Intercooler cooling air / grill
 

Have an 018 w/ the 3.5L eco. Here in Texas a front license plate is required. Had a 014 eco' & the truck came w/ the plate screwed to front bumper to the left side of the intercooler intake, in the newer models the plate is attached center of the bumper, right in front of the intercooler intake. I'm sure Ford is OK w/ it other wise would not allow the dealership to do that. Wondering if there is any benefit to re-locating the plate so to not block the noted intake for the intercooler? If there is looking for a clean way to mount the plate & possibly a grill to stop rocks & other road debris from entering & damaging the intercooler as well. Read a few post of that being a costly repair. Thoughts / Suggestions??
Thanks in advance.
Rob A.

Ford did some design changes for 2015+ that reduced the amount of open lower grille area required to cool the intercooler, so the license plate being in the center is not as big of a deal as it would have been on a 12th gen ecoboost. However, you can still mount it on the side, and I did exactly that on my truck. My truck isn't an ecoboost, but I have a heat exchanger (supercharged) mounted behind the lower grille, so I moved the factory plate to the side. I put mine on the drivers side because I do not have radar assisted cruise control, but if you do, you can mount it on the passenger side instead. I just took the factory mount, shaved off the clips on the back side, and just bolted it directly to the plastic "breadbox" piece to the right of the open grille area.


https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.f15...1798deb554.jpg

I seriously doubt that Ford engineers failed to take the effect of a front license plate installation into account for intercooler air flow, but to make myself feel better--and to waste some of my invaluable time--I did this to my truck.

Hasn't fallen off yet and it didn't cost a cent for me to do.

https://www.f150forum.com/f118/turbo...1/#post5892409

It's a plastic clip-on. It was an afterthought, IMO.

It's never OK to block the intercooler. Especially given the crap intercooler Ford puts on these from the factory. Want to heatsoak even faster than superfast? Block air to the stock intercooler ;)
You did it right by moving it.

31 out of the 50 states require a front license plate!!! I find it hard to believe Ford engineers didn't figure that into the design criteria for the intercooler. However, stranger things have happened....

I removed mine for a while and watched the intake air temps. Summer in WI between 70-80 degrees fully warmed up 10 mile loops 5 in town 5 highway 55MHP, no difference. My results, yours may be different. KM

Under normal conditions at 55 mph you are not in boost, it will make the largest difference when towing, particularly when towing at relatively low speeds where you get both high load and low airflow.

There are several stoplights/intersecting highways in the highway portion. I was in boost as high as 18 psi at several times, specifically checking temps and pushing the truck to see if it made a difference. Yes it's street use not racing, I'd do things different under those conditions with possible other results. Moving the plate to one side is easy and I have a bracket that would work. I monitor the air intake temps on my GTX display. I have no current reason to change the plate position. KM

License plate in front or not the air flow to the intercooler is controlled by the active grill shutters.

In the Gen2 Raptor owners manual supplement it says to remove the license plate for best (offroad) performance. I want the best performance all the time so I moved my plate off to the side. :)​​​​​​​

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.f15...2218bd635c.jpg