Wagner Intercooler Installation DIY How-To for 2024 Ranger Raptor

[a77cj7]

I chose the Wagner intercooler for two main reasons.
First, its core volume and surface area is a major upgrade over stock, and larger than the cobb unit.
Second, it cost around $600 shipped on black friday, making it much cheaper than the other aftermarket ic’s available.

When I received my intercooler, others had already confirmed in the below thread that it could be installed without removing the bumper. This is the route I took as well.
https://www.ranger6g.com/forum/thre...led-a-new-intercooler-on-their-own-yet.14375/
I suggest reading linked thread as well, good information.

The wagner instructions are somewhat poor, and involve removing bumper. I will point out the changes I ran across during the procedure.

Ok, now for the installation. My apologies for not taking more pictures of every step, I was in a hurry to get it finished for a road trip.

EDIT: Install should take around two hours for someone with decent wrenching experience.

Step Zero: (Forgot this during writeup, so zero) Loosen two rear bolts on front skid plate a few turns. Support skid plate and remove two front bolts. (15mm socket for all) Lower skid plate and slide forward off rear bolts. Set aside.

Step One: Disconnect the charge pipes (3) from the intercooler. Pull the wire retaining clips with a pick or screwdriver to disengage them, then slide the hose off the connector. There is plenty of flex in the stock hoses to remove with intercooler in place.

EDIT: I was annoyed I didn’t take good pictures of the charge pipe retaining clips. While reading the Cobb intercooler instructions, i discovered they had excellent pictures. I have attached them below.

Note the blue arrows indicating the dimples in the clip opposite the open side. These dimples can be pushed out of their grooves and onto the surface of the charge pipe retaining clips connector, holding the clip open. Both must be pushed at the same time or it will snap back closed.


Step Two: Begin removing the tow hooks. Start by removing the one horizontal bolt per side holding the front louvers to the tow hooks. These bolts use an 8mm socket.

Step Three: Remove the two vertical bolts holding the tow hooks to the frame with a 15mm socket. Support the intercooler before removing the second tow hook, as it will be completely unsupported with the tow hooks removed.

Step Four: Lower the intercooler and rear louvers out of the truck. It may take some force initially to dislodge the upper rubber mounts. The front louver assembly remains in the truck at this point.

Step Five: Remove the rear louver assembly from the intercooler by removing the single bolt (10mm socket) at top passenger side corner. Release the clip at the top driver side corner and slide the louver assembly up.

Side by side comparison of factory and wagner intercooler:

Step Six: Trim the rear louver assembly to fit the wagner intercooler. The lip that extends on the intercooler side of the mounting tabs needs to be cut off flush. It extends across the bottom of the louvers and up both sides. Arrows point to removal area.

I intended to use a dremel with plastic cutoff wheel for the removal, but after looking at the bottom thickness, chose to use an oscillating belt sander.

Step Seven: Attack the trimmed rear louver assembly to the wagner intercooler by slotting the tabs into the three clips and reinstalling the factory bolt removed in step five (10mm socket)

Note: The louver does not clip onto the top driver side corner like the stock intercooler. I used two zipties to secure it as it was easily dislodged.

Note 2: The driver side lower louver mount interferes with the lower charge pipe clip making installation more challenging. I trimmed the corner as shown solving this issue.

Step Eight: Apply the gasket tape to the Wagner intercooler and rear louver assembly shown. Bolt on the supplied upper mounts with the supplied bolts. (13mm wrench)

Note: Make sure brackets are installed in orientation shown above. The manual shows them backward.

Note 2: You will need to use an open end wrench to tighten the bolts, they are too close together to allow a socket or box end to be used.

Step Nine: Insert the supplied rubber gromets into the wagner bracket mount holes.

Step Ten: Return to the truck. Unplug the front louver plug from the driver side bottom, and free the christmas tree clip holding the wires.

Step Eleven: Unbolt the factory upper intercooler mount from the top of the frame rails. One bolt per side. (13mm wrench) I used a ratcheting wrench for this due to limited space.

Step Twelve: Slide the factory upper mount and front louver assembly to give better access to front louver top bolts. Remove two bolts securing front louvers to mount. (8mm socket). Lower front louvers from truck.

