98Supra6$pd

I am currently looking at a set of factory 997.2 intercoolers to replace my stock 2004 996.2 911 Turbo intercoolers. Should I purchase just the 997.2 intercoolers or am I better off buying the entire intercooler assembly consisting of the stock metal mounting cage, the upper and lower left and right stock black plastic intercooler shrouds, and both 2013 997.2 911 Turbo intercoolers? It will cost me an additional $300 for all 4 shrouds and both mounting cages. I figured if the 997.2 intercooler assembly would bolt up and install on my 996 Turbo it would be worth it, not to have to cut up and modify my factory 996 Turbo intercooler shrouds. I have scoured the internet trying to find out if the 997.2 entire intercooler assembly or just the 997.2 stock intercooler shrouds are compatible with my car without having to modify or cut on either of them.

docwyte

The 997 shrouds won't fit the 996 bodywork. I'm not sure if you can even make them fit... Additionally if they're priced anything like the 996 intercooler shrouds they're a TON of money

T10Chris

They will fit and everything lines up, I run 997 shrouds/ducts as mentioned above, but its not worth the trouble of everything else you have to change when can easily modify the 996 ones to work with the 997.2 IC setup.

jcc0016

Curious to know what else needs to change if the 997 ducts and brackets lined up?
I also run gt2rs ICs on my 996 and did the modification to the shrouds and the brackets. While not tough, it is tedious and if I could have purchased all 997 stuff and it would fit, it would have been well worth the extra 300 to me and still have the stock stuff if I ever had the need to go back.

docwyte

I stand corrected! Thought they didn't fit and that's why nobody bothered to run them.

T10Chris

I'll start off by saying I've done a lot of clearancing work in the rear wheel well area to fit the tires I run at the ride height on my setup, so some of this clearancing work may have helped things fit easier, or maybe it didn't make a difference, but just throwing that out there.

You need the correct intercooler brackets that bolt to the chassis- if you are running 997.1 intercoolers you need 997.1 intercooler brackets, if you are running 997.2 intercoolers, you need 997.2 brackets. Then have to modify those cages in a couple of points to make all of the connections to the body- Its been several years since I did this but I think I had to cut off one bracket from each intercooler cage that was interfering and had to get a couple of spacers and longer bolts for another spot. I also had to make a pair of brackets for each side to attach the bumper to the correct mounting points on the lower IC brackets- there were a couple of spots where the T25 screws go in that were off by a couple of inches so basically I measured what it would need and cut some brackets out of carbon fiber, attached it to the IC bracket using the OEM hardware on one side, and attached it to the bumper using OEM hardware on the other side. It was much easier and far cheaper to do the modifications to the 996 stuff to run the OEM 997.2 ICs.

I went from OEM 997.2 ICs in the modified 996 stuff to an aftermarket 997.1 setup (at the time, there were no off the shelf cores available for the 996tt that met my requirements, but there was for 997tt). I tried to fit this setup in the 996 stuff and it was nowhere close with the intercooler ducts supplied with the kit and no amount of modification to the 996 ducts had it lining up. It was going to need a completely custom duct- I started making a template for custom duct and got really frustrated with it so started looking for alternate ideas especially since the kit came with nice carbon fiber upper ducts. I called up a buddy with a 997.1TT who brought over one of his intercooler brackets for me to compare and decided lets just throw it on the car with the IC and duct to see how far off it is and it was dead on with the duct and the spot in the body that feeds the upper duct, surprisingly. So I ordered some 997.1 brackets. Was not cheap, but worth it. The lower 997 duct isn't perfectly matched with the shape of the 996 IC outlet, it is square instead of rounded but it is super close and in the right spot so I just ran with it.

They fit, but... it takes some work and for the costs involved it isn't worth it for the OEM 997.2 setup when the stock stuff is cheap, quick and easy to modify. The IC brackets cost more than the intercoolers.

onyxeros

This feels like the best thread to ask this question. Can you replace the intercoolers with the wheels on? Most DIY I see have the wheels off but in the vids I also clearly see the intercoolers and ducting with just the rear bumper off.

vtec_

It would be really difficult. I believe there are screws on the fender liner that are behind the wheels.

Carlo_Carrera

Taking the wheels off makes the job so much easier. I can not think why anyone would want to leave them on.

Scrh1

I would say it is perhaps possible with wheels on car but why? It would be a nightmare trying to wedge things in etc not to mention all the crazy extensions and tools you would need to pull it off.

docwyte

Why? It takes so little time to remove them and have all the access in the world.

pfbz

I will echo that it probably is best to just pull the wheel, but to answer your question... Yes, you probably can. The torx fasteners in the wheel well might be a bit tricky to get to with the wheels on, but you can usually get to them with a 1/4" bit ratchet.

Capt. Obvious

The amount of time saved by not removing the wheels will be more than made up for by the time wasted trying to get to stuff at awkward angles, especially the first time installing these when you need to trim, modify, and test fit multiple times.

jcc0016

Agreed you probably can with some headache, but as many others have said, why? I did this mod myself ~2 years ago and pulled the wheels, bumper etc and couldn't imagine leaving the wheels on.
For the amount of time spent posting and reading the replies, the wheels could have been off already... ;-)

onyxeros

my post has to do far more with space than anything else. my garage isn't wide enough to get around to both sides of the car (at the same time) very easily. Yes i can do one side and then the other but I wanted to see if it's possible to do it all without the wheels off.