Outer Limits 4x4 Board

OK i have an 80 turbo diesel and have been thinking about intercoolers for a while.

Now i can well appreciate the theroy behind it all and blah blah. But i've never put one onto a vehicle to get a before and after effect for comparision..

My question is..
Who out there has done this to a vehicle/s they know very well...(like there own) and what performance increase did you notice...this is really only relevant to turbo diesel 6 owners as well i would guess..

Next question is if they are really a good thing...who can help me out with a suitable core that will fit...The safari kits are a fuking joke..they want 3+ k for a kit..man i can buy a whole 1hz engine for that FFS !
After all its a bit of tubing and a glorified radiator...

who can help a guy out here?

hey punchy

find a workshop around that does all the ricers they will be able to custom build you a intercooler for far less than the 3k you said a safari kit is

just make sure they dont put in a crappy spot down low where a tree stump will take it out

the other option is to go to the wreckers and look for a WRX/ lancer etc or even a pajero or some other truck that has an intercooler and then make your own brackets to fit it

And any decent truck parts supplier should be able to get you the plumbing. I had a non intercooled motor, and a factory intercooler for a later model Daihatsu. I bought 2 inch thin walled alloy tube, and rubber mandrel bends to plumb my intercooler in. Piece of cake. Tube was about $6 a foot, and bends are about $13 for 90 degree, and about $25 for 45 degree.
I havent had it out on a real trip since fitting, so no real indication yet of power increase.

Cheers

when my mate fitted a turbo to his lux, we talked to a lot of mobs that had done aftermarket intercooler fitments and they all recommended to put a bonnet scoop on and run a top mount intercooler.

they all recommended this so that you don't loose any airflow to your radiator, which is obviously quite important if you're do beach work. plus like AussieCJ7 said, you wont have to worry about smacking it into a stump

evreryone has different opionions on coolers

here is some stuff I have heard read about in the past:

- the longer the tube work, the longer it takes to fill up with boost - but we are talking about fractions of a ssecond here (this is mainly for race cars etc)

- top mount cooler absorb engine heat unless you have proper heat shiels made

Personally, intercoolers are worth there money, but dont go to some mob like safari - they are a jib and a joke those coolers!

I have seen custom made ones that can flow up to 500hp (I know you dont need this), but made for like $1,000.

as for putting the cooler infront of the radiator, they dont block up too much wind. think of what an air conditioning condensor blocks up - the fins are thinner on these than a lot of coolers I have seen.

just speak to a few places, pipe work normally is what brings the price up, but you can get cheap piping from exhaust joints, or even purchase pre mandrel bent sections that you weld on to other sh*t you get.

i know that top mount coolers absorb heat, obviously, because hot air rises. but it's not like this is going on some highly strung race motor, the difference in temps will make bugger all difference in the real world.

and if you have a cooler, condensor, then finally radiator, maybe even tranny cooler. it's definetly gonna effect the airflow to the radiator. personally i'll give up the 1-2hp difference between a front and top mount instead of having a motor that gets hot under the collar all the time.

some people use reversed thermos for this, and remove the viscus hub (spelling?) and fan..

Punchy try A.R.E(alluminium radiator engineering) at Brendale or Western Suburbs Radiators at Sumner Park they can both custom make them for you. Western Suberbs is prob the cheaper of the 2.

Basicaly if you dont get airflow through the core its not worth the hassel. For a Vehicle that will be used for towing or touring it is worth its weight in gold as it will give cooler intake temps and will also allow more boost to be run with no detination.If you are just driving around at low revs in first gear it will prob actually raise intake temps as the cooler will sufer from heat soak from the radiator.

As Ruff said give ARE a look
they have a great website with lots of info
http://www.are.com.au/

lots of good info here
http://www.are.com.au/techtalk/intecoolersMR.htm
Paul.

this may sound dodgie, but if someone has a cheaper better idea let me know. Dick Smith sell internal temp gauges for 29.95, you run one before the cooler and one after, this will give you an idea of the effectiveness.

As far as coolers go, i personally had an rx 7 series 5 on my 4runner, i got better fuel economy but no more power.

I have shopped around for a "bigger" cooler and the 2 options i believe are the best,
1. Isuzu NPR truck cooler which is 920 bucks (not sure of the size but i know it isnt as big as the ford)
2. Ford f250 power stroke diesel, they retail at $980 and measure 37 inch accross the face tank to tank, are 19 inch high and 4.5 thick, with 3 inch fittings in the middle of each tank, so basically they are FAWKING huge. If i had the spare $$$$ i would have one of these on my runner.


NICK

thankyou guys..ill be calling A.R.E ASAP !

Well,
I went and saw Richard at A.R.E. at brendale.

Most helpful chap.
And the best part is this works in well with the bootie fab boys..
He makes the intercooler, and you make the tubing and etc etc bits..So everyone has there chance at some input. !

Tell ya what tho...certainly has some pretty bits of gear out there.. nice yummy stuff for all you bootie fab induction system needs..

cheers guys

As Ruff said you need airflow for it to work properly. I dunny what you do with your rig Punchy but for a crawler I reckon water/air intercooler would be the go.

Unit the Pig Hunter that I work with has a top mount intercooler on a 75 cruiser. GU bonnet scoop and 12" thermofan in a tight shroud between the scoop and the cooler. If you sit a mobile phone on the bonnet, the fan is strong enough that it will start to creep towards the scoop. He reckons it works well at lower speeds...

put up the chop of units "pig hunter" and not the pigs he hunts down at kings cross either, im talking about the pink ones that go oink and chit!!

bj on roids wrote:put up the chop of units "pig hunter" and not the pigs he hunts down at kings cross either, im talking about the pink ones that go oink and chit!!

This old one??
I'll try and get a photo of his intercooler setup tomorrow

yah, that is the machine :o AWESOME thats what intercoolers do!

Punchy, Did you see under the bonnet of his hilux? I did the electrical stuff for the pumps and temp sensors and stuff and help him test it now and then and he really does know his stuff.

someone mentioned better fuel economy but no more power - if you don't adjust your fuelling to take advantage of the extra oxygen available, this is exactly the result you will achieve - along with lower combustion and exhaust gas temperatures, so longer life of head, combustion chambers, turbo, pistons, less oil thinning, etc etc. all good stuff. if you turn up the fuel, you'll get the extra power.

intercooling in and of itself doesn't net a lot in terms of peak power, but makes a big difference in sustainable power - the longer you hold a turbo on boost, the hotter all the intake plumbing gets, effectively thinning the intake charge air. intercooling maintains the charge air density at similar or better temp/pressure/density figures compared to first spool up on a cool morning.

there is a slight lag issue with increasing the inlet air path but it is much less an issue with diesels compared to petrol engines.

cheers Brian

actually yeah i did see his little toy under the bonnet of his hilux..very impressive the air-water intercoolers..but as he said..it is the ultimate for 4x4 applications..but at 3k just for the intercooler..I DONT THINK SO !

I think $3k Would be closer to the complete setup, how about just the air water unit, then make your own radiator (AC Condensor) and source pumps hoses and stuff to finish it off