There are a few things from an engineering standpoint that confuse me about this car, but I guess that’s because I’m not an engineer. I do know one thing; cooler intake air makes more power! How do I know this? Because an engineer told me so. Colder air is denser than hot air, so it provides more oxygen, blah, blah, blah. It all makes sense when it’s explained, but I don’t want to put anyone to sleep.
So, what could I do with my car to help feed it cooler air? The first thing I looked at was the intercooler setup. I found it sandwiched in between the radiator and air conditioning condenser. It was in front of the radiator, so that was good, but behind the condenser. So, what’s the issue with that? Well, the condenser is where the hot refrigerant vapors, heated and vaporized from the evaporator and compressor, are cooled back to a liquid. So, in other words…it gets hot. That means the air passing through the condenser is heated before passing through the intercooler. The air is still cooler than the air being pushed through the inside of the intercooler, which is heated by the turbo, but we can have even cooler air passing through it. How do we do that? We move it in front of the condenser, so it gets fresh air from the environment to pass through it.
I’m not the shiniest star in the sky, so I decided to buy a universal intercooler along with a bunch of elbows and piping to create my setup. It wasn’t complicated, but I did have to reorder a few elbows to get the routing correct. I also ordered a pipe from ZZPerformance, because it had the port for the pressure sensor already on it. My recommendation? Order the entire kit from ZZP, and it will go much more smoothly since it’s designed for the Cruze and includes everything you need.
The bumper cover on the car needed removing to access everything in front of the radiator. The removal of the intercooler was reasonably straightforward. This being the first car I have owned with a turbo, I learned that oil being present in the intercooler and piping is normal. To reduce the amount of oil, first, inspect your PCV system to make sure it’s intact. If it is, you would need to install a catch can in the PCV hose that runs from the intake manifold to the air inlet of the turbo. I would recommend one with a baffle in it, as it’s more effective in separating the air and oil vapors.
I have an automatic, so the trans cooler had to be moved out of the way. There was no need to disconnect the lines, simply raise it out from in between the radiator and condenser. Once the stock intercooler was removed, the mounts for the condenser and trans cooler were lost, but the condenser can be mounted in the intercooler mounts on the radiator. I honestly don’t recall if they are the intercooler mounts or trans cooler mounts, but regardless, the condenser can be mounted where the intercooler was. If you have an automatic, you will need to fabricate mounts for the trans cooler. You can make your own, or purchase some stainless “L” brackets from a hardware store and mount them on top of the main bumper bar. The ZZP kit may come with the trans cooler brackets, but I wouldn’t know, because I didn’t buy it. Calls self, “Idiot!”
Next, I installed the new intercooler under the main bumper bar with some brackets I fabricated (not necessary if you buy the kit). I then routed the piping, which wasn’t difficult. I just left all the clamps a little loose, so the hoses and pipes could be twisted until they lined up correctly. Once it was all lined up, I tightened all the clamps and then started putting the front end back together.
Once everything was back together, I recorded a data log and sent it to Brian at Vermont Tuning in case I needed a new calibration. Changing the intercooler shouldn’t require a new tune, but it never hurts to check.
DS
