85 T-Type

87gn97vmax

New Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2003
Hi Everyone,
I just picked up a completely totally loaded 85 white T-Type with 60,000 original miles, astro roof, touch climate control, twilight sentinel, power everything including trunk with complete factory carpeting, posi, etc.

My question is: I have a complete Kenne-Bell Big Boy front mount intercooler for my 87 GN, I would love to put this IC on my new hot-air T but I need the correct pipes & Jim Bell does not make them anymore for 85's! Anyone out there with these pipes for sale & what else would I need to go this route?

Thanks,

Sean.
 
Spearco makes a kit with a very similar intercooler to the Big boy. I know because I had the Spearco and my dad had the big boy. If you could get the kit minus the intercooler from Spearco it might work. If I remember right the Big boy sits a little to one side while the Spearco sits in the middle but it should get you close.

Besides the piping, you loosen the compressor housing bolts, rotate it so it faces forward, you need an elbow for the back of the intake manifold where the turbo used to go for the IC piping to hook into. It's very simple.

Problem is you lose a lot of throttle response with all that piping and the throttlebody before the turbo. To cure this, I moved the throttlebody to the pressure side right before the elbow in the back of the manifold. I got an inlet bell just like the 86-87 cars and mounted the MAF pipe straight to the turbo. It works great. With just the intercooler the hotair will run similar times to a stock IC car.
 
got a local dirt track place? the one near my house sells mandrel bent exhaust piping cheap.. could probalby piece together a pipe kit for aroudn $100
 
Nice Site

TType84, Very Cool site & a beautiful car you have. I was thinking of maybe going alcohol injection from smc for my 87. I will have to check out the pro's & con's of both & also price...lol. I noticed that you have an electric fan on your ride, how difficult was that? My 85 is a whole new world that I am trying to figure out which way to go. I do have the Big Boy IC, I don't have a dirt track place around? I just ordered a dual fan setup from Ramcharger's so I will have a single fan setup from my 87 to the 85? hmmm.

Thanks & Beautiful job,

Sean.
 
The 87 fan is easy to install. You will want to upgrade the radiator though. The electric fan doesn't cool as well as the mechanical fan with a stock radiator. I triggered my relay off of the ignition but since I have the 87 ECM I've been tempted to wire it to the computer and let the chip control it.

I'll probably get flamed for this but I think the SMC kit is a bit outdated. I can't see why anyone would buy it when Razor's progressive kit is just a few bucks more. My dad is one of the many who have had problems with the contacts corroding in the SMC kit. The alky might actually work 1 out of 3 times if we're lucky. Not very safe IMO. When it does work it actually puts out a whopping 35psi with the pump speed all the way up. Maybe he's addressed these issues, I don't know.

The plumbing can actually be bought for around $30 from a good muffler shop. I bought a prebent mandrel 3" pipe and cut it where it needed to be cut and coupled it with silicone hoses. I was one bend short and had to buy a whole extra pipe but still, $60 for the intercoooler piping isn't bad.
 
Re: Nice Site

Originally posted by 87gn97vmax
TType84, Very Cool site & a beautiful car you have. I was thinking of maybe going alcohol injection from smc for my 87. I will have to check out the pro's & con's of both & also price...lol. I noticed that you have an electric fan on your ride, how difficult was that? My 85 is a whole new world that I am trying to figure out which way to go. I do have the Big Boy IC, I don't have a dirt track place around? I just ordered a dual fan setup from Ramcharger's so I will have a single fan setup from my 87 to the 85? hmmm.

Thanks & Beautiful job,

Sean.

thanks for the compliments. and yeah.. listen to cool, its easy to install the electric fan. i got some weatherstripping off another car at the junkyard and slid in onto the lip all the way around to make a "seal" against the radiator. i put a radiator out of an 88 trans am GTA, same thing as a stock 87 gn radiator but its alum/plastic instead of copper or brass or whatever..
 
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