intercooler installation tips ?

[juzzydykes75]

fitting a celica gt4 top mount air to air intercooler to my aftermarket top mount turbo 2h diesel in my 60.
anyone here fitted a top mount cooler as i'm just looking for different ideas before i start cutting and welding pipes and the bonnet .
have to rerout intake air from across the rocker cover to either in front or behind the engine so the cooler can sit flush and am fitting a hornet scoop on the bonnet to provide a fresh supply of cold air for the cooler . however i'm worried that if the cooler sits only an inch or so above the rocker i will get reduced air flow through it . also thinking of installing a heat shield and router plate under it to direct air from under the cooler off to the passenger side of the engine ( less shit in the way over that side )
any pics or advice would be appreciated.

[Mickldo]

I'm thinking of fitting an intercooler to mine so keep us posted on your buildup. Will you have room above the intercooler to fit a small 12V fan to assist with low speed cooling, will it tuck into the scoop?
Another option to give you more clearance for a intercooler is to give the truck a body lift, easy 50mm gain in clearance.

[Entaran]

In all honesty, have you popped your bonnet after a drive and felt the hot air come rushing out at you?

use the top mount, but mount it like a front mount either behind a headlight or next to your radiator or something. Fabricate the brackets etc. The lower hte cooler and the closer to the front the better the cooling. If you cut into your bonnet you'll reduce strength also increase the amount of mud/crap that gets onto your engine possibly fouling electricals/etc.

Top mount intercoolers should never have been invented.

[cruiser_guy]

Originally Posted by Entaran

In all honesty, have you popped your bonnet after a drive and felt the hot air come rushing out at you?

use the top mount, but mount it like a front mount either behind a headlight or next to your radiator or something. Fabricate the brackets etc. The lower hte cooler and the closer to the front the better the cooling. If you cut into your bonnet you'll reduce strength also increase the amount of mud/crap that gets onto your engine possibly fouling electricals/etc.

Top mount intercoolers should never have been invented.

I agree! The temperatures coming out of the compressor are in the 200-300 F area if you don't get cooler than that the intercooler does NO GOOD! If the intercooler is warmer than the air out of the compressor it will actually harm performance!

The order of importance is intercooler, A/C condensor and finally radiator.

[BJ40 3B]

Here's a clean way to do it on a BJ73 with a 3B engine... This Intercooler has an electric fan on the lower side that pulls cold cold air through a scoop in the bonnet.
It also have a rubber seal(not installed on the photo), that seals the intercooler to the bonnet when its closed, so all the air pulled by the fan is cold and from the outside.

[crushers]

so i am curious, you have the intercooler mounted to the engine which vibrates and a rubber seal to the bonnet. how thick is the seal? and what did you use?
i have an intercooler sitting here i might do the same with...
cheers

[coldtaco]

If you design a good seal, you don't need a thick rubber seal. Have you ever looked at the engine baffling on piston engine aircraft? Cowlings fixed, engine isn't, but if done right, good sealing is possible.

[crushers]

nope, never did a close up on a plane engine...
i have seen how much the diesel engine moves in a Land Cruiser (esp at start up) and i can picture the seal wearing. you also have the intercooler sticking out the side of the engine so the movement would be increased.
i am also thinking of the old "shaker" scoops on the old dodges and plymouths. the scoop was mounted to the engine and the seal was between the scoop and the hood...
i wonder if that would work or if i am over thinking this whole thing...
cheers

[brownbear]

Originally Posted by crushers

nope, never did a close up on a plane engine...
i have seen how much the diesel engine moves in a Land Cruiser (esp at start up) and i can picture the seal wearing. you also have the intercooler sticking out the side of the engine so the movement would be increased.
i am also thinking of the old "shaker" scoops on the old dodges and plymouths. the scoop was mounted to the engine and the seal was between the scoop and the hood...
i wonder if that would work or if i am over thinking this whole thing...
cheers

Thats sounds pretty good. With a good fan you could make ducting to place the intercoler anywhere. Nothing says it has to get air thru the hood or infront of the rad. You could run a 12 inch duct(flex) to the fender. On the backside and electric fan to pull the air thru.

[coldtaco]

There are a couple of different styles/types of seals used for baffling. You will get some rubbing on the other end that the seal comes in contact with, but in a auto application I don't know how fast a wear rate would be. On aircraft, maybe half the baffling will last till engine overhaul. Usually one end of the baffling is made out of aluminum to fill in the space and the flexible baffling is used at the "joint". You pointed out a good point about the intercooler being off set from the engine and therefore having a greater "arm"(?), flex range. One option I would think of would be to make the whole big enough in the hood for the whole assembly to be able to fit in it, aka shacker hood style. Run some aluminum walls around the outside of the intercooler that would pass through the hood and then get flexible baffling to shut the gap off between the hood and this wall. Of course you would want the tolerances to be as close as possible to prevent the flexible baffling from being forced past the intercooler assembly and allowing airflow past, unless you want some cooling in the engine compartment(?). The other way would be to mount the flexible baffling to the hood and make them the appropriate lenths to take into account the flex. If I can find a good picture of an engine baffling assembly, I will try and post it here for all to see

[coldtaco]

Follow the link to a picture of a typical aircraft engine baffling set-up. The black thick line around the outside is the flexible baffling material.

www.seqair.com/Falco/Kits/Kit817/Kit817-3.html

You don't want the baffling to end up with any real sharp bends because it will cut itself. Hope this makes more sense.

[crushers]

dumb question but if you used an innertube for a small bicycle tire. fixed one side to the hood or the intercooler then you would have the flex of the air filled tube but still have a seal to the hood...
say 1" to 1 1/2" over all thickness...
just an idea...

