Project: intercooler to 7.3

[TomsBeast]

Another interference pops up, the cold side boost tube clamp rubs against one of the rubber heater hoses. That's no good for long term, so I imagine a saddle bracket, that would lift the hose, and protect it from chaffing



Using some 1" tube 45deg bends salvaged from a piece of furniture years ago, thrown in the stock rack "just in case'. These worked perfect to fabricated a custom 'hose tray' to keep the heater hose from rubbing, and wearing through, as the engine torques over.







Tucked neatly out of the way, the hose clamp still rubs against the steel bracket, but at least it's not clamp against rubber now!










a better picture of the hose tray, a tricky part to fabricate, hard to see but it's two radii, male and female, and makes a 90deg bend.

[TomsBeast]

I really butchered the radiator support and front panel, to get the boost tubes to easily thread into position. I fixed it all, reinforced it by welding in some support structure, but I wanted to 'clean it up' and cover the large holes. To fill the openings, and add a retaining feature to the intercooler to boost tube joints, I built a couple filler panels. I also welded a coupler nut to the boost tubes. I added rubber flap gap fillers, to discourage air from going around the intercooler, condenser, and radiator, encourage the air to pass through the heat exchangers instead.

[TomsBeast]

Inspiration for bigger projects comes in many forms, sometimes, pictures inspiration me to build something, from a position of 'wow, I like that!'.



Other times, I find myself saying "jeez, I can do better than that abortion!"



I give you, an intercooler picture that I found, that epitomizes the term 'function over form'

[IanF]

Good grief! That looks like a Mad Max set-up.

[OutlawImages]

Originally Posted by TomsBeast

I had a little setback with the fit-up of the boost tubes, which had me cutting and welding my already coated and insulated tubes... 3 steps forward, 1 step back, oh well.


While going through 'final fitup' I discovered the oil dip stick wasn't really workable.


kinda buried







So I start 'doing what I do', come up with a fix








I found that 3/4" electrical conduit has the right inner diameter to slide over the Ford plastic dipstick handle. After trimming the tee handle ears off w/grinder, roughing up with coarse grit sandpaper, I assembled the new extension using a little JB weld to fill the small gap, and a single pop rivet to add some 'belt and suspenders' redundancy. I like my dipstick handles to be easy to locate, I've been known to paint them orange. A little red paint, and it's good to go.

You always do things the right way, and this is no different

Great fabrication work

[TomsBeast]

aaaaaaand she's a runner!


The new fuel pump primed right away, 20 seconds and it lit off right away

[OutlawImages]

Awesome, gonna be fun to travel in

[marret]

Sweet, fantastic work.

[WhitH]

Great work! It'll be interesting to see how much lower your temps are once you get it out and on the road...or trail...or wherever.

[bambucha]

hola excelente idea para el intercooler pero como hago para el filtro de aire