Shooting for 1000 hp, page 4, BIG intercooler

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Hmmm, where does this go?

This is where the project started getting fun.  The big Spearco intercooler needed a home, the ys-trim needed a 4" inlet tube, and the blower discharge had to get routed here and there in an efficient manner.  My 6 weeks of community college welding instruction seemed inadequate to face this challenge.  Who ya gonna call?  Dunno 'bout you, but I rang up TIG-meister Craig Hill.  As usual, the work done by his Top of the Hill shop is totally awesome, both in design and in execution.  See for yourself.

Let's start out with the 4" inlet tube welded up from sections of mandrel bends.  Anyone who's done a 4th-gen Vortech knows that there is precious little room for the 3.5" tube used by the s-trim.  As expected, it's way worse with a 4" tube.  But it fits perfectly.  Craig ordered a 4" ID, 7" OD, 9" long K&N that will reside in the same neighborhood in front of the driver side front tire as the s-trim kit location, but the new location is a bit farther off the ground.  The tab shown in the left pic bolts to body sheet metal through a rubber isolator.  Nice weld, eh?  Unlike my previous 3.5" inlet, this one is a single piece.

OK, inlet done, time to mount the intercooler.  I had Spearco do a custom cooler that would just fit between the "frame" rails.  And it does.  Craig welded on mounting ears left, right, and on top.  The center pic shows the air dam welded to the back of the lower tank.  I was concerned that air scooped up by the factory plastic air dam would generate a high pressure area behind the intercooler that would, in turn, decrease flow through the 'cooler.  We'll see how cool the engine stays this summer.  I'm expecting a few air management revisions.  The last pic shows the ys-trim discharge, including the 3" to 3.5" transition fabricated from a piece of 3.5" pipe.  It passes through the existing hole behind the driver side headlights.

The pic below left shows the discharge emerging through the hole behind the headlight and hooking to the cooler.  My hand is resting on the factory air dam.  The intercooler outlet snakes around the B&M tranny cooler and through the hole vacated by the factory radiator overflow tank.  What's holding it up, you ask, astutely noting the lack of a silicone coupler hose?  It's yet another bracket welded to the tube.  This entire assembly is surprisingly sturdy.

We spent a lot of time discussing intercooler outlet routing because of the lack of room between the alternator and the radiator, and because of all the hoses in that neighborhood.  One option was to route the outlet back across the car to the driver side, and I checked with Turbonetics about having them flip the bottom tank 180 degrees.  In the end, though we decided to go with my original idea of coming up through the radiator overflow location.  Craig leaned on the a/c lines a bit, and with some careful routing and yet *another* bracket, it fits.

The left-hand pic shows the new MAF location as well as the Acceleronics Impedance Converter that will run the 95 lb/hr low-impedance injectors needed to fuel this thing.  You need one, too!  ;)  The bracket is retained by the alternator "pivot" bolt.  There is precious little clearance between the tube and the radiator, but unless the radiator moves straight back somehow, they will never touch.