LJ78 Air/water intercooler working! (1 Viewer)

[GTSSportCoupe]

Finally found some time to install the air/water intercooler setup I'd been planning for a while.

Was a fair amount of work, but the results are as good as I could ever have hoped. It has dropped my max EGT down by 250F at least! It is very consistent and has no problem dumping the heat. It probably has substantialy more capacity than my engine requires.

Recently I also replaced the abismal factory exhaust with 2.5" mandrel from the turbo back with an Aeroturbine muffler and ported dump pipe. This modification dropped my EGT's by 150F and increased economy by 1l/100km. I'm hoping the intercooler will further increase economy.

Running 1bar boost with the factory fueling going up a 2lte killing hill (Malahat summit Vancouver Island) full throttle I cannot get the post turbo EGT's above 700F. I can do most of the mountain at 100km/h+ in overdrive!

Power is much more consistent. Before it was very evident when heat soak set in from periods of high boost. Now the power is always there, and there is more of it. I'm going to turn the fuel up with the spill control valve adjustment screw and run my max EGT's about 200F more. I expect this will make a lot more power.

The system uses a Bosch pump, 5/8" hose, a ebay 26"x7"x2" intercooler radiator, a ebay a/w intercooler with a 9"x4"x3.5" core (overall size 9.25"x6"x3.5"), 2" aluminum piping with silicone couplers, and a custom throttle inlet.

I had to modify the grill bracketry a bit to fit the intercooler radiator in the front. But all in all it fit well. I also installed a transmission oil cooler at the same time.

I removed my bullbar and fog lights to get better air flow to the intercooler radiator. I do plan on installing a winch and custom bumper which will likely reduce airflow to the intercooler radiator again, but based on the performance i've seen, I think it'll be fine now.

I HIGHLY recommend a setup like this if you have a LJ7x or KZJ7x and want to avoid head problems and be able to tow etc.

EDIT! Thought I'd follow up on the work I did here:

Following all the work I've done, I started playing around a bit with the tuning. I turned up (in) the screw on top of the fuel pump spill control valve just under half a turn. What a difference!! This made a big increase in power. At full throttle from stop, there is a little puff of black smoke to begin, but once the boost hits the truck pulls good with no black smoke!

I also increase the boost to 15psi. I wanted more but my cheap ebay MBC seems unable to hold more boost (spring weak maybe?). I used my bleed off valve on the boost sensor to reduce the boost that the ECU see's by half a psi. This keeps the computer from going into error mode from an over boost condition (factory 14.7psi limit).

For some reason, turning up the fuel this much only raised the EGT's about 100F. A small price to pay for so much more power. Booting it around town (short hard acceleration) I still only see 600F post turbine (stock would have been 1000F easy). Long periods of full throttle high boost up a mountain towing produces a maximum of 800F post turbine (stock setup this would have been way way into the danger zone and a cracked head for sure).

Pictures:

 

[roscoFJ73]

Good to see some progress rather than people dumping on the 2LT.They will be disappointed

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Good to see some progress rather than people dumping on the 2LT.They will be disappointed

Thanks. I really like the engine actually. Never had a head problem, and runs like a champ. And now lots of power. A few key modifications and it is a good engine.

Had Toyota scrapped the emissions garbage and installed an efficient factory intercooler I think the 2LTE story would be very different.

 

[niwde11]

when will the bosch pump run? do you have a thermo switch for that. i also have a/w intercooler and i want to improve the performance. one of our diference is you have a larger radiator for your a/w intercooler.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

when will the bosch pump run? do you have a thermo switch for that. i also have a/w intercooler and i want to improve the performance. one of our diference is you have a larger radiator for your a/w intercooler.

The pump runs whenever the key is in the 'ON' position. I am using the accessory power box at the front right of the engine compartment to switch a power relay. The box provides 12V constant, 12V accessory and 12V when 'ON' which can be used for many applications.

