So I know there are a lot of threads on intercooler fit-up, and while basically anything 4 in and under thickness is going to fit, but that doesn't mean you might have to "trim" things. I took my grill and front bumper cover off today on my 2011 Denali 6.2 L9H and I think I am going to have to do some major "trimming", like cutting the core support. I was loosing morale and going to give up because I didn't want to damage my stock components and core support so I put everything back. After thinking about it more I guess its not that big of a deal to start cutting and trying to drill and weld and fab and bend, even though I have very limited experience, I do have a MIG and TIG welder and a plasma cutter. If I do ever want to go back to stock I should be able to get a core support from a junkyard, only thing is the LKQ's around here are 99.9% GMT800s, but I think the GMT800 I am almost positive is a different core support.

Anyway, most everyone else's fitup is with 90% GMT800s and if they are with GMT900s they are all Silverado's. I wanted to see if anyone had any better ideas or even better a intercooler actually designed to fit a GMT900 Sierra?





If I have to cut things up, I guess I would just cut the core support a couple inches below the hood latch and use the intercooler as the core support like everyone else. I am just scared I'm not going to be able to fit the intercooler in. So the core support diagonal bars aren't straight up and down vertical, I tried to draw a cross section to show it:

So the core support is the purple, the blue is the grill, and the peach is the AC condenser. I feel like no matter where I cut the core support out to fit the intercooler in, the bottom of the intercooler will hit the bottom of the condenser?

I am trying to use caution on this because I know if I just go in sloppylied, I am just going to get even more sloppy with it and probably just weld the whole thing on the frame haha, I guess I would at least have to put steel brackets on the intercooler though first since its aluminum.

 

And also about mounting it lower and between the frame rails, like this guy did here: Got the intercooler mounted...PICS - PerformanceTrucks.net Forums , I looked at that too, problem is my intercooler is just slightly a little too big so it won't fit in between the frame rails. I guess its possible I could just buy another shorter in width intercooler since they are so cheap, but yes I guess you are getting a Chinese product.

 

So after flipping around bolts holding the bumper onto the frame, I found a spot it fits in. And after eyeballing the holes and drilling without measuring, I somehow got it lined up perfectly:



But now I am really worried about how I am going to get the intercooler piping routed. I will have to u-turn it or either route it back under the frame, not sure if thats a good idea.

The threaded bungs that they weld onto these intercoolers, which I'm not sure if they are aluminum or steel, but they barely have any thread, and this intercooler is cantilevered off the steel bar with nothing to support it underneath unless I try to make a bracket for it on the bottom. I feel like after some miles something is going to break off, if the weld on the bung doesn't fatigue off. I didn't want to tighten down on the screws threaded into the bung too much because the threads are so short.

 

This may help: https://www.performancetrucks.net/fo...-528131/page3/

I remember this thread as I bought the 3.5" intake tube from that MOBBN for my GMT900.

 

Thanks, I actually kind of like this mounting setup, especially since I didn't have to cut or mess up any stock components, but yet again I haven't tried to route the intercooler piping yet so I guess I will see.

 

Fab it in my man. You have the parts, now its just getting them installed. Dont over think it.

 

As weird as this sounds, I am hesitant to go any further with this, even though I have spent $1000+ on random parts and already spent a bunch of money a couple months ago when I was going to try to fab my own hotside.

I just really like the way the stock GMT-900 exhaust sounds, its almost close to perfect loudness, with perfect tone. I just feel like I am going to feel so much regret trying to make this turbo thing happen after I cut up enough stuff to make this work. Technically everything I have done and plan to do should just be a bolt on away to return to stock, but everyone knows in reality its still not that easy, additional time to re-install stock parts, stock part availability, insane costs of stock parts on eBay, etc.

I kept debating on a supercharger or turbo like everyone else does, and was going to go with the usual cam first. But its so hard to drop $1000-$1500 on a cam when for only a few hundred dollars or so more you can go turbo and actually tell a difference in power. I know with a cam I wouldn't be able to feel anything, especially if I tried to stay with a good idling one.

That being said, even though I've already spent about $1000 recently for the turbo route, I still really want to cut my losses (unfortunately everyone knows how difficult it is to return things or try to re-sell them, it always feels like you have to basically give it away to try to sell things). I really want to get a good "optimized" cam and retain the factory cam phasing, then try to port as much as I can the factory exhaust manifolds, exhaust system, and intake manifold. I just really like the idea of having a solid stock truck with stock components, but just highly "optimized" stock components. I am sure I am probably going to get a bunch of "hate" for saying all this, but I probably deserve it haha.

 

You got this bro, 100% easy fab it in.

Come to Texas I'll help you.

 

I need to, morale is dwindling haha.

So when I started this I had already gotten a free turbo manifold from someone. So I was going to try to fab a downpipe myself that way I could put my own cat in it. Then after messing around with it, I just bought a cheap Chinesesium one, but then I realized it was only a 3 in. So already too deep into this I bought v-band adapters which is going to look pretty horrendous and sloppy, I guess I can always return those but not sure how else I would do it.

 

So I got it and so far it hasn't blown a boot yet, but of course i've yet to get over about half throttle.

So I am probably going to get bashed hard for this "shi**ty" intercooler routing and setup, but I honestly didnt' know what else I could do. The difficult part was how the turbo was offset, the throttle body needs and extension outward for clearance from the alternator and belt, and my intercooler is mounted down below the frame, so all this added up to make the routing difficult. I spent the whole day trying different combinations of tube and coupling configurations and couldn't get anything to work. So I had to do some cutting on some of them, so that means on some of them I don't have the flange/lip thing on the end so I hope it stays together. I ended up just connecting it together with my last coupling:


As you can see I have less than like a inch of clearance between the intercooler tube and the belt and pulley haha.





I think I need some couplings with like very slight 15 degree angles, but the only ones I can find are either 90 or 45.