Outer Limits 4x4 Board

hey all.
im new to the site so please go easy on me lol.

im very interested in putting a top mount intercooler on my 80 series. i have the 1HD-T engine.

has anoyone done this before? if so which intercooler did you use and was it easy? or has anyone got any suggestions?

thanks in advance.

Hi Golding, welcome to the site. I can't guarantee eveyone will go easy on you, as some of the Nissan drivers have a big inferiority complex that they try and cover by being constantly aggressive towards Toyota owners. the Toy people are fairly relaxed by comparison and treat the annoying Nissan owners like a yapping terrier - annoying, buy unable to do any real harm.

on to your intercooler, you are probably thinking about a top mount because it's "easier" than a front mount, or water/air setup, and at first glance it is, but beware, there are hidden traps to a top mount setup that can end up costing heaps and delivering poor resuts. first off there is probably insuficient clearance between the rocker cover and the bonnet to fit a cooler of any decent size. this can be "corrected" with a body lift. You will NEED a fan under the cooler core to ensure correct airflow, even at highway speeds. The radiator fan and vehicle aerodymanics (ha!) cause a slight positive pressure in the engine bay under most conditions, so if you give the air a lice to escape at the top (eg through an intercooler and bonnet scoop) then it will do so. obviously pushing HOT engine bay air through your intercooler core, nicely warming up your charge air, is inadvisable. to make it all work you need to get a decent seal between the bonnet, clloer and fan, it all needs to bea fairly easily removable for adjusting cam followers and other engine work, and it needs to be very vibration resistant, living on top of the motor. I don't know anyone ruinning this kind of setup, and advise very strongly against it. by the time you engineer it all to your satisfaction it is likely to be the most expensive setup for the least gain.

the first alternative is a front mount, and while a front mount also has signifiicant engineering challenges, the results are far more predictable, greater gains are available, and less problems will be encoutered. Shoot a PM to Carts, he has a big front mount on his 60 series, a few photos could give you sime ideas. the 80 is tighter but do-able. Also shoot a PM to Surfection, he is working on (and may well have completed) a front mount setup on Ferog's 80 series, which is a 1HZ with custom turbo, but all the plumbing will be very very similar to a 1HD-T. Big intercoolers complete with tanks and spigots are available on ebay for very cheap, or even from repco/autobarn for reasonable prices. Exhaust shops can help you with stainless steel plumbing and rubber/silicone elbows.

the other alternative is a water/air setup, with a small heat exchanger replacing your crossover pipe, and a small radiator mounted in front of your air conditioner condensor, and an electric water pump. This setup provides probably slightly less gain than a BIG front mount setup, but is by far the easiest to engineer and install. Denco has a kit which is reasonably proces or ou could source all the parts from import wreckers. There may be people on the board with this kind of setup but I don't know who they are.

hope this give you some food for thought. there is heaps of potential for more power from the 1HD-T, with intercooling and boosting up to around 12psi (about as high as you can safely go on the stock turbo), it will go very nicely and the power won't drop off on ling hills any more.

cheers

Brian

dumbdunce wrote: the other alternative is a water/air setup, with a small heat exchanger replacing your crossover pipe, and a small radiator mounted in front of your air conditioner condensor, and an electric water pump. This setup provides probably slightly less gain than a BIG front mount setup, but is by far the easiest to engineer and install. Denco has a kit which is reasonably proces or ou could source all the parts from import wreckers. There may be people on the board with this kind of setup but I don't know who they are.

I have one, but lack of time has kept me from installing it. No room in the 75 means no fan behind behind the intercooler water radiator

Dave

G'day Golding,
I have a 1HDT with an intercooler on it (although it is in a 60 series).
I looked at all the options for some time before deciding on a front mount. The problem with the top mount as dumbdunce said is heat soak, and with slow 4WDing this would be a problem. The other option I looked at was the Denco air/water kit (which is available for the 80) and while it's an easy fit up, I didn't like the thought of loading up too much heat on the radiator, as they use a small radiator, which, if removing heat from the inlet air, should dump almost as much heat onto the radiator apart from the small difference in ambient to the new inlet temp.
I ended up being offered a second hand Safari front mount core, and got the piping done at a "bling" factory nearby at a reasonable cost. The safari kit for the 80 is a bolt on application, then you need to get the injector pump altered to suit the new setup.
In one word - "awsome" is the power and torque gains, nothing like being punched in the back when you boot it at 1600rpm.

have you got some pics that i can have a look at?

i have got alot of space under my bullbar (well behind it and maybe cut a hole).
how do you find it with clogging up? or dont you take it anywhere near mud?

cheers

Rob

Mate of mine installed a WRX intercooler on his 80 series TD cruiser. Fits under the bonnet with no bodylift. Fabricated it so it can be returned to standard in 5 mins ifa problem occured.

Tows their caravan to QLD every year and found it gave them an extra 80-100 km from each tank, and able to tackle hills in 5th where he used to be in 4th.

The WRX cooler (twin inlet from 98 onward models) has very good flow properties for a standard cooler, and enough thermal capacity for a 4.2 TD. Cores can be picked up as cheap as $100. For that price, and a wekend's work, you can't go wrong......

i assume he put is long ways? then watd he do for a scoop? i was thinking of using a GU pootrol one.

if no body lift is requierd i might give it a go. has your mate got any pics in the net somewhere where i can have a quick look?
sounds like exactly what im looking to do.

the water to air is very expensive (althoguh alot betetr), the front mouynt seems like alot of hassle with piping (but will give better performance than a top mount), and the top mount is cheapist.
so ive got a bit of thinking to do lol


cheers

does anyone know if there is some pics out there? im not having much luck. cant find anything

Rob, send me a PM with your email address and I'll send a couple through.

rob i am bigpat mate (the one with the wrx intercooler) send me a pm with email address and I'll send a couple

rob i am bigpat mate (the one with the wrx intercooler) send me a pm with email address and I'll send a couple

pm sent to both of you. cheers for the pics. look foward to getting them!

Whats the sercret post the pics up here so we all can benefit

i do not no how

Can someone help? If not I will give my PM so you can send those pics through

try photobucket.com for posting pics just register and follow the instructions.

he has sent me the pics. its an awesome setup!!!

ill post the pics up when i get home 2moro

here is a link for the intercooler pics
http://groups.msn.com/BMG4x4/intercooled80.msnw

and a sample one

sorry, cant get the pick to work

OK, here are the pics:

















Dave

XLGXL wrote:Whats the sercret post the pics up here so we all can benefit

no secret, I didn't have them on a web site until now
here we go