Lethal Performance GT500 Blog

Lethal Performance/ AFCO GT500 Pro-Series Dual Pass Heat Exchanger Install with Pics!

Keeping our focus on the cooling system we finally got to install the Lethal Performance Exclusive AFCO Pro-Series Dual Pass Heat Exchanger. With the AFCO Heat Exchanger, PFAB Intercooler Tank, Canton Expansion Tank and a set of Hoosier Drag Radials we ran our best of 11.90@117mph! Stock Intake, Stock Exhaust, Stock Tune and Stock Suspension! These are track proven cooling mods and available from your friends at Lethal Performance!!

AFCO Pro-Series Dual Pass Heat Exchanger

For those that aren’t familiar with what the heat exchanger is, it’s part of the intercooler system. The main purpose of the intercooler system is to cool the air being pressed into the engine by the supercharger. The system is made up of an intercooler, heat exchanger, pump and reservoir. The intercooler is located directly under the supercharger and holds coolant in between it’s fins. As the hot air is pressed out of the supercharger through those fins the air is cooled and then enters the cylinder heads before entering the combustion chamber. The fluid that is held in the intercooler circulates out of the intercooler into a reservoir (such as the stock or PFAB tank). It circulates in the tank before being pumped out by the intercooler pump where it’s then pressed into the heat exchanger. The heat exchanger is located at the front of the vehicle just under the front bumper. This is where the cooling process of the fluid takes place before the fluid recirculates back under the blower again. Here’s where the AFCO Pro-Series Dual Pass Heat Exchanger does it’s job.

Like I mentioned the cooler the fluid in the intercooler system is will result in cooler intake temperatures. If the fluid is too hot before it goes back to the intercooler under the blower you will lose power. What happens is the vehicle’s computer will sense the increased temperatures and pull timing resulting in power loss. To help prevent this from happening we’ll replace the front mount heat exchanger with a much larger an more efficient one. The stock heat exchanger measures 26″ wide by 6″ high and is only 1.5″ thick and holds .80 Quarts of coolant. The AFCO Pro-Series Dual Pass Heat Exchanger measures in at 26″ wide by 9″ high and 2.5″ thick. The AFCO heat exchanger is obviously the larger piece as well as having the capacity to hold more coolant but it’s design is also superior to the stock single pass heat exchanger. The stock piece flows coolant through the core from one side and flows right out the opposite side passing all the cooling fins only once. The AFCO unit utilizes 2 sets of fins so the fluid passes through from one side to the other and then passing again through another full set of fin before leaving the other side. This gives the coolant a much better cool down before it is then sent back to the intercooler under the blower.

The AFCO unit will without a doubt help prevent heat soak and lost power but also keep the vehicle’s computer from pulling timing when it warms up. So whether you’re on the street or track you’ll see more consistent times and not see the power drop off like it would with the stock system.

What’s great about the AFCO piece is that it’s a very easy piece to install and took me about 2.5 hours in my garage on jack stands. It’s an easy mod that anyone can do with simple hand tools and a little patience.

Below is a recap of the installation.

The tools needed for the install were: A 5 gallon bucket, Pliers, Ratchet with 8mm, 10mm,13mm, 5.5mm and 1/2 sockets. 12″ ratchet extension. Utility Knife, Flat head screwdriver.

The install started off by having to put the car on jackstands. After that you’ll need to remove the radiator shroud by popping off the plastic clips.

Onto taking off the bumper to access the heat exchanger by removing the 7 screws that hold the lower splash guard to the bottom of the vehicle.

Remove the lower air dam.

The next part is to remove the 2 nuts that mount the bumper to the fenders on each side. It’s a tight fit but can be done pretty easily with a nice 12″ extension. These are accessible from inside the wheel well.

Unclip the 3 connectors on each side of the vehicle which connect to the fog light, turn signal and parking lamps.

Remove the 2 bolts which hold the bumper to the core support which are located right next to the front head lights as well as where the radiator fan shroud was removed.

Lift up on the top “ears” of the bumper over the tabs that hold them to the car and slowly pull the bumper towards you away from the vehicle. Now you can pull the foam bumper core off by pulling it away from the car as it’s 4 plastic clips will release it from the frame with ease.

Removing the Stock Heat Exchanger

Drain the coolant the heat exchanger into a large bucket by removing the lower coolant hose on the passenger side.

Remove the 4 nuts that secure the heat exchanger mount to the vehicles frame.

Unclip the electrical connector that plugs into the stock intercooler pump.

Unclamp the hose that connects the pump to the intercooler reservoir at the pump.

Remove the 4 plastic clips that hold the plastic shroud to the heat exchanger.

AFCO recommends at this point to remove the horns for better access and removal of the stock heat exchanger and to keep from damaging fins on the AC condenser however I found no need to do so and was able to remove the heat exchanger without any issues.

Using a 13mm deep sockt and extension remove the 2 bolts closest to the center on each side of the bumper support.

Once these are removed you are now able to pull the stock heat exchanger assembly out of the vehicle.

Remove the intercooler pump from the stock heat exchanger bracket.

Installation of the AFCO Pro-Series Heat Exchanger

In the same spot that the (4) 13mm bolts were just removed install the 4 bolts supplied by AFCO so that they protrude about 3/4″ out of the other side of the bumper support.

Using the 1/2″ wrench install the intercooler pump to the AFCO heat exchanger with the supplied nuts.

Using the supplied hose clamps connect the 90deg hose with the short end to the outlet on the bottom of the intercooler pump just like in the image above . The other end of the hose will run horizontally across the heat exchanger to the other coolant tube on the heat exchanger. I had to trim about 1/2″ off of the hose as it was a little long.

Now snap the 4 rubber grommets with the aluminum sleeves to the 4 mounting bracket holes with the washer side of the grommet facing the vehicle.

Carefully slide the heat exchanger up from the bottom of the vehicle onto the 4 mounting studs being careful that the intercooler pump does not damage any fins of the AC compressor. If you feel that the pump is going to hit the fins then back the heat exchanger out and loosen and twist the pump so that it has more clearance and try to install it again.

Then use the 4 Nylock bolts that AFCO supplied to secure the heat exchanger to the frame making sure not to overtighten them. The grommets should crush about 1/16 of an inch and that’s about all you’ll need.

Reinstall the plastic shroud to the heat exchanger bracket with the 4 plastic clips.

Re-Attach the factory coolant hoses to the bottom of the heat exchanger and the intercooler reservoir.

Reconnect the electric connector to the intercooler pump and use the 2 supplied zip ties to secure the wire loom for the intercooler pump to the rubber hose that runs horizontal inside of the heat exchanger.

Make sure everything is secure and all nuts and bolts are tight.

Now you can refill the intercooler reservoir with the coolant again. Completely fill the tank and cap it. Start the car and allow it to run for 5 minutes until the intercooler pump turns on. This will cause the fluid in the reservoir to drop and you’ll need to refill it again with more coolant.

Start re-assembling the bumper and once that’s done you can put the wheels back on. Lower the car back to the ground and take the car for a ride close to where you worked on the vehicle. After a few minutes of driving around come back and check the coolant level in the intercooler reservoir. If it’ needs more fluid then fill it up. Do the same thing one more time by driving around for a few and checking the level again. After that you should be good but as a precaution I always check to see if the levels are correct after each cruise.

NOTE: For our GT500 we chose to remove all of the conventional coolant and use Redline Water Wetter. In order to do this the intercooler system needed to be flushed. This can be done before re-assembling the bumper. With the intercooler pump line connected to the intercooler reservoir and the coolant line disconnected from the bottom of the heat exchanger I used another large bucket to catch the coolant at the bottom of the heat exchanger. Then I used a garden hose and kept on filling the intercooler reservoir with water. It would fill up and drop and while it did this water in the system started flowing out of the bottom of the heat exchanger. I kept the fluid going through there until I saw the 5 gallon bucket fill up halfway. Stop using the hose and allow the remaining water in the system to drain.

Then using another bucket I made a mixture of 6 quarts of distilled water and 6oz’s of Water Wetter. I then reconnected the hose to the bottom of the AFCO Heat Exchanger and started filling up the system until it was full using the same fill procedure as listed above. The reason for using the Water Wetter is it’s a much better performing coolant fluid than standard off the shelf coolant. It will stay much cooler than regular coolant when the vehicle is hot.

To sum it up this was by far the most effective cooling mod we did to our GT500. The AFCO unit is a very high quality piece and I feel that anyone that has installed one or has seen one in person will feel the same. With the combination of the PFAB Intercooler Reservoir, Canton Radiator Reservoir and the AFCO Pro-Series Dual Pass Heat Exchanger we ran our best time with a set of Hoosier drag radials of 11.90@116.50.

If you have any questions about the AFCO Pro-Series Heat Exchanger please feel free to call your Lethal Performance Sales Associate today. 1-877-2LETHAL