Colossal ’Cooler
WagnerTuning has a massive new EcoBoost Mustang intercooler
By Steve Turner
Photos courtesy of Wagner Tuning
If you’ve been around EcoBoost Mustangs, you know that they readily gain performance with the most basic of modifications. Free up airflow, flash a hotter tune, and you are suddenly making a lot more power and a lot more torque. However, as you keep pushing, the factory intercooler eventually becomes the weak link in the performance chain. Eventually, heat soak sets in and power is limited.
There are numerous aftermarket replacement intercoolers, but a new entry to the market grabbed our attention because of its size. It looks like the factory intercooler plus an aftermarket intercooler put together. In fact, WagnerTuning says its intercooler upgrade kit EVO1 for Ford Mustang 2.3-liter EcoBoost (PN 200001073; $675) offers 45 percent more frontal area than the stock unit and a whopping 130 percent more volume.
“Our engineers have increased the intercooler core size and efficiency, as well as improving the end tank design to remove any OEM bottlenecks, resulting in increased flow rating and charge cooling properties,” says the company. “This Mustang Intercooler uses our award-winning WagnerTuning Competition Intercooler Core which is made specifically for this application. It is one of the highest quality Tube Fin cores available on the market. Featuring turbulators, a weight of just 10,2kg and combined with freeform cast aluminum end tanks optimized in CAD. Flow analyses and simulations were created to optimize the design for best possible internal airflow.”
The result is an intercooler that is said to improve engine response by eliminating restriction, improve inlet air temperatures thanks to improved efficiency, and offer a bolt-on installation that requires no modifications. You can watch that installation right here…
[video=youtube;pHljusCqJTI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHljusCqJTI[/video]
Since EcoBoost engines are the future, it’s great to see more and more aftermarket improvements like this unit popping up. The company also offers units for the Focus ST and EcoBoost F-150.
A direct replacement for the factory intercooler, the WagnerTuning intercooler upgrade kit EVO1 for Ford Mustang 2.3-liter EcoBoost (PN 200001073; $675) features anti-corrosion coating that also helps dissipate heat.
This CAD comparison shows you just how much larger the WagnerTuning unit is than the stock intercooler (top).
WagnerTuning used computer fluid dynamics to develop its cooler and according to the company’s flowbench testing its unit is far less restrictive than the factory intercooler.
Likewise, the company’s testing shows that its intercooler does a much better job of lowering and stabilizing the boost temperatures before the air enters the engine.
