Intercooler re-inforcement

["Cordeiro, Alan" <Alan.Cordeiro@mts.com>]

I thought I’d volunteer my solution here, it held out
for over two years, and I pulled the old stuff off and
renewed it two months ago when i had the IC off
to do the timing belt.

Buy 25-50 yards of NYLON FILAMENT packaging
tape, most hardware shops, large supermarkets
K-marts etc. 

You have to take the IC off the car now, to di it right.
Wrap six of seven turns of tape tightly around the ends of
the intercooler, on two sides, near the outside ends.
With good tension, the section in the middle across the
active part of the IC that looks like it should block the airflow
will be easy to twist from a flat shape into a round
shape, offering almost no blockage to airflow. I assisted the
roundness with a bit of extra tape in the middle.

Then, to keep the ends from slipping off the top rounded ends
of the end-caps, put in a couple of braces between the two
end-to-end loops, holding them towards each other ( towards
the middle). This has the added benefit of adding a bit of extra
tension.

Finally, the next weak link will be the accordian hose, if its
the original. If you have a fairly new one, they are OK.

Alan Cordeiro
’86 5kQ, 1.8 bar