Just got done installing my IC. It came out of a SD truck, I bought the IC both pipes and all 4 boots with clamps for $100.

I lost some pics because they were on my old phone so here's where the new phone started. I had to cut the hood latch support to make it fit.


This is what I did for the bottom mount

I also painted the grill while it was out, figured it wouldn't be out any other time.

all taped up, as you can see, beer pong the night before

The front end back together with the painted grill and the IC installed

first things first, cut the spider


Started manipulating the SD hot side pipes with new tube

Had to take 2.5" and expand it to three at the local exaust shop, to bad they couldn't make it look good . Had to start with the 2.5" because that seemed to be the size coming off of the turbo

Hot side fab done except for welding and paint

Hot side to IC boot

After weld and paint


Cold side went a lot smoother


Cold side to spider

the whole cold side pipe completed

cold and hot connected




What do you think, always open for criticism .

It took about 5 hrs to mout the IC, another 7 hrs to plumb it. I've noticed a little more turbo lag than before. On the highway, she'll still scoot but not as impressively as before, just by a little bit. In town I drive nicely so I'm always in low RPM's so I haven't really noticed anything there

 

Looks great! And it was done cheaply, mostly just man hours. Good job!

 

I'm with james, looks good.

 

Wow, so you modified the stock spider instead of using the early '99 spider? That's pretty cool, I like it!

 

Looks good, nice job!

 

I found a few 99 spiders in the junk yard but I wanted to do it this way, wasn't to bad

 

the material of the spider was thinner than the exhaust tube i used so I had to do the "stack a tack" method so I didn't burn through the spider

 

Nice job. Welding big thin wall tubing is tough for sure. You might want to add a bung to your hot side pipe and run the MAP line over there to help reduce the lag.

 

Looks pretty good! I do have to ask this though... How hard is it to get your IC pipes into place since they are all welded??? since i have the E99 spyder the IC pipes are shorter and can be taken out w/ out the spyder. Mine are finiky as hell to get in there and take out with out banging them up and scratching my pretty paint. lol I just couldn't help but wonder how much harder those would be to mess with than mine are. Looks like they suck to put in and take out.

 

I kind of agree. Especially on the cold side pipe. I would probably put a boot on top near the y-pipe. This may also help with engine twist and flex.

Nevertheless great job and kudos to you for doing it yourself without the spider pipe.
Reps to ya for a job well done.

 

I have the same issue as you travis. I scratch my nice ford blue paint any time I take out the cold side. I have the hot side wrapped in blue heat wrap, extra I had from wrapping the downpipe.

 

There's a process when I pull the pipes. disconnect hot side and turbo, leave hot side pipe disconnected and cold side slips out no problem. Hot side can than slide out but I always nick it on the AC components so yes it's a pain. Yhose SD boots are supre flexy and allow room for a lot of play. Some of the pics show that the pipes have tabs on them securing them to the motor so all the motor vibration is absorbed in the boots that connect to the IC

 

Cold side on mine isn't bad. Hot side sucks. Gotta pull the intake out and even then i nick some stuff. Like Darin i scratch my pretty Ford Blue paint.. LOL.

 

Ya I guess I have to pull the intake to, I definiatly scratch mine to, almost would've been worth not painting lol

 

To the OP how is this inter-cooler mod holding up sense it been in over a year now? I really like the spider mod, as they are so hard to find. Just wish I had some welding skills (maybe I'm not to old to learn). I have an 05 6.0 inter-cooler with pipes (don't know if they will be useable though, I think I paid $120 for them about six months ago. Just thinking this could be a good winter project for me. Keeping the cost down to a minimum is very important for me.