Few ?'s regarding Vortech cobra

[Stumbaugh]

Hey what's up everyone, I have a few questions about my vortech'd 96 cobra so I figured I would throw them all in one thread.

First, It is non intercooled at this moment. This spring, I want to add an intercooler to it. It is a V1 S trim at 10psi right now. Later on down the road, I plan on adding either a YSI or a JT trim, but for a good while, I will just run the S trim. Which intercooler would you guys recommend?

Second, When I switch over to an intercooled setup, would you guys recommend that I switch from a draw thru set up and switch over to a blow thru?

Third, when I switch over to the intercooled setup, would you guys swap to a blow off valve, or keep the bypass valve?

Finally, does anyone make a inlet for these cars that does not neck down to clear the strut tower brace? That just seems like a huge restriction and I have no problems not running a strut tower brace.

Sorry for the bundle of questions all at once, but I didnt want to make 4 different threads. I appreciate the help.

 

[JP_Stang]

I would look into the Treadstone units for your intercooler. Since you plan to go with a bigger blower in the future, stay away from the Ebay intercoolers. They are way to restrictive to run with a bigger blower. I would recommend a vertical flow intercooler over the cross flow because again they are less restrictive. You can get these units for around $400 and they use the same Garrett cores as most of the other big name manufacturers like Procharger.

I would switch to blow thru while you're at it. The car will respond better and and all in all run better. Since you plan to go with a bigger a blower I would go ahead and invest in a slot style MAF. VMP sells them. You can go with a HPX or SCT. Either are good MAF's.

The BOV vs. BPV is really up to your preference. If you like the sound of the air coming out during normal driving (not WOT) and the loud "whoosh" sound when you let out, go with the BOV. If you don't like all that air noise, then go with a BPV. Just remember that if you go the BPV route the air will need to recirculate, so you will need to chose the placement wisely. You really want either one to be as close to the valute as possible to ensure no back pressure to the blower.

I don't really think that inlet is a restriction per say. I use one on my car so that I could keep the upper strut bar, but I like my car to handle to well also. I believe Vortech made an inlet for cars without the strut bar, but really you could use just regular piping at that point.

Hope that helps! Let us know how else we can help and good luck with the build!!

 

[Stumbaugh]

I appreciate it. That was pretty much exactly what I was looking for.

As far as the treadstone intercoolers, that's the ones I have been looking into, just didnt know if I should go vertical or not. I also didnt know what would be considerd overkill for my combo. Would the TRV1859 be good for my combo right now? Or since I plan on making some serious power down the road, would you go with the TRV25 right now?

 

[JP_Stang]

I would go ahead and go with the TRV25 so that you only have to spend the money once. It isn't going to hurt anything right now.

 

[Stumbaugh]

K. I appreciate the good info. I'm guessing 3" intercooler piping will work good?

 

[JP_Stang]

Yeah, 3" will be plenty. You could use 3.5" if you wanted, but I think 3" is enough.

Oh, you can get a piping kit off Ebay through CXRacing for your intercooler. I think I paid $100 shipped to my door for my kit and I had pieces left over. You might want to cut some pieces down when you start routing it just to keep clean and tight.

 

[Stumbaugh]

Ok sweet. I appreciate the good info. You helped me out big time. Any chance you could possibly take any pictures of how you routed your intercooler piping?