Turbo Installed! here's the story.

[mainlander]

Well, I got my turbo installed along with the gauges, 2.5" SS exhaust and now I'm just playing with the wastegate setting as well as the fuel (although I don't think I need to do much with the fuel at all).

OK, so here's the long version

Last Summer I bought a Mitsubishi TD04L 13T as my plan for my home brew turbo for my 3B slug.

It took me a long time, reading as much as I could and talking with a few other cruiserheads about turbo's (Thanks Super G!)

I have a good friend who is a professional welder and he and I are trading work for each other, he's doing a bunch of welding and I'm finishing off his guitar (my other passion, guitar making)

So, I had my friend make me my manifold to match the TD04 turbo





Now while the manifold was being built, I was looking into the gauges and the exhaust system.

I wanted to make sure I had a pyro and boost gauge so I knew exactly what the turbo was doing, and I added a water temp gauge as the OEM gauge just honestly sucks. I found the best deal on gauges at Summit Racing, total for all three gauges was $159 (yes, the pyro came with the K-type probe).

I worked on installing the gauges with help from some of the great people here on Mud and got them all installed last week.



Time to clean the inside of the window! Anyway, the gauges got installed and the water temp gauge worked great. Just needed to get the turbo installed to hook up the other two gauges.

Well, the manifold was ready and I started to get all the other parts together for my install. One of the guys at the local auto parts store (Lordco, Abbotsford) is a total turbo freak (good thing) and he really helped me get pretty much everything I needed.



So, I went at it.

First was to get the OEM manifold off. I was a little bit worried about that because I had heard that bolts and studs can be a real hassle to come out clean, so I soaked the bolts for 2 days with Moovit penetrating lube. I figure that the PO must have had the manifold off within the past 5-10 years as honestly the bolts and nuts came off very easily. Didn't break a one and they were in perfect condition so I just reused them.

So now the old manifold came off and the new one went on.





Now, what to do with those water lines all in the way? My plan was to use the water lines as I figured they are there for a reason. I know that most people don't bother with them but it really wasn't much hassle at all and I figure the life of the turbo may be better for using them.

So, I got the turbo mounted and started to re-route the water lines, added the feed oil line (tapped into the oil pressure sender) and the return line (threaded fitting welded to the oil pan). I don't have any pictures of the oil pan or oil pressure sender fittings but if anyone wants to see them I'll snap some pictures later.



I also ran the air intake from the turbo to the air intake manifold by using a piece of the 2.5 SS tube I got for my exhaust system.



Next came time to make the exhaust and the air feed from the air box (air filter box/canister/thingy)

The exhaust down pipe was a little bit of a challenge as my turbo was sitting very close to the firewall to add a 2.5" elbow and a flex pipe. But it wasn't do difficult, just made the pipe corner a bit more into the down stream of the engine bay and it worked out fine.



As you can see, I like the high heat RTV gasket material, we'll see how well it holds up.

After getting this part worked out, the rest was a rather simple pipe layout. A couple more elbows, some straight sections, the Magnaflow round SS muffler, a couple of hangers and it was all done.

Here are the rest of the pics. My family is heading out to the BC Interior this weekend for a couple weeks of vacation, the Coquaihalla testing ground should be interesting. We'll see if what I hear is true about adding a turbo (lots of big climbs on that highway)





Thank you to everyone who has ever posted about adding a turbo to their 3B (or any home brew for that matter). It really made me believe that I could do it (and maybe made a believer out of my wife).

[TOBASH]

Looks like the flex from a Saab 9000 Turbo exhaust system, and the Mitsu turbo looks Saabish. I like that, as I have several Saab Mitsu 13 type turbos in my garage and a rebuild kit for the same. I also have a spare 9000 flex unit. Looks like I will be following in similar footsteps.

Best,

T

[Tapage]

Nice and easy job .. like a bolt on kit ! congrats and now enjoy !

[code 621]

Thanks for the post! I'm gathering parts for a similar build on my '84 bj60. I'm going to have to do a lot more work on my "log style" manifold. Yours looks great! I found a fairly good IHI turbo from a ford probe @ pick a part but I think I'm going to trade it for a KKK 26 from a Audi 5000.
Could you post photos of the exhaust side of the turbo? Was the piece that connects turbo to doun pipe custom made or reused?

[mainlander]

Thanks guys, I still need to turn up the fuel (the fuel screw still has the metal retaining wire on it)

Originally Posted by TOBASH

Looks like the flex from a Saab 9000 Turbo exhaust system, and the Mitsu turbo looks Saabish. I like that, as I have several Saab Mitsu 13 type turbos in my garage and a rebuild kit for the same. I also have a spare 9000 flex unit. Looks like I will be following in similar footsteps.

Best,

T

The flex pipe I got from Summit racing along with the magnaflow muffler.

Originally Posted by Tapage

Nice and easy job .. like a bolt on kit ! congrats and now enjoy !

Ya I wish, like a bolt on kit. I must have spend a good 3 hours total figuring out all the little parts and components. I am enjoying so far though. I've got 6lbs of boost at 2000 rpm without even touching the fuel setting from stock.

Originally Posted by code 621

Thanks for the post! I'm gathering parts for a similar build on my '84 bj60. I'm going to have to do a lot more work on my "log style" manifold. Yours looks great! I found a fairly good IHI turbo from a ford probe @ pick a part but I think I'm going to trade it for a KKK 26 from a Audi 5000.
Could you post photos of the exhaust side of the turbo? Was the piece that connects turbo to doun pipe custom made or reused?

