Anyone else here have a front mount intercooler on their turbo M1009?

Hi all, Im new here. Ive been using your site as a resource for some time now though. I picked up a 86 M1009 with 165000 on the ODO in 2008. It was converted to 12 volt and turbocharged with a banks system already. Drove from Pennsylvania where I got it to home in West Michigan. I installed a diamond eye 4" downpipe back system meant for a 2500 pickup. Minor modification required to fit it. Drove it daily for a little less than a year then we got a big snow. The tranny started to slip. It got real bad and the ol beast was parked. I found a turbo 400 on ebay with a np208 still factory mated with 28k on them. I was working two jobs at the time so despite having the replacement it sat for 2 years. This year Ive reduced my work load and been able to get the new tranny in. I had a small 27x5x2.5 front mount from a turbo 4 banger I used to have so I welded up some charge pipes. Change the clocking on the turbo housing. Redrilled new holes in the Banks manifold so it could be rotated on the throttle body and fed from the other side as it exited the front mount intercooler. Patched the old holes of course. Everything fit up nice. Yet when I drove it the little intercooler seemed to cause a restriction. I took it out and replaced it with a pipe. Everything went back to normal. So I ordered up a 31x12x3.25. Nice and big. Fit that thing in there. Works like a charm now. Pipe going into IC is warm, pipe coming out is cold. Boost pressure builds fast with no noticeable drop in max pressure. Around 7-9psi on the guage. My dad and I are in the middle of doing a serious restoration on the body. So I was unable to drive it much. The body mounts and floor on the passenger side are almost gone along with lots of other metal. However starting next week we will be replacing the entine passenger side of the vehicle. Floor, rockers in and out, door, quarter panel, everything. Fenders, wheel wells, and radiator support have already been replaced with new. Windshield was popped out earlier in the week. Cut out all rust that couldn't be ground off. Rebuilt metal with spare rocker panels. Back to topic, I was unable to find any other turbocharged M1009's with a good front mount on here or elsewhere really. Are there any? Lots of people planning it seemed, but none finished to use as example. It was fairly easy to fab up if you can fabricate. I will provide more pics soon if others want an example to draw from. I LOVE driving this thing around.

Conventional wisdom says that below 10psi or so any IC falls into the diminishing returns category. At that low of boost any benefit in charge cooling is negated by the restriction the IC adds. Sounds like you did it right by adding a monster IC to get the restriction down. I would download the torque app and use the performance meter, test with the tube vs IC, bust the myth maybe?

You are likely spot on. I'm sure if I gained anything its negligible. No felt difference but I haven't driven it in two years. I'm guessing any gains will be noticed on the highway or after driving for a while when charge air would normally be pretty warm. I mostly did it because I had the parts mostly and man does it look good on there. Plus it may benefit the life of the motor a tad perhaps. I'm hoping in the long run to transplant a newer 6.5 that I can boost a little higher.

P.S. Anyone with a turbo on their 6.2 or with a 6.5 turbo. My truck came with 3" turbo back exhaust. I installed the 4" myself. It gave a very noticeable gain. It wasn't cheap and didn't include a muffler so it's beastly. I know there may have been some debate on whether or not 4" is "worth it". As someone who had 3" and 4" it's all depending on your budget. There is a nice little gain that can be felt by the butt dyno. The sound of the 4" over the 3" though (both no muffler) is like a lion roar vs a dinosaur. That in symphony with the turbo is musical. The 6.2 or 6.5 will never be a Cummins or duramax but it can be made to move.

Cool!

I've a 3" to a 4" exhaust with 2.5 crossover. Big difference, but tight to fit.
The inter-cooler is nice. I'm going to run an HX40WII and WMI (water methanol injection) aka cheapo windshield washer fluid, instead.

I still have the small, maybe 2" crossover that comes with the banks kit. Maybe I'll have to look into upgrading to 2.5". Yeah my 4" is tight but clear as well. Same goes for the 3" downpipe. I still have the T04b that comes with the banks kit.

I have one mishimo like yours in my 1009 mine has 4bt in it.. mine is mounted behind the core support.. I do have D eye on the 1028 never compared it to 3 " bought it on clearance it was for burban few years ago.. plans are to mount an hx35 but I am exploring option where to mount the turbo..

Really that's interesting. How was the 4bt swap? I've looked into the 6bt, that seemed pretty extensive being it weighs 1100 lbs and required renforcement of everything.

Mine was really simple..once figured the mounts out I used 4bt with th475 so it was Chevy set up.. got complicated when I swapped the nv4500 in it.. 4bt is a lot lighter and mine is moved closer to firewall so the weight is more centered.. engine dyno out about 235hp (on borrowed twins stock injector??) about 4 something in ftlb.. with ve pump. the third pic is on with old motor that wiped out cam in.. it been rebuilt and is put in the 1028..
rough specs
Cummins 4BT Specifications