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Just curious as to what the smallest size intercooler id beable to run is. The swap im doing is super limited on space, i ordered a 27x7x2.25” intercooler 2.5” in and out which fits fine but now im wondering if its going to be to restrictive. It basically needs to beable to fit right in my grill ahead of my rad. Anyone have any experience with smaller intercoolers on these builds? Appreciate any insight
Core design (brand) matters more than size is most cases. What is your budget, fuel, power goal etc. Impossible to suggest anything without basic information. Reasonable power goals with good fuel often don't need an intercooler at all.
Not easy on pump gas def want a decent intercooler and turbo. If that's not a name brand IC of any sort, it likely performs poorly at those dimensions. If you want decent budget IC's look at Treadstone intercoolers. A good quality garrett or bell core could do what you want with the current dimensions, but the small china cores are pretty bad. Same deal with the turbo. T76 what? How big is the turbine and hotside housing?
Pretty much every question you have and what to expect is here. 500ish at the wheels is more realistic with JY budget setup and pump gas. 600ish on e85 if setup with a better turbo and IC.
Ill do some reading on there, appreciate it! Its an ebay “maxpeedingrods” t76. I think its like a 76/68? Like i said its been more of a cheap build to learn more about it, got the 4.8 fitted in a 75 mustang that used to be a drag car. Definitely looking to run it on pump gas, hsrd to find anything else around where i am. The intercooler was also just an ebay/amazon special. I have a way bigger 3” intercooler here, 31x12x3, but my space in the engine bay is limited. Maybe ill look at some other intercooler options
Thats a 65mm turbine and will usually run out of steam before 600whp. If its just a learning experience, toss what you have on and go play. 500whp is a lot to play with and get use to. You can also add on a cheap DIY water/meth kit to help with detonation and a less than optimal intercooler with pump gas.
I’m not a junkyard build by any means, but my eBay intercooler was a nightmare and I ended up going to a tread stone. Night and day difference. Dramatically different build than yours, but it helped a ton on IATs.
Im running twin T3 gt3582 on a 5.3, and a frozen boost A2A that's relatively "small" due to space available. I see ambient IAT, and up to 10° below ambient while cruising. I feel like feeding a turbo the coolest air possible is a must. Mine face forward towards the grill of the car with nothing blocking fresh incoming air. I kinda cringe when I see a turbo inlet right behind a radiator sucking in 200°+ air.
eBay intercoolers are definitely a you get what you pay for. I'm not even sure what happened to mine but it swelled out the bottom. I got a good deal on a mishi 4" intercooler
Im running twin T3 gt3582 on a 5.3, and a frozen boost A2A that's relatively "small" due to space available. I see ambient IAT, and up to 10° below ambient while cruising. I feel like feeding a turbo the coolest air possible is a must. Mine face forward towards the grill of the car with nothing blocking fresh incoming air. I kinda cringe when I see a turbo inlet right behind a radiator sucking in 200°+ air.
i do have a cut out up in front of the wheel well the feed air from outside the engine bay to the filter i. Turbo, so hopefully that helps abit. I already have the intercooler, so i guess ill try it out and see how my temps are
eBay intercoolers are definitely a you get what you pay for. I'm not even sure what happened to mine but it swelled out the bottom. I got a good deal on a mishi 4" intercooler
i have a 3” mishimoto intercooler…it works awesome and does exactly what i need it to do for the price i paid for it!!!!
i have a 3” mishimoto intercooler…it works awesome and does exactly what i need it to do for the price i paid for it!!!!
That's great to hear! I felt like I was going against the grain when I decided to go with the mishi intercooler! I was out at a car show this past weekend and got to do a bunch of street racing around the city in 100 degree weather and my IAT's were like 115-120 hitting 25 PSI of boost. I'm not really sure what all the hate is about with this company
That's great to hear! I felt like I was going against the grain when I decided to go with the mishi intercooler! I was out at a car show this past weekend and got to do a bunch of street racing around the city in 100 degree weather and my IAT's were like 115-120 hitting 25 PSI of boost. I'm not really sure what all the hate is about with this company
I think people just knock them cause its cheaper offshore built alternitive to hi dollar domestic built stuff…..but yea mine keeps my IAT’s well in check and usually within 20* of ambient temp….best $250 ever spent in that dept. thats for sure
That's great to hear! I felt like I was going against the grain when I decided to go with the mishi intercooler! I was out at a car show this past weekend and got to do a bunch of street racing around the city in 100 degree weather and my IAT's were like 115-120 hitting 25 PSI of boost. I'm not really sure what all the hate is about with this company
Nothing against mishimoto products here. Been using them for years. But your numbers are little suspect, lol. Not saying your sensors didn't read that or accusing anyone of lying. But your numbers would mean that intercooler is 91% efficient. which is VERY unlikely. May need to calculate that IAT sensor or something. The absolute best performance A2A cores are the Garrett race units, and they are 80-90%. No way I buy that dinky lil guy is pulling those numbers legitimately. Not saying its not a decent IC for the $. Or that it won't work great your your application. Even 75% on a cheap unit is great. Thats about what I saw on the 3.5" thick treadstone race unit below. You can actually tell alot about the intercooler by its weight. The cheap china unit I replaced with this unit was 19lbs. The treadstone was very similar dimensions and was 34lbs! They have a MUCH denser core.
Nothing against mishimoto products here. Been using them for years. But your numbers are little suspect, lol. Not saying your sensors didn't read that or accusing anyone of lying. But your numbers would mean that intercooler is 91% efficient. which is VERY unlikely. May need to calculate that IAT sensor or something. The absolute best performance A2A cores are the Garrett race units, and they are 80-90%. No way I buy that dinky lil guy is pulling those numbers legitimately. Not saying its not a decent IC for the $. Or that it won't work great your your application. Even 75% on a cheap unit is great. Thats about what I saw on the 3.5" thick treadstone race unit below. You can actually tell alot about the intercooler by its weight. The cheap china unit I replaced with this unit was 19lbs. The treadstone was very similar dimensions and was 34lbs! They have a MUCH denser core.
The intercooler itself 31x12x4 with 15 fins per inch and is about 25ish lbs and yes I absolutely don't believe those numbers are real at all. I've been kinda suspicious of my Rife sensor for a little bit now. I feel like I damaged it somehow when it was dropped. I have another one somewhere I need to find
Couple friends run the 4" on3 core IC and have had great results with it as well. (better than my more expensive treadstone) I see they have a 5" and 6" thick units now as well. Super curious how the thicker cores do.
Couple friends run the 4" on3 core IC and have had great results with it as well. (better than my more expensive treadstone) I see they have a 5" and 6" thick units now as well. Super curious how the thicker cores do.
I do have a spot on the bottom of my Trinity intake that I can install another IAT sensor. Might be an idea and then I can compare to the one in the intake piping. If one or the other is drastically different then there's gotta be an issue
I ran a CX Racing 3" intercooler on my last 4th gen that seemed to work pretty well up to 14 lbs. of boost.
I imagine if I pushed it farther I'd have found it to be less efficient.
If you plan on running 20+ lbs. out of a little turbo then you better invest in a quality IC, A2W setups are amazing but more money.
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Intercooler size for turbo 4.8 t76 