Step Thirteen: Angle factory top mount and remove from truck.

Step Fourteen: Unclip and remove louvers from front louver assembly.

Note: Louvers can be left in place and will function. However, wagner suggests removing for best performance.

Step Fifteen: Install wagner intercooler assembly into truck. Place drivers side upper mount on top of frame. Position drivers side of intercooler as close to frame and as far back as possible. Angle passenger side toward front. Passenger side upper mount will have just enough clearance to slide above frame at this angle. DO NOT install bolts yet. Intercooler will hang from upper mounts.

Step Sixteen: Install factory charge pipes onto Wagner intercooler, and engage factory wire retaining clips.

Step Seventeen: Slide intercooler as far toward rear as possible. Reinstall front louver assembly. You will have to fold the front rubber ducting to get it in place. Straighten and position the ducting through the front bumper opening.

Step Eighteen: Reattach christmas tree wire retainer on front louvers assembly. Plug in louver motor and engage plug retainer.

Step Nineteen: Slide intercooler forward into position and install factory upper mount bolts (13mm wrench). As during removal, I used a ratcheting wrench due to tight confines.

Note: Front louver assembly no longer secures with top bolts. It is plenty secure wedged in place between bumper and intercooler, plus the two lower bolts.

Step Twenty: Remove factory lower rubber mounts from factory intercooler, and install onto Wagner intercooler bottom pegs. Reinstall factory tow hooks with two factory bolts per side. (15mm socket)

Step Twenty One: Reinstall lower front louvers bolts, one per side. (8mm socket)

Step Twenty Two: Slide skid plate onto rear bolts, then install front factory bolts. (15mm socket) Tighten rear bolts.

Congratulations, your intercooler install is complete. Go enjoy your reduced charge temps.

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[joprato]

Superb description of the work and made me decide to go with… the cobb.
I need to ship this thing half a world across and don’t have access to my tools to work on trimming rear Louver and really don’t want to have to attach zip ties… just feel the cobb would be a tighter/ neatier fit overall since no trimming of any kind seems to be required.
My temps will be a little higher…

again, thanks for the superb description though !

 

[a77cj7]

Superb description of the work and made me decide to go with… the cobb.
I need to ship this thing half a world across and don’t have access to my tools to work on trimming rear Louver and really don’t want to have to attach zip ties… just feel the cobb would be a tighter/ neatier fit overall since no trimming of any kind seems to be required.
My temps will be a little higher…

again, thanks for the superb description though !

Yes, the cobb will be an even easier install as it uses the factory top mount and doesn’t require trimming of the rear louver assembly.

I would still remove the louvers from the front louver assembly. This can be done with the front louver assembly still on the truck while the intercooler is out. No tools required, just plastic clips.

 

[John E Davies]

Very nice write-up, that kind of post takes a lot of thought and time. Thanks.

I have a general question, is the rough “as cast” inside surface normal for an aftermarket part? The main internal cavities of the end caps would have to be done at the factory, before the welding process, but it seems like the inlet and outlet pipes should be ported by hand at least a little, to smooth out the airflow. Or does it even matter in the real world? I would have dressed out that passage, removing the bigger lumps and pimples at least. The Wagner pic doesn’t really show the inside, but it does give the impression that it is a fairly even surface inside… Comments?

John Davies
Spokane WA USA

 

[a77cj7]

Very nice write-up, that kind of post takes a lot of thought and time. Thanks.

I have a general question, is the rough “as cast” inside surface normal for an aftermarket part? I understand that the main internal cavity has to be left alone, but it seems like the inlet and outlet pipes should be ported by hand at least a little, to smooth out the airflow. Or does it even matter in the real world? I would have dressed out that passage, removing the bigger lumps and pimples at least. Comments?

John Davies
Spokane WA USA

Yes, normal for aftermarket part. Nothing shows up ported unless you pay for it to be.

No, in my opinion it makes no difference. An as-cast surface for a few inches of the charge piping is minimal compared to the length of the intake and all the 90* corners involved. Plus, this is post turbo. Boosted air flow is much less sensitive to minor friction than pre-turbo under vacuum.

