Installing COBB's Factory Location Raptor Intercooler

We revisited our Raptor Build Series last week and installed the COBB Tuning Front Mount Factory Location Intercooler for Ford F-150/Raptor EcoBoost trucks! This substantial upgrade keeps air intake temperatures lower than the factory intercooler, ensuring your truck is producing consistent, reliable power under almost all circumstances. COBB does offer a beefier intercooler option for Ford trucks that is almost double the size and takes more front end disassembly to install. We’ve forecasted needing to install that option at some point in the future, but for now we’ll be trying to push the limits of this ‘plug and play’ COBB Factory Location intercooler.

The stock Ford intercooler is much less substantial and not as meticulously engineered as this one, so air passing through it doesn't cool down as much under heavy use, causing it to heat-soak rather quickly. The COBB unit has more mass, a better fin and bar core design, fantastic overall build quality and an uncanny ability to keep intake temps balanced. Matt used to design intercoolers at a previous job and walks us through some forced-induction details while unboxing - justifying why we opted for the COBB part. Whether we end up bringing the Raptor out to the desert in the near future, or we're just doing a bunch of pulls on asphalt, we want to keep this truck breathing fresh air - and this COBB factory location intercooler will help us do it! 

We are planning on installing a Turbosmart bypass valve on the Raptor within the coming month, so we may need to remove the intercooler to access that, but we may also just get away with removing the intercooler support bracket and rear fan to access the stock bypass valve location. Either way, we’ll be tearing back into the front of this truck again soon, so keep an eye out for updates! We’re very excited to finally be digging into the performance side of this build. Huge thank you to COBB Tuning for partnering with us on this project! Click here to watch our COBB Redline Carbon Fiber Air Intake and Scoop Install video from a few months back.

Matt didn’t rush through the installation process, and referred to a few different online install guides and instructional videos. There was a little bit of trial and error when it came to the order of disassembly and reassembly, but we were able to get everything swapped out and put back together in about an hour, and we would probably give the upgrade a 2/5 on the difficulty scale. It’s definitely an install that can be completed after work with a drink and some common hand tools! If you’re interested in picking up one of these badass COBB Intercooler systems for your truck, click here. If you think the factory location replacement wouldn’t be enough intercooler for you - go all in on COBB’s full size front mount EcoBoost Intercooler.

Matt obviously had to test his work once everything was bolted back up, so we hopped in the truck and went for a spin down to the roundabout - just enough to make sure there were no leaks, hisses, pops or codes thrown. Everything went exactly as expected, which is how we like it! No surprises means a perfectly built product, and we can't wait to see how it performs under more strenuous driving conditions. Shoutout again to the awesome folks over at COBB Tuning - check them out whenever you're in the market for high quality performance goodies and go-fast parts!

Watch the full installation video below: