High Road – 2021+ Ford Bronco Performance Intercooler R&D, Part 5 – Production Sample Ducting

High Road – 2021+ Ford Bronco Performance Intercooler R&D, Part 5 – Production Sample Ducting

When it comes to keeping charged air temperatures in check, the intercooler is only as good as its air source. The core’s size and the end tanks’ shape almost become irrelevant if no reliable source of fresh air passes through the fins. Intercooling is a team effort, and while the core may be the star of the show, it’s nothing without the rest of the crew. In the last post, we covered the literal supporting cast, but now it’s time to introduce the ducting. 

From the factory, these Broncos roll off the line with a plethora of perfectly sculpted ducting that’s purpose-built for force-feeding air straight through the Bronco’s intercooler core. The trouble is that the intercooler isn’t in that location anymore. So, to keep this stream of air flowing through our new core, we also developed our own ducting to guide this incoming air through the fins properly. 

Now, the new location is in a much more direct path of fresh air since it’s slid up to join the rest of the cooling stack, but without extra guidance, some of this airflow can skip the intercooler altogether. To prevent this, our engineer, Dan, developed our lower duct to capture this airflow. Attaching to the chassis, this duct extends to the bumper to create this channel. Dan also devised a two-piece design to integrate with the standard or OEM modular bumper. 

This configuration is intended for the modular bumper and the foam slots inside the bumper to reduce any road noise. The pop-clips are destined for the standard Bronco bumper. The front section of this duct is removed, and the remainder clips between the bumper and lower grill trim.

Our upper duction is aimed more at maintaining the status quo. Relocating the Bronco’s intercooler meant we had to make cuts in the original supporting cast, specifically the grille shutters. The engineers at Ford incorporated additional air ducting in these shutters that keep air flowing through the engine bay and to the intake that we didn’t want to compromise. So, we duplicated these ducts to keep things flowing in the right direction. 

Airflow is one of the best supporting components to any intercooling system, and we wanted to ensure that our kit keeps the air flowing. So, make sure you stay tuned to see how well the air flows through our kit coming soon! 

Thanks for Reading!

-Nick