems, with the BOV, intercooler, exhaust, and wastegate..and have them merge only after the intercoolers and before the manifold.

What I'd REALLY wanted to do was try to fit one of those cool carb hats onto my throttle body from ramairbox.com.

-Dave, the Confused

 

Generally, because two smaller intercoolers are less efficient than one larger one, also because two intercoolers take up a lot of space (you have four end tanks instead of two to allow space for), and also the plumbing is viewed as more difficult.

I say generally because there always are exceptions to these type of generalizations. One advantage of driving a turbo truck over a turbo car, is the humungous powerstroke intercooler fits nicely on the radiator support - because it was designed to do so Did I say its big?

 

one is more efficient than two? Well, I'll be.

I wonder what to do with the ones I have.

 

Sell them to some poor ricer kid.... (LOL!!!)

 

Well, lets back up a second and let me re-qualify my statement.

One big intercooler is more effiecient as far as space, because you have two end tanks, where as two intercoolers have four end tanks. End tanks are typically 4-6" wide, which on two intercoolers would eat up 8-12" if they are touching each other.

I'm assuming here you're mounting them on the nose of the vehicle, which is only so wide. If you're plumbing one intercooler per side say elsewhere, then two intercoolers make sense. I build a mid-engined car and the two intercoolers were mounted on an angle behind the doors, in front of the rear wheels with massive ductwork. There, two intercoolers make sense because I had no place to put one huge intercooler, aside from behind the engine, where the radiator was.

I was talking efficiency of space, not efficiency of intercooling properties.

He said he had a mustang, which has some limitations to available space.

 

I could probably sell the heater cores to the ricers..they are cheaper to get, and look about the same.

Well, I do have room for 2 intercoolers. The only thing I have to do..is..well, put the Bronco back together and mout them...

I dont know the size of the PSD intercooler, but I'm sure there's room for that instead..I just gotta go to a dealership and see one to measure it.

Thanks for feedback!!

 

The Bronco's have the same radiator support as the powerstroke diesels, minus the two holes for the intercooler lines. That's all there is to it as far as mounting.

Of course, you have to find a used powerstroke intercooler in good condition. I got mine brand new through a friend of a friend of a friend, for $275. Not one fin was bent

 

I agree. I would try to use a large, single intercooler, when space provides the opportunity... For example, on our TRUCKS, we have a huge frontal area, and therefore can utilize a setup as massive as this Procharger unit we put together. YES, this is a Gen II Lightning.

http://members.aol.com/powersurgeperf/Procharger/F1R3.jpg

What kind of power did it make? This graph is at 18 PSI but the system was designed for 30. Race application, yes, but a good example of what you can do.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v129/Trixter/sal653dyno.jpg

Now if you are talking Vette or Cobra, you have a limited frontal area, and need to split them and mount them on either side of the radiator. Now, although there are two going into a common plenum, you still have the same core efficiency. This is a big part of letting a company like Procharger do their job (You want max flow with minimal pressure drop).

I like the idea of using a PS intercooler, and it would work well on a SD F-series gas engine because the radiator core support is designed for it. In fact, we have done so.

Otherwise, you would want to use the Procharger sheetmetal 3-core or the RACE three core you will see on the link above. Both bolt straight in, between the framerails. 28" in length, fitting in the air intake of the valence. The STD 3-core (Seen on the Tenderizer link below) produced charge temps about 2 degrees over ambient EVEN AT 15 PSI! We have made 480/530 with a D-1SC and the STD 3-core sheetmetal intercooler on a 5.4!

www.trixtersracing.com/tenderizer.htm