I got my intercooler on ebay, and from what I had read everyone was always satified with them. Well, I've had no boost since putting my SC kit in. To make a long story short, i've replaced everything except the blower assembly and intercooler. Changed pulleys/belt/tensioner/impeller/tclamps/hoses/plumbing. I'm stumped and pretty pissed this car still making 0 boost.

Onto the question: at idle, if I put my hand 1" (with the pipe disconnected) from the outlet of the blower, it pushes quite a bit of air. If i reattached that pipe and disconnect the outlet pipe from the IC and repeat the same test with my hand, it pushes maybe half of that amount (from my judgement). In both cases I can cover the pipe completely and "smoother" it and it does not try to force my hand off. Any opinions are welcome, i'm stumped.

 

Centrifugal compressors rely on impeller speed to sling the air and make positive pressure, they won't make pressure at low RPM, the air just backfeeds past the impeller. Try your test again at 5000rpm lol.
If you capping the IC outlet with your hand it should still fill to the same pressure since air isn't flowing. I'd check for leaks.

I would probably start by bypassing the IC with a PVC pipe, that'll immediately tell you of the problem lies there or not.


Also you could get two pressure gauges, put one before and one after the IC and see how much pressure drop it's creating. (.5 - 1psi is typical).

 

I like the PVC idea, very quick and cheap way of bypassing. I'm also going to buy 2 3" PVC endcaps and drill 1 out and install a valve stem and try pressure testing the IC.

BTW, the IC can be installed either way right?? ie. you can use either side for inlet/outlet. That was 1 thought I had, to rotate the IC, but that's going to take some time to remove the bumper n stuff.

 

yes it can go either way... i just got done doing my FMIC and it works great thus far.

 

Went to lowes and found that 3" PVC does NOT work... too big. Returned it and found 2 2" galvanized caps in the plumbing section, fits inside the silicon coupler perfect and both were on clearance for $1.25x2= $2.50 Dunno why it says 2", but fits my 3" coupler. Bought a valve stem pack for $3 at autozone. Drilled 1 of the caps out and installed valve stem. So I made my own tester for $5, will get to try it out tomorrow. If it holds pressure, i'll find a way to bypass the IC with some homemade 3" plumbing.

 

Pressure tested the ENTIRE intake system- no leaks at all whatsoever. I'm stumped, going to call vortech this week to see if they know what might be going on.

 

Did you buy the blower used?? Is it a clockwise or counter-clockwise blower? LT1s use the clockwise headunit.

 

Its clockwise rotation. Ya, I bought it used.

 

What size core are you guys running? Mine is a 31x11x3"... i'm thinking maybe bumping up to a 4" core.

 

Any feedback on a 4" core and flow numbers? Going to start shopping for one ASAP.

 

Well I recieved my new IC yesterday, and I'm 99.9% sure this is going to solve my problem. Got the 31x12x4" from cxracing. Going to have to space the front bumper about 1" out for this to fit now. The one on the right is the old 31x12x3"

 

+1 on cxracing.