Isn’t relocating intercooler in front of radiator an issue?

[Tomhorn]

Touch the intercooler and nada is covered if your turbos shit the bed only drawback to the gen2 with bumpers lighting winches thats where the 14 shines but pros/ cons to everything if u touchem u ownem manufacturers suck that way unless u go through their certified robber barons

 

[nikhsub1]

Yeah that silly buck toothed bumper with lights will kill all your airflow into the grill.

 

[jimmyjamm]

When I planned to mount a winch the worry is relocating the intercooler can have an affect on your warranty, more heat in front of the radiator, condenser and trans cooler. I went with a Buckstop bumper that allows the winch to ride high enough to allow the intercooler to stay in place and bumper to add more flow area than the OE front bumper. I went with a Warn 9.5XP that has the remote winch solenoid, so keeps it from blocking airflow to the radiator as well. I live in the high desert, so worried about summer heat, slow speed crawling and towing, all in the heat.
https://www.buckstopinc.com/classic-1.html

 

[1BAD454SSv2]

Yeah that silly buck toothed bumper with lights will kill all your airflow into the grill.

That's why i'm not ******** with anything airflow related , especially in Arizona , other parts of country you can get away with it.

 

[Swarfworks]

I figured I’d chime in here. So I ran the Full-Race intercooler on my ‘17 and now a Cobb intercooler on my ‘19. I never had any issue until I put 4 monster LP9 in front of the grill.

But it’s extremely rare. Never have I had an issue on the road. I can think of couple times that it got hot. Once was at the Bonneville salt flats at the end of July. Ambient temps over 100. Slightly wet salt. Flat out for several minutes straight over 100 mph. Another was sand dunes in July in Utah (once again above 100 ambient temps). Climbing the largest, longest hill that takes a heck of a run. About the 2nd or 3rd time back to back it got hot. It is extremely pushing it in both instances. It got hot enough to automatically reduce power until it cooled down, which takes just a minute.

Anyway, it takes so much to be a problem it’s almost a moot point. And that’s with the big LP9 lights blocking a lot of air. I don’t think you’d ever have an issue with just the intercooler.

Oh, and the concern about warranty. I understand the concern. Some dealers suck. I’ve never had them even mention it on my trucks. And all the kits I’ve sold I’ve never heard of anyone having an issue. Not saying that it couldn’t happen, but I haven’t heard of it.

Thanks,
Paul

 

[TurboTJ]

I have been contemplating this for a long time. I posted this a little while ago trying to solve the exact same problem. https://www.fordraptorforum.com/threads/warranty-compliant-winch-options.75060/#post-1462559

If you do the intercooler relocation, you can always upgrade the radiator and tranny cooler to offset some of it. Also, keep in mind that the IC only gets real hot when under boost. I’m not seeing high boost continuously so it’s not a huge concern. As a result, I’m more concerned with the disruption in airflow more than the air heating up.

I have one car with the intercooler in front of the heat exchanger stack. If you look closely, you will see that they spent considerable time adding ducting to make sure that all air is used.

On my 2015 Evo FE, they have extra radiator inlets where fresh air can bypass the IC and get straight to the radiator. They also relocated the oil cooler and tranny cooler to the corners of the bumper so they don’t suck in hot air.

In the end, I think you can do it but I would carve up some ducting to make sure that you are forcing air to go where you need it. I would also upgrade the radiator and tranny cooler to be on the safe side.

It’s ridiculous how hard and expensive it is just to add a winch!

 

[jabroni619]

Should not cause a problem. All of the full size diesels have much larger intercoolers in front of the radiator. The 3.5L EcoBoost intercooler is dinky in comparison.

Those full size diesels are engineered with that in mind though. They hold a lot more coolant, have a larger radiator and a radiator fan that moves a whole lot more air.

I'm not saying he will or won't run into issues, just that using the diesel setup as an example really isn't an example at all.

 

[jabroni619]

My 2010 does , a Whipple inter-cooler, I did'nt have issues till temps got over 90+ degrees

That's a pretty big issue. 90 degrees isn't exactly uncommon unless you live at the poles.

 

[1BAD454SSv2]

That's a pretty big issue. 90 degrees isn't exactly uncommon unless you live at the poles.

Yep finally figured it out on my 2010 on last hottest day in 2019 115 deg , when i got home from work night before ,I removed the lights to let air flow directly to grill through bar hoop opening. Drove truck to work next day knowing when i left it was going to be 115 deg . Left work headed to interstate , started ramping up the speed 80 mph coolant stayed at 212 deg , otherwise would be 230+. Drove few exits down 10 miles or so, down interstate mainly looking for cops ,jumped off headed in opposite direction on interstate maintained 100mph at 220 deg .

I only had issues at speed over 70mph and 90+ deg air temp, air would flow onto hood instead of going through grill. With the new bumper and trans cooler mount i fabricated "ADD copy + a Ron Davis Radiator. 100 mph , 120 air temp and 212 deg coolant is my goal . We will see this summer

 

[1BAD454SSv2]

For my Gen 2 I think its best to go aftermarket IC in stock location. Stacking intercooler in front of A/C and radiator. I don't know , not worth for me to try in Arizona.