Awesome! enjoy every moment
Builds 1988 BJ74 “Number 1” (5 Viewers)
- Thread starter FJBen
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Cruisers and dogs just go together…..happy for you. She’s a Sweetheart.
FJBen
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Replaced the O-ring on the top of the power steering pump. 96711-19013
Still trying to decide on an intercooler…
I should Probabaly just pull the A/C and stick it there. I’ve owned this since 2019 and the a/c has never worked.
Not that I’m dropping PDI money, but it appears that setup works with a/c and a different grill mod. I like to keep options open if I ever want to put it back and have A/C when I retire to Arizona….
Thoughts ?
Still trying to decide on an intercooler…
I should Probabaly just pull the A/C and stick it there. I’ve owned this since 2019 and the a/c has never worked.
Not that I’m dropping PDI money, but it appears that setup works with a/c and a different grill mod. I like to keep options open if I ever want to put it back and have A/C when I retire to Arizona….
Thoughts ?
You have the 13BT right? If you search for my old BJ70 thread you can see what I did for an inter cooler.
Or you can imitate the PDI set up sourcing your own parts if you don’t want to pay for a PDI.
Or you can imitate the PDI set up sourcing your own parts if you don’t want to pay for a PDI.
1HZ here but think it's the same kit. Grill trimmed for sure, holes for piping near headlights, re-route of AC lines, spacer for radiator. Had to relocate the AC drier too. Condenser stay in the same cozy spot. Kit is pretty complete and PDI was great to work with. Sent different piping to get by my airbox for example. Do it.
I'd keep the ac if it were me, even if it doesnt work at the moment.
I have not perused under your skirts, but is there anywhere you might squeeze a water-to-air intercooler? I would not drop the AC if at all possible, but it is your ride to do with as you please, of course!
FJBen
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Correct, 13bt. I’m leaning towards a pdi imitation. It’s a bummer with the 13bt is so crammed in there. I think the best was would be to push the radiator back, build a custom shroud, but that might be too much for me.
I think I would basically only need the intercooler from PDI because I’m not sure any of the other parts would be useable with the 13bt.
Yeah looks pretty good. I should reach out to
Them and see what thoughts they have on the 13bt since they don’t have a kit per se.
FJBen
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I’m leaning towards that…same reason as I’ve never used it, doesn’t work but I haven’t got rid of it.
I have not perused under your skirts, but is there anywhere you might squeeze a water-to-air intercooler? I would not drop the AC if at all possible, but it is your ride to do with as you please, of course!
Yeah it’s tight there.
I’m not convinced a top mount would do enough good for the trouble and nothing is made for it. Would have to be offset I think and then again, heat soak.
W2A would be certainly easier to fit, but a bit more complex and still have to deal with more hose/water and heat exchanger. I know chances are usually low of water logged failure…
Water/meth would be the easiest and cheapest to integrate…but you are dealing with water/meth always needing it, plus potential for nozzle failure hydrolock allbeit probably very low.
A2A is a bit harder to fit, but it’s by far the most set and forget. Once it’s in, that’s it no real failure concerns at all.
My 13bt AC was in the same state when I got it. All components were there but not cooling. I replaced all the orings in the system pulled a vacuum on it for a while and dumped in some of that r12 compatible refrigerant that you can get on ebay and it worked fantastic after that.
FJBen
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@Rigster
Here’s under the hood. Packed
This thought keeps bumping around in my
Head. Now it’s less protected for tough rock crawling and road debris, but I honestly don’t know how much of that rock crawling I’ll be doing in this
Place it here, downwardish facing. Possibly that shield spaced down or some protection under there. I might not be able to find a decent size to fit there.
It’s possible you guys might react like this:
Here’s under the hood. Packed
This thought keeps bumping around in my
Head. Now it’s less protected for tough rock crawling and road debris, but I honestly don’t know how much of that rock crawling I’ll be doing in this
Place it here, downwardish facing. Possibly that shield spaced down or some protection under there. I might not be able to find a decent size to fit there.
It’s possible you guys might react like this:
I should have known by now that you would have already thought the heck out of this from every angle. Air to air is certainly easy, but has it's own drawbacks. The kit is the most time saving, but it is truly simple if you have time in spades to create your own. Problem is, time is usually expensive, especially if you have a family. So you need to weigh the pro's and cons of fabbing up your own solution. I took my time, and I think I spent 2 days installing my PDI system.
