The Installation of the Volvo Intercooler

The Installation of the Volvo Intercooler in an 86 SVO Mustang!

I started by having the existing Freon R12 drained from the A/C system by a A/C professional to keep the Tree Hugging types happy. Next I started on the bracketry to hold the Intercooler and Radiator in place.

I then used the Volvo brackets welded together and mounted the inside of the existingradiator mount plate. I was able to use the Ford body nut clip (for lack of a better term) and bolt to secure the bracket to the lower radiator support.

I replaced my A/C Condenser for maximum flow to the Intercooler. The condenser remains in the stock location.

I then test-fit the Intercooler, notice the intake position.

The intercooler fit the brackets great, so now time to install the radiator and tighten down the brackets. I swapped out the stock battery tray for a 5.0 unit. This allowed me to install a Gates Optima 800 gel-cell battery.

With the intercooler and radiator in place, I focused on hooking up all for the intake accessories. I did decide to remove the EGR system.
To ensure hood clearance, I had to modify the throttle body bracket, check it out.
The intake fit perfect with clearance to allow for alternator, check it out.
The intake was 'sliced' which gave the same slope as the hood/fender contour, check it out.

With the intercooler, radiator, and intake installed, I started the plumbing for the intercooler. First, the turbo outlet side. I used a Volvo elbow from the turbo and Volvo silicone hoses to the straight pipe and Volvo hose to the intercooler. Notice the return port for the by-pass valve on the turbo inlet. More pictures, click here and here.

On the intercooler outlet side, I started with a 2.375" Volvo tube coupled with a cut Volvo rubber hose. More pictures of the smaller hose, click here. This setup was not very impressive in boost response, so I changed the setup for a Volvo 2.5" tube that i cut to fit my setup. Check it out below.

With this larger pipe, the boost response was greatly increased, but I did have a slight interference problem on the hood support when the engine was 'torqued'. To resolve this interefence, I used a rubber hammer to flatten the hood supprt rib. More pictures of the 2.5" tube install, click here and here.

Well with the setup complete (minus the by-pass valve) I drove it for a couple of days and found that the system really does need a by-pass valve. I already had the Volvo unit and elbow, so I decied to install it.

Here is the Volvo by-pass valve installed on the engine. I mounted the by-pass valve directly to the Volvo Alum elbow, to see more on this mounting, click here. I did not worry about a support bracket for the by-pass valve since the valve outlet is connected directly to the turbo intlet tube assembly. More pictures click here and here.

I took the SVO to the local drag strip, I ran consistant 95.5mph in the quarter. Before the install, I was running mid 92mph, so the gain is about 18hp on my SVO. This isn't bad considering all of the track times are up here in Colorado at 5800ft.

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