spearco intercooler advice please
 

Hey Guys and Gals, looking for some advice. I've been out of the modding game for awhile, but need one more upgrade now. I have an Excursion with the 7.3, Jody chip and other mods. I'm towing a new and larger camper now, don't know the exact weight, but probably 9-10k lbs. I have t-pane windows and a 6 battery bank and solar/inverter setup that's adding weight . Anyway, I will be towing through the Rockies soon. Last trip with a lighter trailer, my egts were getting very high and I constantly had to back off the throttle. I'm looking at getting a Spearco intercooler to help. from what I understand, they are a direct bolt in replacement? Would I need any new boots etc.? I've seen the install time as being about 5 hours, is that about right and does the radiator have to come out? I'm super busy and short on time so I may see if I can get a local truck shop to do the install. I am in the middle of installing my solar system on the new camper. Anyway, just need to know if there are any surprises during the install, stock boots/clamps work and where's the best/least expensive place to buy? There is a 6.0 spearco on ebay, but I've been reading some and would rather not mess with having to do any modifications and deal with the very tight spacing. Thanks for any advice you can provide.
Steve

I have the 6.0 speraco and no you don't have to remove radiator. You must bend the lines on the tranny cooler. The 6.0 is twice the size of Fords. I also use the Banks power elbow and SS exhaust. They really lower EGT's. Speraco is the best there's no comparison. I got mine from Black Widow Diesel : Home there great to deal with.

The 6.0 IC is a drop in just have to get new boots for the intercooler tubes. I got the ones I have from Dieselsite, but I hear Clay at Riff raff has some nice ones also.

new spearco
 

Well, I went ahead and bought the 7.3 spearco intercooler. Have to say it looked pretty sweet, too bad you can't see it! I haven't had a chance to tow with it, but taking our new TT to Colorado next week. Hope to have better luck with EGTs this time around, Monarch pass is a real bear. I had too much to do so I had the dealership install it, change trans fluid and coolant and it turned out I needed brakes too. No surprise there, I have 110k on the Excursion and still had the original brakes. About $1500 later, I'm good to go. I also just changed tires, I got over 90k out of those. Anyway, looking forward to testing the Spearco.

I pride myself on how well I maintain the beast and a few weeks ago we got hit with a crazy hail storm. I garage my truck day and night. The one time it was outside, guess what, $7000 worth of dents! They are going to fabricate a new roof out of a huge piece of sheet metal, that should be a interesting but I'm having it done at one of the best shops around. No time to fix before the trip so I have to drive it as it. My new TT also got about $6K worth of damage. It's fiberglass sided, but the metal skirting is trashed, roof damaged and just about everything plastic blown to bits. I'm hoping they may be able to get that fixed next week. Just bought a new house last year, probably $25K damage to it. New roof, siding garage doors, etc. It's amazing what 2 minutes of golf ball sized hail and 70 mph winds will do! Even broke the windshield of the truck. Oh well, could have been a twister. Good thing for insurance!

Instock and happy to help.

Personally, I think the biggest difference you can make on EGTs is getting rid of that .84 A/R exhaust housing. I dropped 200 deg by going to the van turbo. Something to consider...

Agreed!! The van turbo would be the much cheaper option vs. the spearco.. you could do a 6.0 IC and van turbo for half the price of the Spearco.

Pretty bold statement. I'm fond of my DI intercooler but know there are other good ones out there. Thought I would add my .02 so some guy researching for an upgraded intercooler had some options.

Hypermax makes a pretty damn good Intercooler, and i am hearing good things about ATS's new one

Those were two of the three that came to mind. The third one starts with a B and ends with a S and you won't catch me saying it either. I'm sure it is a good option two, but they will receive none of my money.