97stanger

An intercooler is never required, but its a very smart idea.

Adam03GT

Sorry for getting somewhat offtopic..

I understand the intercooler allows you to run more boost and keeps everything a cooler temperature... But if i kept myself detuned to around 360-370rwhp would i still be just fine?

97stanger

well its a tough decision. Some motors (most common the rods) crap out on some people at 350rwhp, and others run 450rwhp no problems. So, I would say if you keep it around 400rwhp you SHOULD be fine for a while. Ive been at 370rwhp for about 6 months no problem, but am going for a retune because of my cams and should be in the 400rwhp range. But then again, why only aim for 360rwhp? I say aim for 390-400rwhp, and call it a day on the stock shortblock...

tbirdscwd

I would definitely get an intercooler if your gonna keep it a DD. Its not necessary, but is very worthwhile from a performance standpoint. With a non-intercooled setup your ar needs to be tuned so that the PCM pulls timing out as the intake air temp rises to preven't detonation. It should be tuned the same way for an intercooled setup, you just don't need to have it pull as much timing since the IATs will be significantly cooler.

This is the biggest reason why on a hot day a non-intercooled car will put down much less power.

Eagle2000GT

Intercoolers are recommended for anything above 8 lbs. of boost. 8 lbs of boost should get you around 350 rwhp depending on other supporting mods. I've seen the 450 rwhp number thrown out a lot but most of our cars won't hold that for very long. Most tuners will recommend that you keep a daily driver somewhere around 370-380 rwhp. Others will say that with bolt ons (headers, x-pipe, etc.) you can go to 400 rwhp because not all horsepower puts the same strain on the rods and pistons. I'm not sure that I would want to throw 10 lbs un-intercooled ona stock motortrying to get to 400 rwhp.

I've got nearly 100k mile on my car and I've been running a supercharger about 9 months (15k miles) with no problems. I've heard of a few people running superchargers for up to two years. I've not heard of anyone running one longer.

Adam03GT

So its sounding like if i want to keep a healthy running DD it will be the best idea to get a good intercooled setup or just stay the NA way?

Im just asking because being in college simply reaching the $3900+tune for the MPH setup is going to be hard.... Not to mention the expensive intercooler.

tbirdscwd

If your on a budget and can't afford an intercooler now, then just get the blower kit and keep it safely tuned at 8psi until you can.

Adam03GT

8psi on a DD should last me years to come?

bryan0

Yes. I was running about 10psi with a boost pipe and l/t headers with no intercooler making 372rwhp for about a year and half with no problems. The tune is key, get the MPH mongoose kit with a vortech sq-trim, it comes with a flawless tune and you'll have no worries. It's $3900 i believe.

Subotai_95

+1.. I've seen a couple guys I know that have stangs run S/C set ups for 3-4 yrs. It all depends on how good the tune is, and how hard you drive it. The more you beat the **** out of it, the sooner it's going to break, N/A or F/I doesn'tmatter on that point. It's also MUCH easier to have a centri blower on a DD since you don't hit boost until farther into your RPM range. With mine, I don't start making full boost until I get past about 4,200 rpms, peaking at a little over 6,000 rpms. Granted the Mach has a 7k rpm redline, the point is, on a DD you can drive it around normally on the street without touching the boost for the most part, which keeps your engine a lot safer than a twin-screw set up like a KB or a Whipple would, that makes a lot of boost low in the RPM range.