intercooler install

Chevycummins

Chevycummins

Bad case of Tinkeritis!
Joined
Jul 15, 2008
Messages
3,488
well i finally got around to starting to install my dodge intercooler and radiator into my 94 chevy tonight. looks to be simple enough but have a couple questions.

1. in the pics you will see the tab on the radiator did you all remove that and just slide it down in or modified the core support to get that to slide down?
intercooleradjust.jpg
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intercooleradjust1.jpg
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2. i will try to highlight the area that i will be removing for the intercooler to fit does that amount look right or should i cut more away? the white boxes is the estimated area to remove for the ends of the intercooler.


intercooleradjust20.jpg
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thanks

michael
 
I haven't done this swap...... but if the tab in question is not needed for the mounting of the radiator then I would cut it off rather than cutting the rad support.

The IC fit looks pretty typical... I would cut some and test fit a couple times, target about 1/2" of clearance around the IC inlet/outlet and you should be good!

:Cheer:
 
yeah i hope to get some time this weekend to start cutting and trimming to get it in. i hope to see a big difference after its installed. i have heard various things from seeing a huge difference to little of nothing. wont know til i get her in and run for myself. as long as i see improvement i will be happy.
 
The Dodge intercooler will fit with the gm rad . Thats the way we did the Suburbans. Its tight but it does clear we used a 24valve air horn though .Rich
 
Found some pics
DSC_0008.jpg

this one shows how we used the tab on the intercooler and made a cup to hold the bottom rubber mounts.
DSC_0010.jpg


The cross brace was cut out and redone with square tubing.
DSC_0012.jpg

Im sure you know the headlights and turn signals must be modified. I have found the sealed beam grill fits without modifying . I hope this helps. Good Luck :Cheer: Rich
 
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Chevycummins said:
Did you use the gas or diesel one?
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Diesel.
We did have a Dodge rad ready to go in by removing all of the brackets and I think the plan was to use the gm mounting system. We went with the Gm simply to eliminate fabrication alongside the road if a rad went bad. Rich
 
The intercooler mounting will work with either Rad . If I had to do it again I would have a wedge cut out of the pass side intercooler inlet to tip it up at about a 15 degree angle.Rich
 
Well went to install the radiator and its about 2 inches too tall can barely close the hood. Also had to bend the. Battery tray supports to get the tubes to clear. I will be able to keep my hood latch support without having to modify. Will get pics up later when I get home.
 
Please Do. I look forward to seeing another way . Especially the lights . Rich
 
Better off using the Ford I/C and no need to cut the heck out of the lights and support.They take very little work to fit ,2 tabs and to bolts and since the inlet and outlet are in the middle the pipes are in a nice location .
 
well i got a couple pics of the intercooler install the other night it was late and had to get the truck out of the shop to get another one in.

rich i see why you had to modify the latch support i do not have that extra core up front so i dont have to modify that maybe add a washer behind it to shim out a little bit but should be fine.
Intercoolerinstall.jpg
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if you see that the dodge radiator sticks up a little too far to really use. i am thinking about trimming the fins off the bottom of the GM radiator tanks to get to fit around the intercooler.

intercoolerinstall1.jpg
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i didnt get a chance to get pics of the actual cut outs or the battery tray mods will try and get them the next time i get to the shop and get it out.

i did get pics of how close everything is to the front of my engine. :bang

clearanceissue.jpg
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CrewCab59 said:
Better off using the Ford I/C and no need to cut the heck out of the lights and support.They take very little work to fit ,2 tabs and to bolts and since the inlet and outlet are in the middle the pipes are in a nice location .
Click to expand...

do you have pics of that set up i would be interested in see it.
 
Found one with the intercooler on the core support that shows the areas that were ground.
downsized_1120081800a.jpg


This grill makes everything fit much easier I dont know if I will keep it like this or go back to the composite grill .
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I do like The GMC grill better though.
0107001607.jpg

I am leaning towards The GMC grill painted body color. Rich
 
well i went to try and put the lights back in and it appears that i will have to modify the silverado lights quite a bit to install the intercooler and still use the silverado grill set up. for now i got the dodge radiator to go in there was some pins on the bottom of it holding it up once those were removed it fit just fine. for now until i get more time to either swap the grills and lights i am having a tube made to run across the front of the radiator behind the grill to make it for now.

the question i have now is if anyone has tried to shorten the intercooler heighth wise so that maybe it could fit with the silverado grill set up??? i was thinking if i shorten the height by about 6-8 inches maybe it will fit with no issues and wont have to modify the lights. is this possible within a reasonable budget and will it hurt the efficiency of it???
 
Rich do you have some pics of how you modified those silverado lights to fit. the way mine sets in there it looks like i will have to take a bunch off of it to even fit.
 
DSC_0013.jpg

they were both cut about the same place and adjustment was no longer available.
 
so do you have only 2 or 3 bolts holding it on now? how was it driving down the road did the light shake any? did you have to re-adjust the lights after the install or did they set where they needed to be?
 
Im pretty sure it was three ,it did move, the plan was to attach a long machine screw through the firewall to allow for adjustment. Possibly using a cable adjust system from a Dakota although I did not research this yet.
 
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