5ft24
New member
- Joined
- Apr 11, 2014
- Location
- Washington
So, found an NPR intercooler on Car-Part.com from a bone yard that cost me 100+ shipping.
did all the reading I could, and I just love how all the other articles seem to try and convince you it's nearly a direct drop in... NOT...
it's not brain surgery, but it isn't a walk in the park, either...
I took off the radiator mounts and removed the stock IC... attempted to drop the new one in... no way. everything was in the way, not enough space etc.
Disassembled the core support, unbolted the electric fan and removed all the top pieces. removed the airbox, and unbolted the oil cooler and carbon cannister.
intercooler dropped in, but was snug on the pass. side against the radiator. made a note of that. also, the intercooler sat too far down. bought a package of energy suspension urethane roll bar end mounts, and stacked them 2 high and 2 wide to make a spacer. used lots of RTV and Gorilla duct tape to hold them together while they dried. I marked on the IC where the bottom mounts were for the stocker, so my bumpers would sit in them.
I let it dry overnight.
The transmission cooler was also too cloce to the radiator, and was an issue with the intercooler sitting down properly. I unbolted it and drilled new holes in it's bottom bracket to slide it back about a good 1/2"
it now had plenty of clearance at the bottom. I slid the NPR into place, and looked at the radiator hold downs. the radiator was a little closer to the engine to make room, so I modified those by cutting off the back end so it could slide forward, and drilled a new mounting hole about 1/2" behind the original.
I also put a chunk of high density foam between the IC and the bracket to hold it down.
At that point I was able to bolt those on. Next was the IC to TB plumbing. the hose stretched to fit over the NPR outlet just fine. the metal pipe was a bit too long to fit properly to the rubber hose coming off the throttle body, so I trimmed about 2" off the rubber hose. The metal tube had to be installed with the nipple for the idle speed control hose facing straight down in order to fit the best it could.
The compressor to IC was a straight bolt on. I did have to loosen the radiator hold downs and move the radiator a little towards the drivers side to make room for the hose to slide over the NPR's Inlet.
There was no way the factory airbox would fit, so I unbolted the Mass Air sensor from it and used a K&N cone filter. I plan on boxing that corner in to keep hot air out.
Next was to put the oil cooler and carbon cannister back. on the oil cooler, I removed the sheet metal "scoop" that was bolted to it on the side closest to the radiator. The bottom mount still worked fine, but the top mount I cut and drilled a hole to bolt it to the intercooler. there was a threaded boss right next to the outlet that was the perfect place.
once that was done, the carbon cannister went right back to it's own bracket without issue.
double checked all clamps and bolts to make sure everything was solid and took it out for a test drive. the first thing I noticed, is the engine would go right to 6000 RPM without feeling like it was losing power... with the stocker it would seem to flatten out about 5000 RPM.
I also noticed that driving in stop and go traffic, when a spot opened up that I could get on it a bit, the power was right there, and not spongy like the stocker was from being heat soaked. as far as more power? running the stock 7-8 PSI feels about the same, but there is no soggyness anymore from the heat. after a 0-80 run, I pulled over and popped the hood. burnt my hand on the inlet to the IC, the outlet felt the same temp as the outside air. nice and cool. the stock intercooler was always hotter on the outlet than the outside air.
so, I think it's ready for the bigger turbo. I feel this mod will mostly benefit you if you are running higher than stock boost. it appears to flow better, and doesn't heat up and make the engine start losing power at the upper revs.
did all the reading I could, and I just love how all the other articles seem to try and convince you it's nearly a direct drop in... NOT...
it's not brain surgery, but it isn't a walk in the park, either...
I took off the radiator mounts and removed the stock IC... attempted to drop the new one in... no way. everything was in the way, not enough space etc.
Disassembled the core support, unbolted the electric fan and removed all the top pieces. removed the airbox, and unbolted the oil cooler and carbon cannister.
intercooler dropped in, but was snug on the pass. side against the radiator. made a note of that. also, the intercooler sat too far down. bought a package of energy suspension urethane roll bar end mounts, and stacked them 2 high and 2 wide to make a spacer. used lots of RTV and Gorilla duct tape to hold them together while they dried. I marked on the IC where the bottom mounts were for the stocker, so my bumpers would sit in them.
I let it dry overnight.
The transmission cooler was also too cloce to the radiator, and was an issue with the intercooler sitting down properly. I unbolted it and drilled new holes in it's bottom bracket to slide it back about a good 1/2"
it now had plenty of clearance at the bottom. I slid the NPR into place, and looked at the radiator hold downs. the radiator was a little closer to the engine to make room, so I modified those by cutting off the back end so it could slide forward, and drilled a new mounting hole about 1/2" behind the original.
I also put a chunk of high density foam between the IC and the bracket to hold it down.
At that point I was able to bolt those on. Next was the IC to TB plumbing. the hose stretched to fit over the NPR outlet just fine. the metal pipe was a bit too long to fit properly to the rubber hose coming off the throttle body, so I trimmed about 2" off the rubber hose. The metal tube had to be installed with the nipple for the idle speed control hose facing straight down in order to fit the best it could.
The compressor to IC was a straight bolt on. I did have to loosen the radiator hold downs and move the radiator a little towards the drivers side to make room for the hose to slide over the NPR's Inlet.
There was no way the factory airbox would fit, so I unbolted the Mass Air sensor from it and used a K&N cone filter. I plan on boxing that corner in to keep hot air out.
Next was to put the oil cooler and carbon cannister back. on the oil cooler, I removed the sheet metal "scoop" that was bolted to it on the side closest to the radiator. The bottom mount still worked fine, but the top mount I cut and drilled a hole to bolt it to the intercooler. there was a threaded boss right next to the outlet that was the perfect place.
once that was done, the carbon cannister went right back to it's own bracket without issue.
double checked all clamps and bolts to make sure everything was solid and took it out for a test drive. the first thing I noticed, is the engine would go right to 6000 RPM without feeling like it was losing power... with the stocker it would seem to flatten out about 5000 RPM.
I also noticed that driving in stop and go traffic, when a spot opened up that I could get on it a bit, the power was right there, and not spongy like the stocker was from being heat soaked. as far as more power? running the stock 7-8 PSI feels about the same, but there is no soggyness anymore from the heat. after a 0-80 run, I pulled over and popped the hood. burnt my hand on the inlet to the IC, the outlet felt the same temp as the outside air. nice and cool. the stock intercooler was always hotter on the outlet than the outside air.
so, I think it's ready for the bigger turbo. I feel this mod will mostly benefit you if you are running higher than stock boost. it appears to flow better, and doesn't heat up and make the engine start losing power at the upper revs.
