Which intercooler to get?

Well looks like after one night of drag racing and experiencing extreme heat soak the mod bug has bitten me. Really thought it would take longer than a week lol.

Anyway, I have an 18 ecoboost with the A10, mag ride and PP. I plan on drag racing and autocross. This is also my dd and I live in Phoenix so ya it gets hot hear 6 months out of the year.

I just want reliability and to not lose power after a few runs/ pulls. I do not want a tune at least not yet. Just worried about the ecoboom, so I want to hold onto my warranty. Honestly the stock power level is not bad just need to prevent timing from being pulled.

I am not certain if I should go with a stock mount intercooler or a larger one. Idk if that would be overkill for my intentions.

First does the intercooler require a tune? If I go big and the grill shutters are removed is that going to take away my warranty? What is the point of the shutters and what happens when they are removed? Do I need to go big or would a larger stock location one be sufficient for my needs?

Right now I am looking at either the Garret or the CP-E for a stock location or the ATM for a larger unit.

Any and all input will be helpful.

I would say for your situation go with the bigger unit, ATM. I mean everybody benefits from an upgrade to the stock unit as it is horrible so being in the south AND looking to do some racing, you will benefit from the larger unit. No tune should be needed and the shutters are kind of useless. Your dealer should not give you issues with the warranty but some dealers push back on ANY mod, so might want to discuss with them.

I second ATM, it keeps my temps so stable, and no that much higher than ambient.

Car never heat soaks now, and if when I hot lap at the track and the temps do climb a bit high (still no where near stock), soon as I get out of boost and drive normal, they come back down almost instantly.

IMO you can’t go wrong with any of the options you’ve listed, but ATM will likely not be necessary if you don’t plan on tuning the car. Keep in mind that none of the 50th cars came with shutters, and you would likely also benefit by removing them being in Arizona.

If it were me, I’d go Garrett or CP-E.

Im in arizona so i feel your pain in regards to temp management. I have a MAP and its worked great for 2 years now from stock to big turbo. Like said before grill shutters hurt a bit before i removed but any stock mount intercooler will do the job ie map, cobb, garrett, etc. Ive raced, drift events and canyon driven with no issues. Biggest thing i noticed was stand still traffic cooling is way better going from 160ish charge temps to 120 when in a drive thru. Track wise stock ic was only getting heat soaked at drift events but the new ic i could make as many runs as i wanted for 4 or 5 hours without issue. Honestly ANY ic will be an improvement just depents on how much you want to spend considering im in arizona too with a "small" ic with no issues.

I run cp-e and it works extremely well in AZ. I kept the shutters, I understand they’re primarily to help with aerodynamics at highway speeds (increase in MPG). At idle or in heavy traffic you’ll still see temperatures go up, but they drop quickly once you’re moving.

Thanks guys good to get AZ driver opinions. I do like the idea of not getting rid of anything and I think I would have to get a tune if I remove the shutters. It's always good getting user input

Cardude99 said:

Thanks guys good to get AZ driver opinions. I do like the idea of not getting rid of anything and I think I would have to get a tune if I remove the shutters. It's always good getting user input

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I think you will be okay if you remove the shutters, but keep the shutter motor in tact. I plan on going the ATM route. The price difference is negligible, and you get the best FMIC.

If I were you, I'd chose a couple of options you'd be happy with, and then browse the classifieds and pick up one of them used. there's always a couple for sale. You can save SO much money, most of the popular brands all perform roughly the same, and its not a wear and tear part where mileage degrades its performance. I've had a Levels, a small MAPerformance unit, and now have the big FFTEC unit with the garrett core. They all perform roughly the same so don't get caught up on size either. The little ones do an amazing job!

Oh and one thing i would reccomend is to vent the pcv and valve cover to atmosphere or atleast tie them both to a catch can. I vented mine a couple thousand miles after my intercooler install and noticed pooling of oil in the ic that i had to drain/clean. Once you get oil building up in there it slowly losses its cooling power.

Cardude99 said:

First does the intercooler require a tune?

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No. The intercooler doesn't change the amount of intake air, it changes the temp of intake air. High intake air temperature can lead to engine damage under high power demand, so the ECU intervenes when the intercooler becomes heat soaked such that it's no longer cooling the compressed air charge. It just so happens that the interventions used to prevent engine damage also limit power output. Instead of producing, say, 300 hp the ECU only allows 225 hp (these are representative numbers, not measured; every scenario is different depending on power demand, ambient conditions, etc.).

Cardude99 said:

If I go big and the grill shutters are removed is that going to take away my warranty?

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ANY modification has the potential to void your warranty. If you (or your mechanic) installs something incorrectly that adversely affects your engine resulting in a warranty claim should Ford pay that claim? Before replacing your intercooler you should discuss it with the dealer where you will be taking your car should it require warranty repair. Each dealer is a bit different; some are pretty permissive with mods, others are draconian. Strictly speaking, it's Ford that ultimately approves/disapproves warranty claims, but you have to convince the dealer to make a claim in the first place. If you know going into it that your dealer is an asswipe about mods then that might affect your decision.

Yes, you are protected by the Magnuson-Moss Act from unreasonable warranty claim denial, but if Ford should decide to deny a claim it's then up to you to prove in court whatever mod you made shouldn't affect your warranty. Who wants to deal with that hassle? Better to be up front with your dealer and find out where you stand before you change anything.

Cardude99 said:

What is the point of the shutters and what happens when they are removed?

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The grill shutters are an aerodynamic improvement measure. Air going through the grill and heat exchangers (cooling system radiator and intercooler) produces drag, which requires power to overcome. Since the engine is producing relatively low power at highway cruise speeds you don't need all that cooling air going through the heat exchangers, so the ECU closes the shutters, redirecting air around the car instead of through the grill. It's primarily intended to improve highway mileage.

Cardude99 said:

Do I need to go big or would a larger stock location one be sufficient for my needs?

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This is another decision that may be affected by warranty concerns. Your dealer may be OK with replacing the stock intercooler with a drop in replacement, but NOT OK with one that requires you to remove the grill shutters. This is another reason to discuss it with your dealer.

That aside, bigger is not always better when it comes to intercoolers. Here's a good article on the subject.

Cp-e is great if you plan not to upgrade the turbo. No delivery pressure drop or lag.

My mechanic had to remove the grill shutters though, even though they advertise you can keep them on. You likely have to modify or cut into them.

These are all good sound advice's however you do not need anything bigger than a CP-E delta core with stock turbo, it rated good for at least 600hp anything bigger is just a waste and over complicating things like higher chance of being denied warranty, removal of grill shutters, pressure drops due to size ratio. Also you do not need to modify anything on the grill shutters they fit right back on with no issues, that mechanic is either lazy or incompetent.

I have my Levels (first model that came out, the one that does not have the mounting bracket on the top). So far have noticed some turbo lag but overall happy. Specially once summer hits.

Thanks everyone, I think I'm going to stay stock for the summer and try to get some more runs come winter at the strip. I want to see if I can break into the 13's stock. I just need colder Temps to do so. Unfortunately the off season here in Phoenix is when it's the peak everywhere else lol. I think based on responses and research I am going to go with the cp-e. Now I need to find a competent shop here in the valley that knows the ecoboost.