[CarlyKeith]

Abbott recommend as a first stage upgrade fitting an intercooler, but as you can see from this ~

~ there's not much room. Talking to the mechanic at my local indie, he said it wasn't worth the effort, any thoughts on this? And, if one isn't fitted, what else might I do to get a little more grunt from the engine apart from the ECU.
TIA Keith.

Oh! and the gearing seems strange? as if I need a few more MPH from each gear.

 

[cdcarlsson]

He He that's a good one, 'not worth the effort'!?
Every turbo installation worth it's salt has an intercooler, for every degree the intake charge is lowered the denser the air gets and with correct fuelling more power is released. All the FPT Saabs have intercoolers as do the Aero's and Carlssons. Do I have to go any further to convince you Keith?

Also as a first step it's pretty unlikely your insurance company would ever notice, as long as you used the original Saab parts (the standard intercooler is good for 260bhp+) and would be pretty cheap from a breakers don't you think?! The intercooler goes in front of the coolant radiator, underneath the 'slam' panel in your picture.

HTH

Nick.

 

[microcat36]

The intercooler goes in front of the radiator, so looking from the front of the car you have the air cond radiator (if you have air cond), the intercooler and then the radiator.

 

[microcat36]

Doo! cd you beat me to it.

, must learn to type quicker.

 

[cdcarlsson]

I used to say that a couple of years back, but now I'm almost proficient! I blame it on too much time spent here.

 

[CarlyKeith]

Ok! 'nough said about that beleive me he is a good mechanic and a Saab fan. Still, as I said, what other things could I do without fitting one.

Keith.

 

[cdcarlsson]

Well , an exhaust if your car needs one might unleash a 'few' extra horsepower, but I'd imagine (no experience of course) that an intercooler would reap far greater benifits.

 

[mark e]

I'm afraid your indie doesn't know his turbo from his elbow if that's what he thinks!

Not worth the effort? It's only an hour or so of work to put an IC in.

I wouldn't bother with an entire exhaust at this level of "tune", but a front downpipe will be beneficial to spool up times and make the car feel a bit more lively.

 

[ben hall]

Keith,

are you absolutely sure you don't already have an intercooler? You have the 3-way APC solenoid which I thought (and this is where, not for the first time, I could be completely wrong) was fitted to all FPT's, and Cdcarlsson says that all FPT's have intercoolers....

Your indie mechanic may have misunderstood you and thought you were asking about upgrading to a bigger intercooler, which probably wouldn't be top of the list of things to do to unleash more horses, hence his "not worth the effort" comment.

Just a thought!

cheers,

Ben.

 

[grentarc]

Certain LPTs had APC, but no intercooler, and the others had no APC and an intercooler. i have forgotten which year models had what .

 

[wedgepilot]

Water injection would be one alternative...

 

[mark e]

IIRC all 2.3LPT have an intercooler, and 2.0s vary the spec. Keith's has an APC valve but no IC.

Water injection would be of negligible benefit here IMO, and more expensive than a s/h I/C.

 

[Paul D]

 Certain LPTs had APC, but no intercooler, and the others had no APC and an intercooler. i have forgotten which year models had what  .[/b]

In my experience, 1994 was about the change over date for 9000 LPT's.

Before this date APC valves were fitted but no intercooler. After this date intercoolers were fitted on all LPT's (and of course FPT's). Certainly true for my 1993 2.0 LPT and 1997 2.0 LPT.

Definately recommed intercooler mod if not already fitted. ECU limits boost to approx 0.6Bar though on pre 1994 2.0 LPT's.

 

[mark e]

There'a one on eBay at the mo Keith:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...ssPageName=WDVW

 

[CarlyKeith]

Looked at the car. If you look at the picture you can see the main rad' then above that the C/C rad' but to the front of the car under the slam panel and in front of th C/C rad', there's another one. As I haven't got the Haynes for this Model year I don't know what it is and too dark to follow pipes. Certainly not an IC as the pipe from the air cleaner goes directly to the turbo. Any ideas?

Keith.

 

[sgould]

Air inlet going from filter to turbo sounds right.

An intercooler will be after the turbo. It is there to cool the air heated during the compression.

 

[CarlyKeith]

I said

Certainly not an IC as the pipe from the air cleaner goes directly to the turbo. Any ideas?
 [/b]

sgould replied

Air inlet going from filter to turbo sounds right.An intercooler will be after the turbo. It is there to cool the air heated during the compression  [/b]

Seems I will need to have a really good look.

 

[wrighar]

Originally posted by RedSaab formerly Carly Keith:
[qb]I said    QUOTE

Certainly not an IC as the pipe from the air cleaner goes directly to the turbo. Any ideas?
 [/b]

sgould replied

Air inlet going from filter to turbo sounds right.An intercooler will be after the turbo. It is there to cool the air heated during the compression  [/b]

Seems I will need to have a really good look.

[/qb][/b][/quote]You just need top cjheck if the outlet of the turbo goes straight to the throttle body by the battery or if it dives down to the lower front bumper on one side of the engine bay and returns from the other side of the car..

Andrew

 

[ben hall]

You just need top cjheck if the outlet of the turbo goes straight to the throttle body by the battery or if it dives down to the lower front bumper on one side of the engine bay and returns from the other side of the car..

Andrew [/QB][/b]

Keith, as Andrew says you need to see where the outlet from the turbo goes. If you look at the picture accompanying step 7 of BillJ's guide to removing the turbo here then you will see the outlet hose from the turbo which then goes into an aluminium pipe. If this pipe disappears forwards and below the lower radiator hose (like in the pic) then it is probably heading for your intercooler! Presumably if there is no intercooler the outlet would go in the opposite direction to take the shortest path to the throttle body.

Good luck in your hunt!

 

[CarlyKeith]

Problem solved, both the input and output pipes run from the turbo. I'm glad really as if I'd have had one then I would have had to start further along the line to acheive more grunt. At least this way ( fit an IC ) I can start at the absolute begining and stop when I have the right feel of grunt for me, if that makes sense. Anyone got a procedure for the IC for a thicky? Found another little jobby that needs doing also, upper engine mounts and while I'm at it I may as well fit the gearbox one.
Thanks all for all your help.

Keith