 

[Redd]

well done chap. would be interesting to get it dyno'd. would be interesting to drive the friggin thing.

fair play

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

well done chap. would be interesting to get it dyno'd. would be interesting to drive the friggin thing.

fair play

Thanks Redd . I may actually get it dyno'ed one of these days. There is a dyno facility about 20min drive from me.

The truck is completely different from the asthmatic machine I first bought. The nicest thing is I don't need to watch the EGT gauge anymore. Basically it's like driving a normal car now.

 

[ForealBoreal]

Congrats and very clean install.

I would be curious to know how efficient your system is after it being really heat soaked.
Yet again your not running stupid boost levels.
John from Ateb is apparently running 25lbs in a 3l or 2lt.
I really need to figure out my set up.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Congrats and very clean install.

I would be curious to know how efficient your system is after it being really heat soaked.
Yet again your not running stupid boost levels.
John from Ateb is apparently running 25lbs in a 3l or 2lt.
I really need to figure out my set up.

Thanks for the compliment man.

Doesn't really heat soak any more. After a long hard run the air pipe into the intercooler is far to hot to touch, the pipe coming out is easy to hold onto. The intercooler and radiator them selves are cool to touch.

I'm going to be towing 3000lbs today. Going camping for a few days with my family. I'm leaving the tuning conservative for this trip. After I get a feeling for everything I plan to start experimenting with the fuel and more boost for better power.

That said, I'll only ever push the stock turbo to 16-17lbs. So yeah, nothing like the ATEB Prado. Although the stock turbo will be very inefficient at that boost, so will probably be hotter than the ATEB setup anyhow.

I look forward to seeing how your setup works out. Seems space is the biggest challenge for you, especially with three batteries under the hood.

 

[yotahed]

Nice install bro. Im thinking I might do the same to my 3b instead of the air to air. We shall see. How large is the radiator for the IC?
Its pumping the coolant constantly correct? Is there a fan on the rad?
Good job with the placement. I have a big hole in my engine bay there as well.
Cheers man

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Nice install bro. Im thinking I might do the same to my 3b instead of the air to air. We shall see. How large is the radiator for the IC?
Its pumping the coolant constantly correct? Is there a fan on the rad?
Good job with the placement. I have a big hole in my engine bay there as well.
Cheers man

Thanks a lot man!

The radiator is 26x7x2" if I remember correct. If you already have the air/air pipes in your rig I would not bother with going to air/water. Just put in a bigger intercooler if you need more performance. Or a puller fan or something. The A/W is a lot of extra work. I only did it because I couldn't fit air pipes to the front of my rig with A/C intact princess: wanted to keep A/C).

I have no fan on my IC rad. I only need the intercooler peak performance on the highway while towing, in which case it gets a lot of air flow.

Had to put something in that hole behind the battery; haha.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Did some towing this weekend. 800lbs in the Prado and towing another 3000lbs. Was faster with all this weight than it was empty/not towing when I first bought it.

 

[monke south]

Fantastic I've been waiting to here how this came out. Did you make the custom throttle inlet? Can you tell us more about it. I don't know how or if I can put an intercooler rad behind my winch. But this I feel is a must, so I will half to figure it out. A complete parts list would be a big help to me, ordering from PNG. Thanks for all your hard work, I've benefited greatly.

 

[Phil in BC]

Nice job on the install. Looks like you could use some air bags next.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Fantastic I've been waiting to here how this came out. Did you make the custom throttle inlet? Can you tell us more about it. I don't know how or if I can put an intercooler rad behind my winch. But this I feel is a must, so I will half to figure it out. A complete parts list would be a big help to me, ordering from PNG. Thanks for all your hard work, I've benefited greatly.

Thanks! A friend of mine here at work made the custom throttle inlet. I have mechanical drawings that I can email you if you want so that you can see the dimensions of it. When I get a bit of time I'll write more about the parts I used, and how to do the install. The biggest challenge is the bracket system for the air/water unit under the hood. Of all the work I've done, the intercooler has given the largest benefit. Although it's a lot of work, it is by far the best thing one can do for this engine.

