Thread: Gen III Gen V Intercooler differences

I have a 2000 GTP and I'm gathering parts to do a Gen V swap with an intercooler. There is an awesome deal on a nice Thrasher Gen III Intercooler/LIM. Will this work with a Gen V blower? I know the PCV routing is different, but I'm planning on running a "custom" PCV setup anyway.

Originally Posted by Pure2sin

I honestly don't think it is going to make that much of a difference. Two guys on our local forum are running Gen Vs on Gen 3 cores. One of the guys is the white Regal that made 333Whp on a Gen V/Gen 3 core with E85. That number is debatable but has to be semi close.

Is he the guy on clubgp that everyone was freaking out on? Now that I know he has a Gen 3 core I don't believe it either.

heres the write up from 3800 pro

GenIII intercooler to GenV conversion - 3800Pro.com Forum

Gen V gasket on a Gen 3 IC core

so it will work, just not as efficent?

As long as the Gen 3 core is big enough for the Gen V to fit on and not leak. Yeah, it'll fit. You'll be blocking an inch of air at the front end (largest end).

And so a L67 LIM will work with a Gen V blower then? It just needs to be machined a little, which most usually open the top up anyways? I thought the bolt holes were different between the 2 blowers. Were there also improvements to the dead spots I hear of in the LIM?

See how that gasket is perfect except at the opening. That's the amount of material you would take off the LIM, if you had a Gen V IC. Since you are aiming to run a Gen 3 IC...it likely isn't worth your time to open it up. Dead spots? There's no difference I've seen except the newer L32 LIM's have no recessed area for coolant o-rings.

I have a Gen 3 IC, but I wasn't thinking of using it with a Gen V M90. It's a little over 2 inching thick, but the core is only the size of the Gen III outlet (don't know what IC it is, it came with the GTP when I got it). When I get to the M112, I figure it would be way too small. Kuntzie in his turbo build thread where he's using a Holden intake, I remember him talking about dead spots in the LIM of these engines. I just checked his thread and he said there's dead spots in the LIM of the L26/L36. I'd assume the L32/L67 LIM would have similar dead spots also.

zzp did a test on it and if you use the genIII core with the genV blower you only lose like 2-3 whp...

let me find that article if i can...

but just for the record Im running the genV on my gen III core and its amazing... like real amazing...

Why not just do it right?

And a point I was about to make.

ZZP's isn't the only IC out there. You can open up a ZZP a bit and cover some of that inch, as well has have material for the Gen V front edge to sit on and seal with. However the front edge of the IC must be considered. ZZP's IC's tend to be huge in comparison to some of the early WBS and Thrasher designs. Take a very close look at the bolt hole in the bottom left of both my pic and the below Thrasher pic. See where the core opening of the Gen V sits. It's going to be close or impossible to seal the Gen V SC to the IC core if the IC core doesn't have material under the edge of the Gen V SC.

This one is a Thrasher,


My initial thought is that if you laid that Gen V gasket on the IC, this left edge is potentially going to show sunlight.

Now compare those bolt holes with the ZZP cores. There is a ton more material that extends past the bolt hole in question.


You might ask, "Bill why do you know this?" I bought a "Gen V" core from someone and it is the core in the picture. It's actually a Gen 3 core. I then had it modified to be a Gen V, because there wasn't enough material on the front edge to seal as well as I'd like.

Here's another view of the same issue. A Gen V gasket laid over an Gen 3 gasket.

Originally Posted by footballplaya3k

Why not just do it right?

your saying having a GenV on a gen III is wrong?