Best Intercooler for Stock Location?

[Space Ghost]

IATs while cruising are meaningless. It’s WOT that matters.

not really, unless youre just goin from stop n go WOT, cruising temps matter cause if you go WOT from cruising, its better to start lower. Also im just a fan of having lower temps whenever possible.
I threw a killer chiller on my lightning that cools the intercooler fluid (water to air) with the AC, absolutely woke that truck up with the furnace kenne bell on it. Damn thing even with AFCO H/E was nearing 140* cruising here before i did that.

 

[Space Ghost]

Replacing the IC w/ an aftermarket one that installs & functions the same way as factory has no impact on warranty. Would installing a stronger (or additional) battery void warranty? Would installing a timken wheel bearing instead of fomoco void? Would installing a cat back void warranty?

Negative to all- I think a much more common, obvious, & actually legit reason for a dealer to mess w/ warranty if they wanted to be d***s would be larger 37” tires &/or wheels w/ funky offsets &/or perch style leveling kits.

The huge FMIC’S tho? Obvious “red flag” to the techs & im sure there are also legit issues ford could point to where they’d void for that (altering the grill/shutters, restricting the factory radiator, changing the location of cooler lines etc.

I hear ya, just erring on the safe side cause it feels sometimes they may look for the tiniest things to void warranties.

 

[nikhsub1]

not really, unless youre just goin from stop n go WOT, cruising temps matter cause if you go WOT from cruising, its better to start lower. Also im just a fan of having lower temps whenever possible.
I threw a killer chiller on my lightning that cools the intercooler fluid (water to air) with the AC, absolutely woke that truck up with the furnace kenne bell on it. Damn thing even with AFCO H/E was nearing 140* cruising here before i did that.

What I mean is, with the OEM IC, at WOT temps will just go up. With a good IC, at WOT temps will go down.

 

[WillieFlo]

good to hear, been havin an itch to do somethin to my truck performance wise while not messing with the warranty too much, think a stock location ic is decently stealthy. What temps are you gettin from ambient? Think mine on hwy in fl is like 30-45* above, which from what im used to isnt terrible, but unlike my svt which pulls timing around 150* iat2, the raptor seems to pull it way earlier.

I haven’t really looked, but I could check for you soon on the COBB monitoring…..

 

[Meat2022]

I agree with that. However the OP asked about best OEM replacement IC. To just replace the OEM IC without a tune is pointless. It will not yield real world performance gains in the form of more HP, TQ or fuel economy. The stock IC is lacking for sure and an aftermarked IC will help get some consistency but is it worth $1k + labor for consistancy? That is for the OP to decide, which is why I suggested if you are going to invest in your truck to get ANY meaningful performance gain, a tune should be a first stop.

I watched a video of just the IC being replaced and no tune. It was on a 2020
With new IC 390whp and 495 ft lb torque
Without aftermarket IC stock wss 376 whp and 475 ft lb torque. I'd dare say that's a difference between stock ic no tune and aftermarke ic no tune. A tune with an IC yes 100% huge gains. But those gains without a tune and the better cooling also, id say it's 100% worth an IC upgrade over stock. Go to about 4.55 mins roughly in this video to see the dyno testing done before anything else was done.

 

[nikhsub1]

People who claim putting in a better IC with no tune just have no clue how engines work. If you ran back to back to back dyno runs on a stock IC, each run would get worse and worse. With a good IC, like the Garrett, the runs would be much more consistent.

 

[Ronin84]

From all my research on various platforms, GTR forums deep dived this issue and all concluded that Garrett makes the best cores for intercoolers. Their fin count and placement which is staggered I believe provides the best cooling possible. I know that AMS uses Garrett cores and then welds on CNC end tanks, most companies source their cores from China and then just weld on their own end tanks, the intercooler core is where the money is spent. Some cores from China are decent, some are *****. I had a AMS race intercooler on Alpha 9 GTR and it was pushing 800 whp and my intake temps were well within safe limits, different platform I know but just show's the quality of the cores. I also live in Northern Canada and I see people asking about cold weather climate and condensation issues. Really there are no issues with condensation with the cooler weather because as temperatures drop, humidity drops off drastically as well so you are drawing in less moisture into the engine. I also see no benefit to the intercooler intake shrouds, really it should be as little restriction possible for best performance. I do understand why the shrouds are placed in front of the upper rad area though because it aids in maintaining temps for initial startups in extreme cold weather to help warm up time and for temps when highway driving in temps like -40C that we see up here. Believe it or not with my diesel truck I actually have to ziptie cardboard to the front grille to cover it up when we reach minus 30C or the truck won't be able to get up to normal operating temperature. I asked Winfield recently on what intercooler he prefers and he said they are all very good but if you plan on doing turbos you will need one of the upper intercooler setups. I'd like to buy the AMS but they only do the stock location IC, the COBB is proven on Winfields goosetuned Gen 2 raptor with 700whp garrett turbo setup. So for max performance probably Cobb upper IC setup and if going for stock IC location I would pick AMS. My only gripe about the Cobb, and its purely aesthetic, the rounded upper edges just dont look as good to me. I really like the sharp lines of the ADD and SVC IC's. I'd really like to find some better info on comparisons between the cobb upper IC and the SVC or ADD IC's.

 

[sixshooter_45]

From all my research on various platforms, GTR forums deep dived this issue and all concluded that Garrett makes the best cores for intercoolers. Their fin count and placement which is staggered I believe provides the best cooling possible. I know that AMS uses Garrett cores and then welds on CNC end tanks, most companies source their cores from China and then just weld on their own end tanks, the intercooler core is where the money is spent. Some cores from China are decent, some are *****. I had a AMS race intercooler on Alpha 9 GTR and it was pushing 800 whp and my intake temps were well within safe limits, different platform I know but just show's the quality of the cores. I also live in Northern Canada and I see people asking about cold weather climate and condensation issues. Really there are no issues with condensation with the cooler weather because as temperatures drop, humidity drops off drastically as well so you are drawing in less moisture into the engine. I also see no benefit to the intercooler intake shrouds, really it should be as little restriction possible for best performance. I do understand why the shrouds are placed in front of the upper rad area though because it aids in maintaining temps for initial startups in extreme cold weather to help warm up time and for temps when highway driving in temps like -40C that we see up here. Believe it or not with my diesel truck I actually have to ziptie cardboard to the front grille to cover it up when we reach minus 30C or the truck won't be able to get up to normal operating temperature. I asked Winfield recently on what intercooler he prefers and he said they are all very good but if you plan on doing turbos you will need one of the upper intercooler setups. I'd like to buy the AMS but they only do the stock location IC, the COBB is proven on Winfields goosetuned Gen 2 raptor with 700whp garrett turbo setup. So for max performance probably Cobb upper IC setup and if going for stock IC location I would pick AMS. My only gripe about the Cobb, and its purely aesthetic, the rounded upper edges just dont look as good to me. I really like the sharp lines of the ADD and SVC IC's. I'd really like to find some better info on comparisons between the cobb upper IC and the SVC or ADD IC's.

Do you know if the AMS fits in the stock locaas easy as the Cobb intercooler?

 

[Ronin84]

Stock location IC's are a fairly easy job, I do know that AMS uses Garrett cores and the amount of R&D they put into their products is second to none. In comparison for ease of fitment between the two, I am unsure. If you check the dimensions on their sites and compare I'm sure that would let you know which one will be a tighter fit.