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Bigger intercooler during cold weather and short trips

Walt

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I'm looking to install a bigger intercooler on my 2017 Mustang Ecoboost PP, probably one that will fit the stock location like the Mishimoto street intercooler. Not sure if I'd get the charge pipes too.

Anyway the reason I want to install one is because now and then I track the car on road courses, and after a couple minutes the car loses power as the intercooler gets heat soaked.

But my concern is that I drive a lot of short trips, less than 15 minutes to work. Will the engine have difficulty warming up with the larger intercooler? And how about driving in cold winter weather? Will that be even worse?
I don't let my car idle until it's hot I just start the car, wait about a minute and drive.

Are there any other downsides to installing a larger intercooler? Other than a catch can, my car is stock and I'm not really looking to add more power.
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If you're going to stay stock then just do a stock location swap such as a mishimoto or the MAP street intercooler. Having an more efficient intercooler is going to do nothing but good things for your car, stock or modified. It will not hurt how the car warms up, in cold weather it will perform even better, turbos need that cold dense air to make power.
 
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Walt

Walt

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If you're going to stay stock then just do a stock location swap such as a mishimoto or the MAP street intercooler. Having an more efficient intercooler is going to do nothing but good things for your car, stock or modified. It will not hurt how the car warms up, in cold weather it will perform even better, turbos need that cold dense air to make power.
Great thanks, would you recommend getting upgraded charge pipes as well? Or are they just for looks?
 

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Great thanks, would you recommend getting upgraded charge pipes as well? Or are they just for looks?
You'll be able to squeeze a little more power out of it, but if you're staying stock and not tuning then they really aren't necessary.
 

SVO MkII

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I just installed a larger intercooler on my stock '18 for the exact same reason, i.e., prevent loss of power during track days. I have not had an opportunity to try it on track yet (Road America, next month), but I can add that it had zero effect on drivability in any other respect, which is good. I went with an oversized core and had heard some folks mention a slight increase in turbo lag. I have not experienced this.
 

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I've been driving with the Cobb intercooler all winter, temps down to -20 or less, and I don't do warm-ups either, just start and go, and gentle with the gas pedal until the oil is in the green. I've had no problems at all.
 
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Walt

Walt

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I just installed a larger intercooler on my stock '18 for the exact same reason, i.e., prevent loss of power during track days. I have not had an opportunity to try it on track yet (Road America, next month), but I can add that it had zero effect on drivability in any other respect, which is good. I went with an oversized core and had heard some folks mention a slight increase in turbo lag. I have not experienced this.
Did you notice an increase in throttle response? Some say it's much more responsive too. I read that the bigger core intercoolers lose pressure if you don't make more power than stock, heard about the turbo lag too but that's probably very minimal like you said.
 
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Walt

Walt

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I've been driving with the Cobb intercooler all winter, temps down to -20 or less, and I don't do warm-ups either, just start and go, and gentle with the gas pedal until the oil is in the green. I've had no problems at all.
That's great to hear, thanks for the input. Still not sure which intercooler to choose, but I live in Europe and the Mishimoto one seems to be available locally (only with the charge pipe kit) so that should save me a couple bucks on import duty and other taxes. The german brand Wagner makes intercoolers for our Mustangs too but those are a bit overkill and require some cutting.
 

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I replaced my stock intercooler and pipes with an ATM intercooler and CVF charge pipes in my 2018 over a month ago. The intercooler is huge, but it flows extremely well. Due to the Florida almost year round extreme heat, I had no choice but to ditch the OEM unit. One pull and it was so heat soaked it took forever to cool down for another pull. I haven't seen any degradation of throttle response or turbo lag which was my primary fear of going to a huge intercooler, so no worries. As to the charge pipes, you don't have to change them out, but if you consider that you will already have everything torn down, that hard pipes if designed correctly will flow a touch better due to less extreme bends, look better, and wont be subject to collapsing due to the plastic softening a couple years down the road. Also, if you ever do a methanol injection system, most of the better hard pipes already provide you with a port for that purpose. I've found over the years, that saving the bucks now ends up costing me either bucks or time (or both) later because the upgrade bug keeps biting me.
 

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Did you notice an increase in throttle response? Some say it's much more responsive too. I read that the bigger core intercoolers lose pressure if you don't make more power than stock, heard about the turbo lag too but that's probably very minimal like you said.
No increase in throttle response. But I was actually expecting a decrease if anything, but no decrease either.
 

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Did you notice an increase in throttle response? Some say it's much more responsive too. I read that the bigger core intercoolers lose pressure if you don't make more power than stock, heard about the turbo lag too but that's probably very minimal like you said.
I installed a stock fit intercooler at about 1k miles (have 27k now). I didn't notice any change in throttle response or turbo lag but did get a very noticeable boost in power in the upper room range.

I have also driven the car through two New England winters, many times with sub zero temps with no negative driveability issues.
 

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I was in the same boat as you. <20 minutes to work. I got the MAP street intercooler, no charge pipes. Installed it without removing the bumper. Immediate response. Upper RPM power went up, no longer sluggish in hot weather. Did not notice any difference in warming up the car. I always let the car warm up for 3-5 minutes each morning on average. Works well with the FP tune + mishimoto intake + borla s-type exhaust.
 
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Walt

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I installed a stock fit intercooler at about 1k miles (have 27k now). I didn't notice any change in throttle response or turbo lag but did get a very noticeable boost in power in the upper room range.

I have also driven the car through two New England winters, many times with sub zero temps with no negative driveability issues.
Which brand intercooler do you have?
 
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Walt

Walt

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I was in the same boat as you. <20 minutes to work. I got the MAP street intercooler, no charge pipes. Installed it without removing the bumper. Immediate response. Upper RPM power went up, no longer sluggish in hot weather. Did not notice any difference in warming up the car. I always let the car warm up for 3-5 minutes each morning on average. Works well with the FP tune + mishimoto intake + borla s-type exhaust.
If you had to redo the install, would you chose to remove the bumper or do it again from the top? I'm not sure what's easier, the bumper removal gives you more space but taking it off looks like a pain.
 

KewlWinter

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If you had to redo the install, would you chose to remove the bumper or do it again from the top? I'm not sure what's easier, the bumper removal gives you more space but taking it off looks like a pain.
Removing the bumper is easy. There are plenty of videos out there to guide you through it. I've removed mine several times, on both my previous 2015 and my current 2018. The only difference between the 2 is where the bumper attaches to the fender. The 2018+ is much easier and has less risk of damaging the bumper tabs than the 2015-17.
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