[acannell]

90 daytona 2.5
hybrid T3/T4
large intercooler (see below)
greddy BOV
stage 3 fwdperformance computer
grainger valve set to 14 psi

first i had to just get the intercooler mounted:

http://www.turbododge.com/forums/f4/f19/157068-big-daytona-intercooler-install.html

the core measures 19" x 14" x 3.5" with 2.5" inlets and outlets

the intercooler in question is:

Heat Exchanger

(thanks dodgeboy77!)

Since then ive done the following:

installed piping from turbo to intercooler
installed piping from turbo to air filter
installed greddy BOV
relocated radiator overflow bottle
replaced big battery with small lawnmower battery
removed metal pipe from heater hose to head and replaced with much longer heater hose, to make room for intercooler piping
set grainger valve to 14 psi

parts list:

most of the intercooler/turbo/air filter piping is from an $85 large generic kit off ebay which included various tubing, silicone adapters, and hose clamps. some of the pieces are very large heater hose or silicone adapters from fwdperformance, or steel exhaust pipe. all is 2.5".

the battery is a lawnmower battery from wal mart.

the battery was mounted by cutting the stock battery platform to the size of the smaller battery, riveting in "L" aluminum and steel pieces to hold the battery in place (from home depot), and then using plumbers metal strap and a draw-down bolt (also from home depot) to strap the battery in place. large gauge copper screw-down terminals (i.e. 2ga, 4ga) ARE available at home depot! home depot does NOT appear to carry actual battery wire. they may have 4ga wire but it is very stiff and not ideal for automotive use in my opinion.

a 150 amp distribution block was installed to clean up ALL the battery wiring and make it so there are only two wires going to the battery. this came from MCMASTER-CARR, P/N 9290T11

the BOV is a Type RS Greddy and was $190 from a local performance store

the radiator overflow bottle is a $8 generic replacement bought from kragen auto parts. its definitely a temporary solution though, if not just for the ugly vinyl tubing running across the radiator. it does seem to work quiet well though.

the air filter is a spectre part from autozone, $17. they only had 3" sizes so i had to put a piece of 2.5" hose over the end up the tube as an adapter.

the PCV tube that normally went to the airbox now goes to a $7 PCV breather filter from autozone. temporary solution I think, unless it doesnt leak oil, then i may keep it.

PROBLEMS:

random intercooler pipes pop out of their silicone adapters every day or so. i think this is because the piping i used is not beaded and the silicone adapters are low quality single-ply.

the intercooler:

 

[turbokid]

thats nice! Good work.

 

[RaineMan]

does your radiator get any air at all with that big boy sandwiched in there?

 

[roachjuice]

does your radiator get any air at all with that big boy sandwiched in there?

screw the radiator lol:thumb:

 

[acannell]

i havent had any cooling problems yet, and the A/C works on hot days with no ill effects, so i think its good.

it DOES run hotter than it did without the I/C though, but I went from water to 50/50 at the exact same time so im not sure if its the I/C or the lower heat transfer of coolant, or both

 

[tkelly27]

I've always used set of pliers to crimp the edge of the piping to make a little lip. Free, and it works. Other, less ghetto ways, use a tubing cutter to score around the edge. The score will give the clamp something to push the rubber into, more of a positive lock. The other, that I've never gotten down, is to put a small bead of weld around the outside. Careful with that, gets hot quick with so little material at the end of the pipe.

 

[neongary]

Nice work! The coolant reservoir tubing routing looks a little rough though. I would have run it along the top edge of the radiator, rather than zip tie it on the back of the fan.

 

[acannell]

that overflow bottle setup is completely temporary. im going to scrap the vinyl crap tubing use actual heater hose and get a better bottle and mount it better....i have other priorities at the moment though

 

[Dodgeboy77]

That's a heck of a nice job! It's not often that you see a FMIC that big and still have the A/C on the car. Great job!!

I wondered about a couple of things. One, is that a stock T2 radiator on the car? the other thing I was curious about was whether the stock battery had to go or if that was a weight saving mod.? I know the overflow bottle would have to be moved to make room for pipes, etc.

My car is a T1 so it has the wide radiator. I would either have to scrounge up a used T2 (I don't know of anyone who makes new ones) or use some other radiator entirely. I have to make room in the left front corner to get the pipes through.

