Vortech Aftercooler and Icebox
After seeing my intake air temperature reach beyond 200 degF at the end of the drag strip, I decided it was time to go for an intercooler of some kind. A custom air-to-air looked interesting, but in the end I decided to take the easy way out and order the Vortech Aftercooler. The truly amazing performance of John Eave's car was a major factor in the decision. One weakness of the LT1 Aftercooler kit is the ridiculously small water tank they provide (the 'cooler is air/water, so some sort of tank is required). Preferred vendor Steve Devillier at PerformanceSS suggested replacing the supplied tank with the large ice box from the Mustang kit.
The pic below left shows the modifications made to the battery tray and coolant recovery tank filler neck needed to fit the ice box. The locating ridges on the tray have been sliced off, as has the entire filler neck of the coolant tank. I pop riveted 3 aluminum tabs to the tank, then riveted on a cover cut to fit. A piece of aluminum tubing holds the flexy plastic dipstick and guides it to the tank bottom. The results of wailing on the front of the inner fenderwell with a 2lb sledge can be seen above and to the left of the battery tray. Yeah, the ice box fits, but gettin' it there ain't easy, Steve!
The middle pic shows the ice box in place, sitting on the battery tray. The hard line to the a/c condenser required serious bending to clear the box, and more bending because I wanted to be able to remove the box without pulling the radiator. If you click the thumbnail, you can see where the hood support bracket required some trimmage for ice box removal. The large rubber tube on the left is the water line coming from the Aftercooler. The pic on the right shows more of the routing of the water line and the Aftercooler along with its air plumbing. The hose coming out of the bottom of the pic is the line from the pump to the 'cooler.
The stock wire loom routing results in a very messy, difficult to work on, engine compartment. While the engine was out for the previous rebuild, I unbundled all the engine wiring, lengthened or shortened wires as necessary, and rebundled them. The pix below give an overall perspective of how the Aftercooler fits, how the water hose is routed through the engine compartment, and also show the "clean engine" benefit of all the wire rerouting. All the smog stuff is still there, it's just been relocated. For example, the EVAP stuff moved to the front driver side corner of the engine compartment, underneath the rubber donut that supports the hood. This really cleaned up the intake manifold. The wires for the EVAP stuff, as well as ignition, temp sensor, and whatever else is over there run through a loom that runs along the fenderwell right next to the fender.
The last 2 pix show the Aftercooler radiator above the air dam and the water pump. I chose this pump location because I wanted it to be the low point in the system so that the pump would prime itself after I drained the system at the track. The Vortech-recommended location had resulted in a pump that would not prime, and I got tired of risking a mouthful of skuzzy water after every pass at the strip.
