Banks intercooler pipe kit

[Window&Door]

I drove to banks and bought the kit excluding the IC for $485 out the door. Found a brand new, boxed 2002 SD intercooler for $150... Did not notice any difference in EGTS, not that they were high before, but I chose to do it because I swapped turbo's for a smaller exhaust housing. Be prepared to butcher the radiator support a bit.

[BiodieselPlace]

Originally Posted by Window&Door

I drove to banks and bought the kit excluding the IC for $485 out the door. Found a brand new, boxed 2002 SD intercooler for $150... Did not notice any difference in EGTS, not that they were high before, but I chose to do it because I swapped turbo's for a smaller exhaust housing. Be prepared to butcher the radiator support a bit.

The complete kit is like $1,500.
So they want $1,000 for the intercooler?

[Window&Door]

Originally Posted by BiodieselPlace

The complete kit is like $1,500.
So they want $1,000 for the intercooler?

OK, if a $500 price tag is what their cooler itself would go for... THEN I admit it, yes, I am the sucker that paid one thousand US dollars for a four-piece pipe kit with four silicone sleeves and a few T-bolt clamps from Mr. Banks himself... You got me.

[302man]

Does the Banks Kit require you to cut up your truck ? I know its not suppose to be much. Typically from what I have seen in Race cars....air to air coolers knock off the temperature edge off. Just so we can run a degree or two of timing. The intercooler itself will probably do more when your at highway speeds or WOT with a ton of air gushing through it. Light throttle and city driving .... a cooler ill probably hurt performance as it turns itself into a boost restriction.

[Window&Door]

Originally Posted by 302man

Does the Banks Kit require you to cut up your truck ? I know its not suppose to be much. Typically from what I have seen in Race cars....air to air coolers knock off the temperature edge off. Just so we can run a degree or two of timing. The intercooler itself will probably do more when your at highway speeds or WOT with a ton of air gushing through it. Light throttle and city driving .... a cooler ill probably hurt performance as it turns itself into a boost restriction.

I think I only had to cut out 2 or 4 spotwelds on radiator support, then again, i was using a ford intercooler and not the banks. Amount of metal removed is nothing to worry about, I had to go back and cut more out to situate the silicone boots properly.

Cooler air via the intercooler will provide a denser air charge which would make me think it would produce more power... Didn't notice any, just a bit of lag and very minimal difference in egts. I think my mileage dropped a tiny bit because heat was not aiding ignition of fuel... My truck never ran hot to begin with and it does not see much heavy towing. Perhaps a truck that works really hard would benefit having a cooler on it.

[302man]

What we noticed from adding an intercooler, (if thats all you do), you will slow down. Deisels are might be a little different... Makes me wonder if the truck would respond better if the tune we changed to be a bit more agressive. ???? I am going to call Jody and talk to him and see what he says about some of this.

[MichaelPatrick]

It is amazing to me that the intercooler reduces EGTs only a minimal amount. Even the 100F to 150F claim by one manufacturer does not seem like a lot. Is it really worth the cost and effort to put all that piping on our trucks (and chance of leaks, initial acceleratiion lag, more stuff in the way under the hood, etc)?

I tow a travel trailer, and I sometimes have to restrict power a little due to high EGTs when climbing a mountain. But if the temp reduction is only up to 150F or so, I don't think the intercooler is worth it for me. Am I missing something here?

[DZLJIM]

I noticed 200* - 250* drop right away, easily. Even just cruising the freeway.
Stock injectors on an OBS and a cooler will make for loss of power and slow spool up.
Of course it's been years since I drove a truck that had stock injectors, but you're not pushing enough fuel to heat things up. Actually, the stock truck is designed to be pushed hard and never heat to the extreme. That's why they upped the hp for the Super Duties, cuz they added the intercooler to control the heat.

With Stage-1's, towing 10k # up hills in NY and PA, I rarely had to drop out of OD (w/3:55) and rarely came close to 1100*.
You will definitely see a benefit while towing. It's like the temps get to a certain point and stop climbing, you would never see this under normal driving with stock injectors.

[302man]

Good info ! Nice to have real world experience ! So what you are saying is if you have stock injectors on a Non-intercooled truck and stock turbo setup, its not worth the extra $ spent on the intercooler ?

Whats an OBS ?

[BiodieselPlace]

Originally Posted by Window&Door

OK, if a $500 price tag is what their cooler itself would go for... THEN I admit it, yes, I am the sucker that paid one thousand US dollars for a four-piece pipe kit with four silicone sleeves and a few T-bolt clamps from Mr. Banks himself... You got me.

No harm intended there...
I just wonder how their pricing works...
Banks really likes their stuff.

[Patrick Feeley]

Originally Posted by 302man

Whats an OBS ?

OBS is the common acronym around here for "Old Body Style" trucks like ours! Cheers!

[DZLJIM]

Originally Posted by 302man

So what you are saying is if you have stock injectors on a Non-intercooled truck and stock turbo setup, its not worth the extra $ spent on the intercooler ?

Whats an OBS ?

I'd say that's about correct. If you don't have high EGT's now, a 'cooler won't do you much good.
In fact, I don't have a 'cooler on my '96 and run 238cc Hybrids and a 38R and with good tuning, even towing the same 10k pounds, EGT's aren't really an issue. It's amazing what good tuning will do for even EGT's.

OBS = Old But Sexy.


Also, I have a Banks pipe Kit still in the box if anyone's interested.