Yes, you could port it if you wanted to, will cause no problems. Just make sure you flush it thoroughly to remove all contaminants afterward.

If you take your intake off, i hate to inform you that ford did not clean up the head ports either. Or the intake, though the plastic composite is much smoother as cast than aluminum.

 

[John E Davies]

Thanks for the comments, I did see this one for Porsche and it got me wondering.., but it is also $1700.

John Davies
Spokane WA USA

 

[a77cj7]

Thanks for the comments, I did see this one for Porsche and it got me wondering..,

John Davies
Spokane WA USA

That appears to be a fabricated unit, so there was never a cast surface inside the pipes. Notice they didn’t clean up the weld visible on the far side pipe.

Between a fabricated unit and the word “Porsche”, I’m scared of what that costs. I’m betting not $600.

EDIT: I see you got me with the cost edited in to yours. Actually much cheaper than I expected.

 

[Boosted6G]

Not including the time to take pictures, how long did the installation take?

 

[a77cj7]

Not including the time to take pictures, how long did the installation take?

3 to 3.5 hours.
Knock off 1-1.5 hours for following my writeup.
I had the wagner in and out of the truck two additional times due to the backwards top brackets and missing the foam tape on rear louver assembly. Thanks wagner instructions. This is also how I discovered the rear louver additional modifications (zip ties and trimmed corner) and implemented while out.

I’d say 2 hours is good estimate for someone with decent wrenching experience.

Cobb intercooler install would take probably 1 hour or less.

 

[a77cj7]

Superb description of the work and made me decide to go with… the cobb.
I need to ship this thing half a world across and don’t have access to my tools to work on trimming rear Louver and really don’t want to have to attach zip ties… just feel the cobb would be a tighter/ neatier fit overall since no trimming of any kind seems to be required.
My temps will be a little higher…

again, thanks for the superb description though !

Update:

I read through the Cobb instructions and made an interesting discovery. The Cobb intercooler does not include provisions for attachment of the rear louver assembly; it is left off during installation.

You could omit the rear louver assembly from the Wagner installation as well, thus avoiding the trimming and zip tie mod. This will shorten installation time and make the procedure easier as well.

I personally would still install it for the seal to the fan shroud for cooling while stopped, but if Cobb doesn’t believe it to be necessary, it may not be important.

Note, even without reinstalling the rear louver assembly, the Wagner install is still longer and more complex than the Cobb, as the Wagner requires replacing the upper mount.

 

[joprato]

This is very good to know, thanks !

 

[HyperM3]

Great write up!

 

[RANGER/HOBB]

With the FP tune you’ll see higher peek boost pressures. This can cause problems with the FMIC popping off Cold or hot side piping. To preclude it happening; spray hairspray on the ID of the rubber tubing and the OD of the FMIC flange/s. You can also replace the OEM clamps with; spring clamps.

This will provide a better bond and sealing between both. Just a remedy to keep in mind if it does occur.

 

[a77cj7]

With the FP tune you’ll see higher peek boost pressures. This can cause problems with the FMIC popping off Cold or hot side piping. To preclude it happening; spray hairspray on the ID of the rubber tubing and the OD of the FMIC flange/s. You can also replace the OEM clamps with; spring clamps.

This will provide a better bond and sealing between both. Just a remedy to keep in mind if it does occur.

Uhh, these trucks use an integral metal connector on the charge pipes. No rubber connection to the ic or oem clamps. See pictures in op.

If anything, the upgraded ic will lower pressure with the drop in charge temps.

Plus Ford wouldn’t have upped the boost in a warrantied tune if they expected to pop charge pipes in the warranty period.

 

[RANGER/HOBB]

Appreciate the info. I haven’t gone this route yet but it’s in the works for the near future.

Traditionally, with higher boost pressures and the same diameter charge piping, pressure increases with additional boost and CFM air flow. This causes higher then normal pressure increases in the FMIC.

As this setup utilizes the stock diameter piping, there will be higher air pressure in the increased volume of the aftermarket FMIC and charge piping.

Are the metal clamps molded or clamped to the actual rubber tubing?

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