SOMEONE PLZ HELP ME!!

[typhoon-crazy]

I spent the whole day today trying to get this damn atr intercooler on. I cant get it to fit all the way down (it hits the air box and cant go down any farther) to get the support bar to hook up and also the way the fittings go into it is rediculous, they are in such a place that the coolant lines have to hella be tweaked to fit it. Then if all this wasnt bad enough the inlet that hooks up to the turbo is 3 inch and not 2 like my damn turbo to ic hose i bought from atr. Currently i have no intercooler at all on my car and im pissed. Anyone who has put one of these things on or knows how the hell to put them in i would greatly appreciate the help. This especially bugs me because i spent 975 on the damn thing. Thanks in advance and sorry i needed to vent and ask for help at the same time :bad-word: :x :x

 

[sytyguy]

Not so sure I'm following. Here's what I can tell you (it's been a while since I put mine on). You will use only the middle of the 3 stock IC brackets (the one to the intake). The other support for it comes from the A/C bracket. It attaches to the bolt pad at the front right of the intercooler.

Other than that it should be fairly straight forward. When you say it hits the "airbox".....I assume you're talking about the A/C housing on the firewall. If so...yeah, it's a common problem (big reason why I waited to put mine on after I snatched the A/C). As far as the inlet size differing....not so sure I can vouch for that. Mine fit perfectly with a stock style turbo-IC hose. Tighter bend, but still fit.

Other tips I can offer:

* If you are using stock, metal IC lines then I'm sure there will be a slight problem there. The angle of the fittings on the ATR unit are 90 deg and will make for a very tight bend on those two hoses (if they don't kink). I don't have any first hand experience with this as I use heater hose lines (et tu?)

* You may hafta play with the tilt angle of the cooler somewhat for adequate hood clearance. I did all I could with it, even installing a spacer (nut) in between the A/C bracket and cooler, and still had to modify my hood to keep it from hitting. Had to remove the little "hump" out of the hood support brace directly above the cooler. Still isn't perfect.

* Keep an eye on your O2 sensor when using this cooler. I found that after some time, due to the absence of the "other" two IC brackets, my cooler would flex over and hit the O2 sensor. Being as the wires are the topmost part of that sensor, it eventually broke the sensor head (snipping the wires), and I was greeted with an overly rich truck one morning (back in C/L days). May have been an isolated problem with my truck, but keep an eye on it anyways.

Not sure there's much more I can tell you, but since a picture is worth a thousand words, here are a few:

http://www.georgiasyty.com/Michael/engine.htm

HTHs

Michael

 

[typhoon-crazy]

if i remove the ac box bolts and removed it jut for the intalation you think that would help? or can i just keep that one part of the ac box when i have the intercooler in? also my intercooler came with its own bracket that im supposed to use but i dont know which bolt to mount it to. and also thanks for the good info!

 

[sytyguy]

You shouldn't have to remove the A/C box to install this cooler. It's a very snug fit and does rub the A/C box, but it fits.

Not sure what bracket you have. I bought mine used and it pretty much came with a cooler, nothing else........but I didn't need anything else either. ATR could have revised this cooler over the years (?) and started packaging it with a bracket (possibly a bracket to enable you to use all 3 stock IC brackets - ?).......shrug.

As far as the bracket, if you have a pic handy (or wanna describe it), post away.

Michael (I said "bracket" 5 times in this reply)

 

[UNIsackV6]

I had a lot of problems fitting it as well, as it turned out I had to crack that side of the box off to get it to fit...keep in mind that not all trucks are built the same so while one person may have made it work doesn't mean everyone will....IMHO if I were you I'd send the thing back and get a refund...its not really a proven part and for almost the same price you can have a nice front mount air to air and lose 40 some pounds...seriously see if you can return it and get all your monies back...where do you live????

 

[E-Rue]

if its too tight you might want to try a heat gun to form the AC box out of the way a little bit......... or i guess you could just crack it.

e

 

[typhoon-crazy]

i live near san fransisco. i cant figure out if i want to return it or just make the damn thing work. im gonna call atr today and figure out what the hell im doing wrong. and i still am gonna need a turbo to ic hose because the inlet on the cooler is almost 3 inch diamater. thanks for the help though guys looks like i might be busting out a heat gun. even though i already put a good dent in my ac box. :-?

 

[sytyguy]

I agree with Ryan. I got mine used and it was considerably cheaper, but in hindsight, I prolly woulda saved my money. I noticed that MAT temps come back to normal a good bit quicker after a WOT run (lots less heat soak than a stocker), but to me, that's not enough to justify that kind of money.

That $975 could be best spent elsewhere IMHO.

Michael

 

[Typhoon #1133]

I bought mine used for $300. I would never pay $975 for a new one!!! And they are a pain in the ass to put on. i about gave up and sold it. to make the job easier i put the bolt in the bottom to the intercooler first. then reached though the fender well to put the bolt on to the bottom of the bracket.