Fitting an intercooler

Hmmm...I don't know much about the air/water setups. I did recently see one on one of the 12valve forums from Facebook. Guy was doing a 12valve swap and was taking all the AW stuff off...he wasn't going to use it. I suspect his 12v might have come from a piece of heavy equipment.

Ah yes that was likely an industrial engine, they had the air to water after coolers. They work but they're not super effective, and theyre tall. The aftermarket setups work far better and can be moved anywhere being that they're not part of the intake manifold like th aftercoolers are

35hunnit said:

Ah yes that was likely an industrial engine, they had the air to water after coolers. They work but they're not super effective, and theyre tall. The aftermarket setups work far better and can be moved anywhere being that they're not part of the intake manifold like th aftercoolers are

Click to expand...

The AW setup you're considering, is it a stand-alone system?....has its own radiator and circulation pump, or does it use the engine coolant system?

It would be a stand alone system. You can buy them from many places, siliconeintakes.com for example. However, I got a good deal on an aluminum rad for a first gen dodge and a good used intercooler as well, so I'm gonna try those out first. I know the intercooler will fit, and it looks like if I trim the dodge mounting tabs off the rad fit may fit right in place of the 6.5 unit. I don't intend to make huge power with this truck or move mass amounts of intake air, so I think for now that setup will be fine. Should be able to have an answer on fitment by the end of the weekend, I'll update this thread with the results in a couple days when I have them.

I fought with heat soak on a W2A setup, but admittedly it didn't have near enough capacity for what I was doing. I'd be willing to give it another shot, just remember that the heat exchanger is going to be the size of the radiator if you want it to work worth a damn. Otherwise you WILL fight heatsoak, and you'll be unlikely to win that one. Also make sure the core is big enough and make damn sure to use a surge tank that allows for expansion and contraction.

I used a Mishimoto core, sat it out front behind the GMC gille. Sliced off the hood support base but otherwise routed the 3" tube through the core support without hurting much else. I had to use a '95 washer fluid bottle to allow the intercooler pipes to pass through.

I see you did it much like the previous owner of my truck had tried. Problem is they'd used a cheap cooler and hacked at the core support pretty poorly so I patched it all back up. In gonna try the first gen cooling stack and see wjat I get for results. Picked up the ic from a buddy today and the rad should arrive tomorrow, so this is weekend I should be able to attempt fitup

Maybe this will help you out.

Alright well the first gen setup is a huge success fitment wise.
Radiator clears but barely. I had to cut the humps off the bottom of the rad support and weld in a flat plate. Clears the hood by less than an inch. Used the stock Chevy rad mount spots and built my own brackets to adapt to the dodge rad hold downs. Notched the support around the sides for the IC pipes to pass. It fits right in the core perfectly, and pits the outlets up high. No need to hack up my battery trays or **** with the washer tank
I built these quick little brackets to secure the cooler in place, and it clears the headlights with no cutting of anything needed. It also fits right behind the factory hood latch brace without needing a spacer, and the grille Kay's right on like stock with no trimming on the back either.

Here's the rest of the pics
Lost the spot for the power steering cooler though, so i ordered one that wasn't bent and beaten and will be mounting it in the space below the grille on top of that crossmember for the front spring hangers. I know the first gen setup isn't as efficient as the second gen, but I'm not pushing for big power here at all, this engine is stock and the turbo is a modified he351 so I'm not gonna be making massive boost or huge power. I have an electric fan I'll be running on that backside of the rad to keep things cool while at a stop. That about does it for this, I'll include all this and the rest of it when I post up a thread of this entire build soon, I appreciate the help of everyone who commented here