anyone build there own. It seems alot people just bolt stuff onto their towrigs....but what abotu the home fabricators that are getting it done?

I want to mod up my F250 with a 7.3 turbo. Going to start with a new exhaust and new turbo housing to get rid of the factory 2.5" restriction.

I'ts got to flow alot with very little restriction... I've done two intercooler jobs. First one I did on my Nissan diesel scout with a first generation dodge IC. One thing I learned on that job was if you are going to go much over 10lbs of boost you better put beads on the ends of your tubes.

When I put the cummins 6BT in my scout I upgraded to a Powerstroke intercooler ( pretty cheap on Ebay) and rolled beads into my tubes. I weld up my pipes from mandral bends and use quality silicone hoses and spring clamps all availible on ebay. Mount the IC in rubber to protect it from abrasion and vibration.. The tubes hold fine up to about 50 psi of boost - but I dont race it anymore so it never see's over 30psi now.

Just remember that you get what you pay for. I haven't personally had any dealings with the cheap Chinese ebay intercoolers, but I have heard that they weigh about half of what the same dimension Spearco core would weigh. While it is true that even one of the cheap Chinese intercoolers is better than no intercooler at all (provided the core can flow enough air) it likely isn't going to be as good as a more expensive, more efficient unit.

I've never looked for any intercooler cores for a diesel type application so I don't have any clue what you would really want to be looking for. One thing I have seen is that the diesel intercoolers are much larger than what a turbo gas engine's intercooler seems to be. I would suggest calling a place like Spearco and see if they have any suggestions. Another option would be to look at big OTR semis and see if they have anything you could use.

"Big OTR trucks" would be way over kill. You'd be checking your turbo lag with a freakin' calendar. Look in an International 4300-4900 series, or find a powerjoke or CTD unit.