New Bell intercooler arrived today!

looks good. Glad to see stillen steppin to the plate

it's strange...not like the supercharger runs a lot of psi. I'm surprised at the repeated failures

I hope this one works out for you :cheers:

Seranin said:

it's strange...not like the supercharger runs a lot of psi. I'm surprised at the repeated failures

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1-2 psi is all. One of the last intercoolers was pressure tested to 70 psi before install, only to start leaking after 1,400 miles. The water pump has been replaced 2 times- once because it had been running dry for some time, and the second because it wasn't moving much fluid. Intercooler res. has also been replaced. Yes, very strange.
Where in Humboldt are you from? My wife and I met in Arcata while she was attending HSU back in 1992.

Bayside...pretty close to Arcata. My girlfriend and I love it here... it's isolated, but that's not all bad. I enjoy the redwoods and the quality of life here

Seranin said:

Bayside...pretty close to Arcata. My girlfriend and I love it here... it's isolated, but that's not all bad. I enjoy the redwoods and the quality of life here

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Nice. A friend of mine used to live on Beverly Dr. in Bayside. Still have a good friend that lives a ways up Jacoby Creek. I've been trying to get my family to move back down there for years. We vacationed there this summer and was amazed to see that it really hasn't become overly populated. Just far enough away from the Bay Area I guess.

So the support from Stillen has been good?

RB's Titan said:

good to hear you got a new one....but that thing better hold this time. But none the less that S/C cranks out some serious heat and that cooler just not thick enough in my minds eye. Plus the size of that cooler vs the flowing opening is well....hmmm...HOT.

What are you using to seal it up with?

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I believe that the inlet and outlet is only sealed with a couple of o-rings from the factory. My mechanic has been using red RTV sealant around the outsides of the inlet and outlet because he didn't think the o-rings were enough. It hasn't been a "sealing" issue, the welds appear to be failing, possibly from vibration(my guess). Not sure what you mean by the size of the cooler vs the flowing opening being HOT(are you referring to how the air from the S/C is forced through only a small portion of the intercooler surface?) The coolant that is returning to the resevior from the intercooler has always been cool, so it would seem to me that the intercooler was thick enough.

LD5050 said:

So the support from Stillen has been good?

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It' been pretty good. It's taken some prodding and quite a few phone calls on my part-that may be more of an issue between me and my dealership, as I feel they should have been the one's to keep on Stillen to get this resolved ASAP(since it was purchased through my dealership). Either way, I was the one to contact Bell and confirm that this was something they could build for me. I was going to pay Bell out of my own pocket to have this thing made 2 1/2 months ago. I got the feeling Stillen didn't want another company manufacturing something for one of their products. Anyways, it now seems Bell may being picking up a contract to produce these for Stillen.

RB's Titan said:

good to hear you got a new one....but that thing better hold this time. But none the less that S/C cranks out some serious heat and that cooler just not thick enough in my minds eye. Plus the size of that cooler vs the flowing opening is well....hmmm...HOT.

What are you using to seal it up with?

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Hey-just took another look at your photo. It looks like both of the end cans were attached(sealed) to the upper plenum with black RTV. I'm not sure this has been done with any of my replacement intercoolers(although the last intercooler that failed was on an entirely new blower assembley) Difficult to believe that these are leaving the factory without the intercooler being properly held in place. I won't rule anything out at this point. The point I'm trying to make is if this was something that had been done at the factory, my mechanic would have seen it when he tore the original apart, and he would have put it back together the same way. I'll check with him tomorrow when I drop the truck off.

Dropped the truck off this morning. The mechanic said he had been sealing the end cans to the upper plenum with RTV silicone.
Also, I'm guessing the size of the secondary heat exchanger is approx. 10" high by 24" wide by 1 1/2 to 1 3/4" thick, I've never measured it.

cool let us know how it goes. I guess Stillen has these Bells for replacement or upgrade purchases?

RB's Titan said:

cool let us know how it goes. I guess Stillen has these Bells for replacement or upgrade purchases?

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Dealership had truck for a week. Just got it back yesterday. There were a couple of problems which caused the delay. I won't go into yet. Stillen will only offer these as a replacement if your intercooler is leaking. I think they will be available as an upgrade for an added cost on a new S/C. When I talked to Gerhard at Bell he said he had not gotten a price to Stillen yet for the production of these, but that is the plan, from what I've been told by the guy's at Stillen. So far this is the only one that has been made. It may be necesary for me to post details and pic's, but I hope not. I'll let you guy's know how it plays out in the next week or two.

chargedTitan said:

Dealership had truck for a week. Just got it back yesterday. There were a couple of problems which caused the delay. I won't go into yet. Stillen will only offer these as a replacement if your intercooler is leaking. I think they will be available as an upgrade for an added cost on a new S/C. When I talked to Gerhard at Bell he said he had not gotten a price to Stillen yet for the production of these, but that is the plan, from what I've been told by the guy's at Stillen. So far this is the only one that has been made. It may be necesary for me to post details and pic's, but I hope not. I'll let you guy's know how it plays out in the next week or two.

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at this point just let me know how it works for you and I'll gladly take PM info anytime I don't bite...I may "shock" you but that should be easy 4 u to take cuz your charged already...LOL