Also keep in mind it gets the cold air, while the condenser and finally the radiator get what has already been warmed. Additionally there is a certain level of air flow restriction introduced. None of this should be an issue if you are not planning on pulling a trailer or climbing mountain passes in over 100F weather.
I can sustain 70MPH with the AC running
The next simplest would be the water to air. In reality, all you are doing is adding another small radiator into the system and more coolant. Very little to go wrong there. And all the piping and additional hoses of course... lol.
Whichever route you decide to go, I will be watching with interest as you work your magic....
yeesh! There doesn't even appear to be enough room to change your mind in there!@Rigster
Here’s under the hood. Packed
View attachment 3896578
This thought keeps bumping around in my
Head. Now it’s less protected for tough rock crawling and road debris, but I honestly don’t know how much of that rock crawling I’ll be doing in this
Place it here, downwardish facing. Possibly that shield spaced down or some protection under there. I might not be able to find a decent size to fit there.
View attachment 3896588
It’s possible you guys might react like this:
View attachment 3896593
I think if you want to keep costs down you might need to look at changing out the airbox solution you have to a K&N type and plunk a W2A in that cavity.
I would avoid putting anything down low where crap from the road and trails would beat it up... even without rock crawling, it would take abuse over time down there, imo.
FJBen
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- #2,594
I should have known by now that you would have already thought the heck out of this from every angle. Air to air is certainly easy, but has it's own drawbacks. The kit is the most time saving, but it is truly simple if you have time in spades to create your own. Problem is, time is usually expensive, especially if you have a family. So you need to weigh the pro's and cons of fabbing up your own solution. I took my time, and I think I spent 2 days installing my PDI system.
Also keep in mind it gets the cold air, while the condenser and finally the radiator get what has already been warmed. Additionally there is a certain level of air flow restriction introduced. None of this should be an issue if you are not planning on pulling a trailer or climbing mountain passes in over 100F weather.
I can sustain 70MPH with the AC runningall dayuntil I run out of fuel through the mountains, but as soon as I add a load of a trailer on top of that, especially in hot weather, I will run into some higher temps in the coolant and I have to watch my throttle.
The next simplest would be the water to air. In reality, all you are doing is adding another small radiator into the system and more coolant. Very little to go wrong there. And all the piping and additional hoses of course... lol.
Whichever route you decide to go, I will be watching with interest as you work your magic....
Yeah. Not a lot of great options on the narrow nose 70s. That said I don’t need much cooling as it doesn’t really get that hot. I’m sure it’s still better overall to have that safety built in for hot weather/hills.
The only reason I think of the bottom mount is just ease of install and there is a lot of airflow. This isn’t a short cart inches off the highway so it should be fairly protected.
You will be well aware VW TDIs use side mount inter coolers on front of the tire that has to pick up a ton of crap from the tires.
Doesn’t make my idea a great idea…
You can see my steering stabilizer has taken rock chips and hits, but that was painted 5 years ago with cheap spray paint so it’s not actually taken that much damage all considered.
I do like the custom airbox setup to free up room, but that presents other issues as well.
i put my water to air vertical where the rad overflow is and moved the overflow to the other side of the rad, works very well and lots of room for a heat exchanger in front of the rad
is it a pipe clusterfaulk.... yes
is there a better way to run the pipes... yes
but the room exists and is doable
reclocking the turbo to point down and running the charge pipe on top would be a better way but im not tearing this apart
found my old pics
forum.ih8mud.com
13B-T intercooler
forum.ih8mud.com
I still have the water to air BMW intercooler and other parts on my 1Hz that we talked about. Hoping to pull them in the next two months to install my PDI and new turbo. Yes, it’s taking me this long!
The parts are yours when I pull them if you want to play around with them. One thing that I tink may be happening is that the size of the intercooler may be a bit small and is restricting the turbo and boost. But it definitely works and keeps EGTs in a totally acceptable range with the IDI turbo Hz in my troopy.
I agree with @Rigster in that you could build a front mount air2air pretty cheap, but will take time, vs going the PDI route. You can make it all fit with ac with some grill mods.
The parts are yours when I pull them if you want to play around with them. One thing that I tink may be happening is that the size of the intercooler may be a bit small and is restricting the turbo and boost. But it definitely works and keeps EGTs in a totally acceptable range with the IDI turbo Hz in my troopy.
I agree with @Rigster in that you could build a front mount air2air pretty cheap, but will take time, vs going the PDI route. You can make it all fit with ac with some grill mods.
