I was wondering if the Lightning intercooler setup was compatible with other blower setups.. I have tried to look for kits on ebay, or even parts, and all I have found is the core from the bolt's IC. Has anyone installed a ford intercooler on another supercharger? Would it work for my Vortech setup? I have never seen a lightning's IC up close, so I dont know how it connects.

-Rob

 

bad- Vortech just came out with a water/air kit for the trucks and it looks very nice.... check recent threads.
WLF and chuck_bp are using the L version exchangers with Vortech coolers on Powerdyne s/c.... maybe they will post here. LOL

 

Bad,
The problem in the lightning intercooler is located in the intake and you have to have a lightning intake, then it only fits a Lightning blower unless you get a custom intake for a turbo, then it is expensive…well you know where I am going.

Chucksbp and I have both used Vortec aftercoolers with our Powerdynes; mine from a mustang 4.6 and his from a Mustang 5.0 (I think). Everything else from the Lightning will work (pump, heat exchanger, water bottle).

Keep an eye on ebay. These aftercoolers show up every now and then. You can also take the route ONELOWF did and put in an air-to-air intercooler.

Good luck and always have fun.

 

here is a pic of a lower intake with the intercooler installed

 

If you had a 5.4 engine and a lightning lower manifold and intercooler, like the one Raider has pictured, you can make a sheet metal upper and use an intake elbow and throttle body and blow the supercharged air through it. This was done on a mustang 4.6 4V engine that Mustangs and other fast Ford magazine did a supercharger and turbocharger comparason on. They did testing on differant screw type compressors and then went to a vortech and some other units and finally some turbos.

 

The more I look at it, and think about it, the more I move towards fabricating an Air/Air IC. It's just alot cheaper, and within my skill level. Maybe later I can get into a wet system. Anyone heard good stuff about that cryo-freeze?

 

Before you go with an air to air you need to do some research. I went that route with my vortech about two years ago and had nothing but problems. After I resolved the fitment isssues I had problems with surgeing duing nomal driveing ie, going down the road at 55mph. I was working with crash on this problem. I got fed up with trying to find a fix and sold the IC. Since I sold the IC and might have found out what the problem was, I have two possible solutions. 1st, purchase ATI blow off and locate it in the same area that ATI locates their's. 2nd option (this is from Troyer) is to have two blow offs, 1st one after the blower and the 2nd one before the intake. Hope this helps.

 

bad -
That is the same conclusion I came to - air to air would be a better way for me.
I'm not going to be convinced until I have the whole system complete, and can compare some numbers - air temps and boost loss, etc.
You will lose 1 1/2 - 2 psi of boost with the piping and cooler, or so I have been told.
chucks_bp has estimated 1/2 psi loss with the air/water system, and only 10 degrees over ambient air temp on his Powerdyne..... but he has abilities we prolly don't.
I got my intercooler and piping on ebay. The cooler itself is set up for a Mustang.....it stands upright with the inlets pointing in at an angle and straight back to the engine and, a package of six 3" 90's in polished aluminum. I added a 12" efan with controller. A 10" efan would be a better fit.... I had to move the p/s cooler and clock the fan. Cost - about $600.
You may want to go for some nicer silicone couplers. I deglossed the pipe and used black 3" ID industrial water hose and t-bar clamps, as I am looking for a very minimal oem performance look - I dont do chrome.

You are going to have a fight with the stock fan and shroud, but that is how the ATI is set up. If you are considering efans, do them first.... anybody that has em loves em.

 

The way I did my intercooler was realy simple. The Vortech unit was almost a perfict fit to use with the powerdyne set up. the boost loss is about 1/2 pound and the drivability is unchanged. The system has been flawless for over a year now. I thaught about an air to air and spent hours under the bumper thinking about mounting and piping, I actualy bid on acouple of coolers, but after reading Vortechs engineering views on ther web page I decided that air to water was easier and better. I felt that it was easier to route heater hose than 3 inch tubing. after findimg the lightning heat exchanger at a resonable price and found that mounting was very simple as it was made to fit a F150, I decided to use the lightning pump and factory molded hoses, again they were very resonable for the OE quality and reliability that you gain. the last part of the puzzel was the aftercooler, Vortech was nice enough to send me actual prints of there units, that when I decided which one to use I made a cardboard mockup to see if the demensions worked and had any fitment problems. When I was shure I got the unit cut one tube off and welded an elbow on the end and that was it. Had I wanted a little extra tubing it could have been done with no welding, but this made a neat instalation that can be removed in minutes to get to any original componenets.

 

Here's and aftercooler from ebay. Looks like mine. A little pricy but a lot less then new.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Vorte...QQcmdZViewItem

 

And here is one like Chucksbp.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Vorte...QQcmdZViewItem

 

WLF -
The second ebay listing looks like the most for the $, so far, but in a day and a half the bidding can get out of hand with a silly final price.
The complete kits for Mustang go fo $ 1,400 - $1,800 on Summit's Site, a big upgrade.

By the Way, I posted a gallery of my air/air cooling, but couldn't get the link function to work. I'll work on it tonight.

To see it go to the galleries and pull up ONELOWF.

 

ONELOWF,
When you open one of your pictures you will see at the bottom
forum codes
click and it will bring up a window. Highlight the code you want (large or small picture), right click, copy and paste into your responce. That's it.
Here is just one of your pictures. A nice job, you can tell you took your time. I think your efforts will really pay off.