Again, nice work! How's it running?

 

[acannell]

thanks for the nice words! it was a lot of work.

this car was a 1990 daytona es, 2.5 turbo 1. it was not a turbo 2. just to clear that up.

the radiator is a stock replacement from kragen, meant as a standard replacement for a T1 radiator in this car. it is full width.

the stock battery had to go because i wanted to put the air filter in that front corner behind the headlights. it was not meant as a weight-saving reduction, but that is an added bonus. the stock battery is about TWICE the width of that lawnmower battery, and in the pictures i think you can see that there would be no room for that airfilter pipe at all.

i could have probably still piped the intercooler in with the stock battery if i had put the airfilter somewhere else, but there really isnt anywhere else to put it except MAYBE down real low in front of the transmission or perhaps BEHIND the engine.

yes the overflow bottle had to go. it was in exactly the wrong place.

you MAY be able to use a smaller radiator from one of the teeny cars like a plymouth horizon (?) or omni. i pulled one from a junkyard for this purpose, but decided to go this route and keep the big radiator.

it runs very well. my #1 problem is intercooler hoses popping off. i've got cheap silicone couplers, cheap hose clamps, un-beaded tubing, and not very much flex in the piping, so all that adds up to hoses popping off at 13 psi with a BANG

there is no audible detonation, and the plugs look even if maybe a bit on the light side, but the computer is detecting knock and retarding cyl #4 7 degrees under full boost. i am trying to determine whats going on. the wideband O2 that is coming will probably help in my investigation.

the next mods to this car will be:

+40 injectors
stage 5 computer from fwdperformance
3 bar map
adjustable fuel pressure regulator
3" downpipe with 3" remote control pre-cat exhaust cutout
wideband O2 system

all of the above is already enroute from fwdperformance. once i get all that installed i will turn up the boost as high as i can.

and if the above doesnt get me to at least 300hp / 300tq at the wheels, then i will install:

ported exhaust manifold
3" swingvalve

and then, if i feel like blowing another $1000, i'll get a ported head with oversized valves

and i think that would be it

btw, to those new at this, all the above listed parts are available from fwdperformance.com, except for the 3" swingvalve, which is from turbos unleashed . com

 

[Dodgeboy77]

Thanks for the reply - that cleared a bunch of things up. I didn't realize that you were using the stock T1 radiator. I since did some research and found out, like you said, that a 2.2 L body radiator might work okay. They have about the same height and width of a T2 core.

I hesitate to go the lawnmower battery route as here in PA, I don't have the advantage of your warm San Diego weather (you have no idea how jealous I am). I realize that finding a good spot for the air filter will be a problem. Hmm. Maybe with the smaller radiator there'd be room?

An obstacle I don't have to deal with is headlight mechanisms as I'm dealing with a K car. I'm still not sure I want to squeeze in an IC as big as yours but in my radiator research I found that the 15" high radiator core matches your 15" high IC core. Now if I can fit in those pesky tanks!

A suggestion for your overflow tank: I saw some tanks on eBay like this eBay Motors: Universal 3" Aluminum OVERFLOW Coolant TANK all Civic (item 200208731791 end time Mar-24-08 19:56:02 PDT) that are narrow cylindrical ones that might fit and look good. Then again, at the bone yard you can find all kinds of shapes. Some Mitsubishi tanks are tall and narrow like this: eBay Motors: RADIATOR OVERFLOW TANK mitsubishi MIRAGE 97-02 coolant (item 370034057212 end time Mar-25-08 13:05:50 PDT)

 

[acannell]

wow those are nice looking! thanks for the info!

 

[Reaper1]

I bet that if you upgrade to T-bolt clamps you will have less of an issue with the pipes blowing off. A slight crimp at the end of the pipe would also help greatly, but those clamps are not going to hold(as you are already finding out).

The battery looks great! I'd personally find a slightly cleaner way to hold it down, but what you have works and is pretty clean. I just know over time from experience that the plumber's tape is going to look kinda junky.

Other than those tow things it looks good! I hope you get what you want out of it! :thumb:

 

[median]

very nice setup....I will be doing something similar hopefully very soon.

 

[Mystryguy]

theres a few too many connections in your piping where it would e nice to have it welded together but ive found the some 36 grit and hairspray keeps connectors on good!