Intercooler?

[Mr. Person]

I'm thinking of adding and intercooler when I replace the radiator. Where exactly does it go? Is there even room for an intercooler? What are some of the advantages/disadvantages.

[george a weitz]

I am presuming you have an LPT? The intercooler slots right in front of the main radiator, and behind the aircon condensor. It looks like there's not enough room but there is just enough. The i/c and the radiator both have studs underneath that plug into the supports with rubber grommets, the a/c condensor bolts to the i/c with small through bolts. You'll need to get a second hand intercooler from a breaker and make sure you get the bracket that supports the intercooler underneath (bolted to the main crossmember) as yours may only have enough room for the 2 rads. The hoses from the donor car are also essential but generally just connect as you would expect. The thing that sometimes goes wrong is the pipe from the intercooler to the intake manifold won't fit. We cut the top run off the original and cut the bottom run off the replacement pipe and clamped them together with some of the rubber intake hosing used as a connector. Seems to work fine - I'm sure there's a better way, but this got me out of a situation.

The main stress I had was the Aircon system. All the flexing and movement proved too much for the hose connectors and the top one started leaking (oily stain growing from joint) It so happens that the non intercooled cars have a shorter elbow on their top a/c hoses (the one from the compressor to the condensor)and the extra stretch puts the hose at a strange angle and under tension, also it pushed the oil cooler away from the line of the radiator, it all worked but looked messy. I ended up buying a new hose from saab specified for an intercooler car. All this fiddling got expensive though because aircon components tend to bend/break/leak when you try to undo hoses - so I ended up with a new condensor as well. (ouch!) You might be luckier than I was!! My car is a '93 cse LPT manual, you may find subtle difference with other years.
The advantages with your i/c fitted are that you can go ahead and fit a power upgrade, and just on its own there's said to be a 5-10 bhp gain. I notice a slightly crisper response at the low end and a small but noticable extra liveliness at the mid-top power range. Hope this helps.

[billj]

Mr. Person, which model/year/engine size is it?
As far as I know, the only 9000 turbo that didn't have an intercooler was the 2.0 light-pressure turbo up to MY '95, and I understood that was never available in the US.

[Paul D]

As far as I know, the only 9000 turbo that didn't have an intercooler was the 2.0 light-pressure turbo up to MY '95,[/b]

I concur with Bill.
All LPT's after this date, including my 2litre 98 Anni has an intercooler as standard. Just check where the pipes go between turbo and inlet manifold.

[billj]

And to clarify, I understood all 2.3 turbos, both light-pressure and full-pressure, were equipped with an intercooler.

[Mr. Person]

Originally posted by BillJ:
[qb]And to clarify, I understood all 2.3 turbos, both light-pressure and full-pressure, were equipped with an intercooler. [/qb][/b]

I have a 95 CS... thus a 2.3L LPT, no? I would assume that the intercooler doesn't replace the radiator all togther. Wouldn't you need both a radiator and an intercooler?

[billj]

I believe in the US, the CS mainly came with the 2.3LPT engine. Elsewhere in the world, we were free to choose any engine option with any trim level, more or less.

It should already have an intercooler. It is mounted in front of the radiator and oil cooler and is not readily visible. The outlet pipe from the turbo will go to the right-hand side of the intercooler (passenger side in the US) and the pipe to the throttle body will come from the left-hand side.

On a car with no intercooler, there is a single pipe that goes all the way from the turbo outlet straight to the throttle body.

[Mr. Person]

Wow. Thanx alot BillJ! After a little closer inspection I quickly realized you were right .

Much obliged.

[billj]

Glad to have saved you a bit of work, then. I can imagine how annoyed you'd have been to be standing there on your driveway with the radiator in one hand, your new intercooler in the other and staring at the intercooler you've really had all along...

[Mr. Person]

Originally posted by BillJ:
[qb]Glad to have saved you a bit of work, then. I can imagine how annoyed you'd have been to be standing there on your driveway with the radiator in one hand, your new intercooler in the other and staring at the intercooler you've really had all along... * *[/qb][/b]

That would be an AWSOME Kodak moment though . So long as your not the one figuring it out