The manifold wasn't too hard, I had someone else built it LOL. Actually it's just 1 1/2" sch 40 elbows on the ends with two 1 1/2" sch 40 tee's in the middle. At the end is a 2" to 1 1/2" concentric reducer with the 2" side squished to make for a bit larger transition from all 4 ports to the turbo inlet.
I will try and get a photo of the exhaust side of the turbo but it's rather tight in there. The entire plate and down pipe was custom (the benefits of being a steel fabricator) built to suit as was the rest of the exhaust system.

[rchalmers3]

Wow, great looking manifold. Congrats on the successful installation and enjoy!

Rick

[mel lowe]

Great job!

looks NICE!

[lostmarbles]

Originally Posted by rchalmers3

Wow, great looking manifold. Congrats on the successful installation and enjoy!

Rick

I'm truly impressed by that solid steel manifold too. It'll outlast you and anything else on your vehicle!!!

[prado t]

Good job, enjoy it and have fun, Just in time for Cruiser Daze on July 19

[Tapage]

You gottta start enjoy it after you pass the 9 PSI line .. and 6 hours are nothing compared to my one week of work to get mine done ( finding parts process .. )

[code 621]

Looking forward to your report on driving the Coquaihalla...I am defiantly looking for the top end power. I'm not necessarily talking about mountain pass power I'm talking about rolling hills--I'm talking about 3rd gear on the Deerfoot up a slight grade change.

[tmarx]

Very nice ! I have a TD04 waiting for the BJ..
Would like to see some before and after numbers if you have them

[gerg]

Congrats Rod! Have fun camping.
G

[mainlander]

Originally Posted by gerg

Congrats Rod! Have fun camping.
G

Thanks Greg, you're my inspiration dude. None of this would have happened without you man! Thanks.

PSST, we turned the fuel screw the wrong way! Got it right now

Originally Posted by tmarx

Very nice ! I have a TD04 waiting for the BJ..
Would like to see some before and after numbers if you have them

I am loving this turbo (first one though so I have nothing else to compare it to). I have adjusted the waste gate, which seems to max out at 10 lbs. I can mod that a bit too later if need be to give me a bit more boost, maybe up to 12 lbs. At first I wasn't all that impressed at all (before changing the fuel and wastegate) and I was sort of thinking why did I go through all this work for only 6 lbs of boost with little notice in difference.

But this morning I turned up the fuel 1/2 turn and that woke the 3Bslug up! I was getting 8 lbs of boost and it sure felt like it pulled more, not as much as I was expecting still though. Than I maxed out the waste gate (still can do one more thing to max it out again) and the truck now boosts up to 10 lbs.

The before numbers... well, it's a brick as everyone will tell you. Going up any hills on the highway was dreadful. Climbing up the snow shed on the Coq was down right awful with semi's even wanting to pass at times. 60 km/hr was the best I could do climbing that hill and that was at 2800 rpm in 3rd which I don't like to run that high.

The after numbers are so new but here they are. My boost starts right around 1300 rpm (not bad at all) and I'm hitting 10 lbs by 2000 rpm the rest is just full boost up to about 2700 rpm where it seems to drop in boost (don't know why it does that, but I'm sure there's a rather scientific explanation for it).

I'll know more tomorrow when I give it a good solid run from Abby to Vernon. I'll note my EGT's along with boost, speed and gear and I'll try and post them later in the evening (if I get on a computer that is).

Originally Posted by code 621

Looking forward to your report on driving the Coquaihalla...I am defiantly looking for the top end power. I'm not necessarily talking about mountain pass power I'm talking about rolling hills--I'm talking about 3rd gear on the Deerfoot up a slight grade change.

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by adding a turbo. This truck now seems to have life in it like never before.

Originally Posted by prado t

Good job, enjoy it and have fun, Just in time for Cruiser Daze on July 19

I will not be around for Cruiser Daze on the 19th as I will be in the interior on vacation but it sure would have been great to get out and see everyone who shows up. Next year hopefully.

More numbers to come, no dyno planned but I'm sort of curious now. The truck really does pull hard and I was sort of sceptical before I got the tuning right. Now I'm just happy and have a whole new love for my truck TOYNUT (Kevin) it's certainly not for sale anymore!

[mainlander]

Well we are in the interior now and the truck did awesome!

I'm so glad that I made this addition to the truck and really wondering why I've owned a BJ60 for 7 years and have only gotten around to adding the turbo now?

Here are my numbers after the Coquihalla testing grounds;

Running up the snow shed the truck maintained a good 85 km/hr with full boost (10 lbs) at 3000 RPM in 3rd gear. EGT was never higher than 1150*F pre-turbo on the long climb and the water temperature was at 200*F.

For the majority of the trip, even on the moderate hills the truck maintained 100-110 km/hr very easily with some stretches at 120. Average EGT's was 750*F.

Also on another note, I didn't use anymore fuel than I normally do on this same trip before I had a turbo. I knocked off 30-45 mins off the trip which was really why I wanted to add the turbo.

After this first trip I'll say that adding a turbo (even junkyard variety) is the best mod one can make to their diesel engine on their Land Cruiser, BUT It is imperative that you include at least the pyro gauge to the install and preferably a boost gauge too. You really want to know what the truck is doing, especially on the big climbing hills.

[gerg]

Good job matching your turbo Rod. At first when you told me about it I thought it was a tad too big, but your numbers speak for them selves. Looks like you did a much better job of turning your fuel up than I did hehe.
G

[tmarx]

Thanks for the feedback and congrats again !

[Diesel42]

All great numbers congrats and good job.

[code 621]

Mine next please.