Nice job on the install. Looks like you could use some air bags next.

This picture is actually a little weird. It looks like the back is sagging, but on a level surface the truck actually sits perfectly level with the trailer/luggage. I'll post a better picture when I get a chance. Notice how the front tire looks bigger than the back? I think the lens of my camera produced the strange effect.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Hey all, I posted a little update on some tuning I've done since installing the intercooler. The update is in the first post.

 

[VI Cruzer]

Thanks for posting this. I also have an LJ78 and have been fiddling with the cooling since I bought it. Best thing I did so far was the blue clutch fan mod. Except for towing, never really overheats. I would be interested to see your plans if they are drawn up, or at least the drawing for the flange. I do like this truck and it sounds as if this cooler install might be the last thing I need to do!

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Thanks for posting this. I also have an LJ78 and have been fiddling with the cooling since I bought it. Best thing I did so far was the blue clutch fan mod. Except for towing, never really overheats. I would be interested to see your plans if they are drawn up, or at least the drawing for the flange. I do like this truck and it sounds as if this cooler install might be the last thing I need to do!

Hey, no prob! Good to have another LJ78 on the Island. Make sure you have a read through this for more cooling ideas too: https://forum.ih8mud.com/diesel-tech-24-volts-systems/680759-ideas-improving-2lte.html After the work I've done I really like my 2lte and never have any problems.

I will try to put more info down in the next week or so about how I built this system.

 

[ForealBoreal]

I am curious if your going to check your coolers efficiency. Are you planning this? I would like to see how it does all heat soaked.

Are you planning a mechanical pump swap to get rid of the electric bits? Wouldn't you be able to boost higher in that case.

I think your limit then will be how high you can boost your stock ct20 before it starts blowing hot air.

John at Ateb apparent has one hopped up on a bigger turbo and a plenum running 25lbs or something stupid.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

I am curious if your going to check your coolers efficiency. Are you planning this? I would like to see how it does all heat soaked.

Yes, I will do this eventually out of basic curiousity. The reason I haven't done it yet is there is really no motivational factor. The system just works so well I don't even look at my pyrometer anymore.

What do you mean by 'heatsoaked'? Usually the term is used to imply that the intercooler is past it's ability to effectively cool the intake charge. The whole system after the turbo is loaded with heat. My system never gets to this point. Although I've had setups on past vehicles that did get heat soaked (top mount on JDM 4AGZE supercharged), and it's just as bad as having no intercooler at all.

Are you planning a mechanical pump swap to get rid of the electric bits? Wouldn't you be able to boost higher in that case.

I probably won't bother with a mechanical injection pump swap with the 2LTE. There are tricks to going high boost with the electronic injection, such as bleeding off boost to the MAP sensor or a fuel cut defender. If I were go to with a mechanical injection pump, I'd just upgrade to a 1KZ-T instead.

I think your limit then will be how high you can boost your stock ct20 before it starts blowing hot air.

CT20 starts blowing hot air above 12psi. My intercooler can cope with it fine. Boosting beyond 15psi will start to mechanically stress the CT20, which I think is more the limiting factor. Seems like 16-17psi is the max that folks run from these turbos. At least they are steel and not ceramic. So they spool slower (heavier), but at least they don't break. Basically though, big power would require an upgrade to a modern turbo.

Like you, big power is not what I'm after. I just need adequate power and good reliability. Getting adequate power out of a 2LTE is enough work in of it's self.

John at Ateb apparent has one hopped up on a bigger turbo and a plenum running 25lbs or something stupid.

That is a pretty cool setup he has. I'd love to learn more about it. However, personally if I were to go for similar power numbers, I'd move to a 1KZ-T. It's built for forced induction where the 3L is not; so it's likely to last longer while making big power.