# Intercooler Installation Help?



## blakeZX (Apr 29, 2005)

Hello-

Just looking for some good advice on how to go about installing an intercooler (stock part out of a Mitsubishi Starion) in my 1984 300ZX Turbo 5spd. The individual I purchased it from had it installed into a 1986 Turbo, so hopefully minimal cutting (if any) to fit it will be required. I was wondering if anyone out there had any experience in putting intercoolers into Z31's, any year? I am pretty sure my A/C accumlulator/dryer is gone, because there is no belt coming out of my A/C Compressor, it's just a bare spindle. I don't know what this thing is supposed to look like, but I'm pretty sure it normally goes behind the engine fan, which is where the intercooler should mount.

Here is a picture:









The guy I got it from told me that all he did was remove his A/C compressor unit to make it fit. I can handle that, but once that is done, where do I go from there? What kind of piping will I need to put in place? Forgive me for being new to this, but I really need some advice here. I have a couple pics of the intercooler, too:


















Any help or links to guides would be super and I would love you for all eternity and then some.

Thanks,

-Blake


----------



## wes (Apr 30, 2002)

I don't see how that piping setup suits your car. Look at your engine bay, the throttle body is on the right side, whereas the intercooler inlet and outlet are on the left hand side, unless the intercooler is flipped updise down it doesn't make sense. Even then I think it would hang extremely low to the ground. You will need to order a bunch of piping bends in the proper diameter and then cut them to route the piping where you need it to go. 

Honestly it sounds like you haven't done this before so I would do some research and figure out how others have fabbed IC piping on your car. Heck you can look at IC piping from any car and it should help you figure things out.


----------



## blakeZX (Apr 29, 2005)

wes said:


> I don't see how that piping setup suits your car. Look at your engine bay, the throttle body is on the right side, whereas the intercooler inlet and outlet are on the left hand side, unless the intercooler is flipped updise down it doesn't make sense. Even then I think it would hang extremely low to the ground. You will need to order a bunch of piping bends in the proper diameter and then cut them to route the piping where you need it to go.
> 
> Honestly it sounds like you haven't done this before so I would do some research and figure out how others have fabbed IC piping on your car. Heck you can look at IC piping from any car and it should help you figure things out.


Couldn't it just be that I have to turn it around so it's facing the opposite way? That way the piping remains at the same height but the inlet/outlet would be in the right side, by the intake/turbo/T.B.

Am I right?


----------



## wes (Apr 30, 2002)

blakeZX said:


> Couldn't it just be that I have to turn it around so it's facing the opposite way? That way the piping remains at the same height but the inlet/outlet would be in the right side, by the intake/turbo/T.B.
> 
> Am I right?


Without seeing it in person it is hard to say, but think about what you just said. One of the inlets/outlets would be facing the wrong direction as in it would face towards the front of the car and you would have to route it back around to get to the TB....


----------



## blakeZX (Apr 29, 2005)

wes said:


> Without seeing it in person it is hard to say, but think about what you just said. One of the inlets/outlets would be facing the wrong direction as in it would face towards the front of the car and you would have to route it back around to get to the TB....


That's true, I had missed that. Anyhow, I did some research and it turns out that this core is apparently not worth my trouble to put in, so I'll be getting rid of it and trying to get a hold of a MKIV supra cooler instead. Thanks for your help though, wes.


----------



## wes (Apr 30, 2002)

blakeZX said:


> That's true, I had missed that. Anyhow, I did some research and it turns out that this core is apparently not worth my trouble to put in, so I'll be getting rid of it and trying to get a hold of a MKIV supra cooler instead. Thanks for your help though, wes.


Here's an idea, cut off the existing outlets leaving only as much pipe as you need to make it work, mount it upside down and you should be in business. Honestly it will require just as much work to make another core work as you have to make piping anyway...


----------



## Marc Z31 (Jul 25, 2004)

Here is what I did when I had a MKIV intercooler.

Piping- http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v342/T66Z31/106-0698_IMG.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v342/T66Z31/106-0695_IMG.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v342/T66Z31/106-0694_IMG.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v342/T66Z31/106-0693_IMG.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v342/T66Z31/106-0637_IMG.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v342/T66Z31/106-0634_IMG.jpg

The black 90 degree rubber coupling is from a volvo 850 turbo. The turbo itself was a bit bigger than stock. 

Have you thought about chemical intercooling? Alcohol injection would save you about $200 on intercooling with an air/air. I would swear by it. Keep the charge piping short, use a 5-10 psi pressure switch to kick on the alcohol. Anything past about 13psi on stock turbo is a waste. You are just blowing hot air at that point.


----------