[Gold Boy]

Probably got this wrong...

But low memory closed cell foam can make a good seal between the hood and intercooler.

GB

[dieselcruiserhead]

I can't say for sure because I have never messed around wtih them but a guy on the Cummins 4Bt list went to cummins and mapped out his engine with tire size gears computer etc and given the wieght of his truck the intercooler actualkly slowed things down plus added turbo lag etc. antoher guy bypassed the intercooler he put in and same thing, more performance without the intercooler. So that is my $.02 on it. I think that is perhaps why Toyota didn't install them in any diesel cruisers as far as I know. Also one more thing to break. that said I have one but only because my engine came designed for one so it was harder to not run it.. You might try plumbing it and seeing if it makes a difference but make any chances temporary until you know it works IMO...

[jzilla]

I did not notice any decrease in performance when i installed mine.
But now i can't remember what it was like before!

[crushers]

when i had mine custom built the gent in the states (i have his link here somewhere) mapped the unit for hte application. he warned about the unit being too big would actually decrease the performance and if it was too small it would be detrimental also.
a junk yard intercooler is fine if you know the size you need...

anything is not better than the right unit.

[cruiser_guy]

I would also relocate the waste gate sensor from reading at the compressor output to reading at the intake manifold. It might help with turbo lag and we really don't care how much pressure the intercooler sees.

[Tapage]

Originally Posted by BJ40 3B

Here's a clean way to do it on a BJ73 with a 3B engine... This Intercooler has an electric fan on the lower side that pulls cold cold air through a scoop in the bonnet.
It also have a rubber seal(not installed on the photo), that seals the intercooler to the bonnet when its closed, so all the air pulled by the fan is cold and from the outside.

It's a Montero intercooler .. ?

[BJ40 3B]

the 70 series Cruiser in the previous photo it's not mine, it's from a friend, and yes, I think the intercooler it's from a Mitsubishi Montero (in Portugal it's a Pajero, in UK it's a Shogun and in Spain it's a Montero).
I also have an Intercooler from a Mitsubishi (Pajero/Montero DID i think) fitted in my 40series, which from memory is bigger than the intercooler from the "normal" Montero but without the electric fan, because it's mounted in the front of the water cooler, and don't have space for the fan!
About the rubber that seals the intercooler against the hood, i think it was from the same vehicle, as all this parts were bought in some auto-wrecker.

The following photo is from my coiled sprung BJ40, turboe'd and intercooled.

[Tapage]

Nice .. very very nice ..

I keep in plans, intercooler for my HDJ-80 and turbo intercooler for my HJ-60

[Gold Boy]

NICE job....

More pics please...

Thanks

GB

[BJ40 3B]

Some more:

[bigbrowndog]

This set up on the 3 liter Nissan Patrol seems to work very well. The seal does not look spectacular but it all seems to work well. They seem more reliable than the equivalent 3 liter Toyota motor in the Hilux.

[dieselcruiserhead]

Originally Posted by BJ40 3B

the 70 series Cruiser in the previous photo it's not mine, it's from a friend, and yes, I think the intercooler it's from a Mitsubishi Montero (in Portugal it's a Pajero, in UK it's a Shogun and in Spain it's a Montero).
I also have an Intercooler from a Mitsubishi (Pajero/Montero DID i think) fitted in my 40series, which from memory is bigger than the intercooler from the "normal" Montero but without the electric fan, because it's mounted in the front of the water cooler, and don't have space for the fan!
About the rubber that seals the intercooler against the hood, i think it was from the same vehicle, as all this parts were bought in some auto-wrecker.

The following photo is from my coiled sprung BJ40, turboe'd and intercooled.

Nice.. Can you speak a little more about your coil spring set up?

[Radd Cruisers]

Ya, same question, did you use the yota axles?

Rob

Originally Posted by dieselcruiserhead

Nice.. Can you speak a little more about your coil spring set up?

[BJ40 3B]

Yes, they are the original axles from the BJ40.
At the front i used 2 LandRover Radius Arms, and a custom made panhard rod.
At the rear i also used the LR Trailing Arms and the upper triangle, which makes a very good 4link suspension. The original LR Trailing arms, have bent on the first days of testing, so had to make some new home made heavy-duty ones!
For the springs, they are also original LR.
Basically, its a BJ40 with complete LR suspension and some mods, such as: 4wheel disc-brake (LR brake in the rear because they work good, easy instalation and can be found very cheap), 3B engine with turbo, intercooler, oil cooler, Toyota power steeering, Rancho 9000 allround, welded rear diff, front ARB, roll-bar used as an air tank, Warn 8274, Optima Yellow Top battery, 35inch tyre(they a remoulds, and they are actually 37 inch tall and are a copy of Simex Extreme Trekker)...........

For the suspension, i'm very happy with the rear axle. For the front i'm still thinking for something simple that could give more articulation (i can lift one wheel 80 to 90cm from the ground without lifting the other 3, but almost all the "work" is done by the rear axle) .if someone have any idea of how to get more articulation of a 3link please let me know! Overall, i think i'ts very capable offroad vehicle, and also onroad (despite the welded rear diferential).

[Tapage]

The issue with your 3link setup are this .. mean thing. 3 link. If you go with 4 linkl .. maybe you get a lots more flex .. but I need to ask .. why not TLC II ( RJ-70 or LJ-70 ) control arms .. ?

Other option are custom control arms ( as comes in a Slee 6" lift kit ) with heim joints for more flex .. the rubber has less flex in this aplication.