1KZ-TE Custom Top Mount intercooler mount fan shroud + 200mm Fan (underneath intercooler) (1 Viewer)

[KiwiBogan]

In an attempt to reduce EGTs and engine temps whilst towing, sand driving, sitting in trafic on hot days etc, I thought I'd have a crack at raising my top mount intercooler roughly ~70mm and mounting a 200mm fan underneath to draw air down through the intercooler. After some further brain storming with a friend, I decided a shroud would greatly improve this design so I whipped up a shroud in my lunch break at work. Had to do all the bending with a hammer and clamping the 1mm sheet between two pieces of 10mm steel plate so excuse the wobbly finish haha. This will be hidden anyways so you wont see it. Pretty happy how it turned out! Its a very snug fit and utilises the existing mounting brackets holes to secure it however I'll likely run some high temp silicon or something around it to make sure it is properly air tight and prevent vibration noises once I know it will all fit. Haven't tested yet as I am waiting for a new refurbed engine to arrive any day now and will hopefully have it in by EOW.

I am not 100% sure this will fit under my bonnet however I'm just going to roll with it, see how it goes and make further modifications to accomodate it if need be. I'm pretty sure there was a bit of head room with the old engine in so am quietly confident i'll have no dramas. Anyways, just thought i'd share this project here for anyone else who has had thoughts of doing something similar. I'll post updates when I have some results!

Cheers, Sam

 

[apexwerks]

Curious to see your results... this looks like a great idea.

 

[KiwiBogan]

Found this the other day. These guys reckon they've had some success with this bottom mounted shrouded fan design so I'm becoming confident this is going to work. See here for their Youtube video demonstrating their findings:
Fingers crossed I have the headroom under the bonnet to raise the intercooler the ~70mm required to fit. New engine arrives today so once thats in, i'll know for sure! I think next step to improve this system is a larger/wider bonnet scoop to draw in more air. The scoop I currently have is only small and joins in with the factory air intake. And finally I have ordered all the parts to build a custom 2 3/4" stainless steel snorkel (for under $200) and no welding! I'll do a separate post on that soon once I get some pics of it coming together.

 

[KiwiBogan]

Well I finally had a chance to fit in the new fan and shroud setup. Unfortunately the final result would mean the black plastic top of the intercooler would end up about 10-20mm above the top of the bonnet This is due to that annoying bloody "hump" in the middle of the rocker cover (valve cover) which forces the height of the setup upwards by roughly 70mm. Is that hump even necessary or just a design thing? Can I find a flat rocker cover to replace it and solve my height problem? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[KiwiBogan]

Just a quick update so as to not leave this thread incomplete, due to the head f#ckery above and advice from others in other forums, I think i'm gonna ditch this idea and am now taking an interest in a "water to air" system instead. Shame as this was a fun project but too much of a headache to make it work without a body lift or modifying the rocker cover which i'm not feeling that inspired to do. Back to the drawing board!

 

[KiwiBogan]

Alright, update time!

Just returned from a trip up to the Flinders Ranges from Adelaide pulling my ~2.5T caravan there and back. On the flats I could easily get up to 100km/h at an efficient 2000rpm. However at times, I just could not get the car past 80km/h and revving up in the inefficient 2600rpm range (not enough momentum to sit in top gear). EGTs were always low (540°c max at the exhaust manifold). Coolant temps never got over 74°c even when flogging it up long hills. And this was intermittent. What I did notice is when I got out the car and sprayed the intake air temp sensor attached to the intercooler just above the throttle body with MAF sensor cleaner, the power would be restored temporarily. Intake air temperatures measured post intercooler were about 72-76°c when the car was under powered. I'm not sure what is the optimal working range but that to me seems quite hot given my custom snorkel and Unifilter setup.

So I'm going out on a limb here to say that it's likely heat soak from the engine to the top mount intercooler is effecting performance and am now going to push ahead with installation of the fan and shroud I made a while back. I've since swapped the rocker cover over for the original one with the hump at the back of the engine so this should help a lot with fitment. I'm guessing the intercooler will have to come up at least 50mm which means I'll be cutting a bit more out of the bonnet, hopefully not too much!

I also suspect the rubber/silicon? hose that comes out of the air filter box is collapsing when hot due to the boost im running (16-18psi) so am going to have to address that somehow. Would love to hear some tips/experience from anyone else that's been through this process.

Either way, I'll keep this post updated for anyone interested in learning.

 

[KiwiBogan]

Alright, I'm back having another crack at this I bought this 450x300 front mount intercooler off eBay a while back with a low profile, high output puller fan to go underneath it. Cut a great big chunk out of the bonnet and covered it with a big bad ass looking scoop. Temporarily installed it but the location of the inlet and outlet forced me to use inadequate flexible tubing which the turbo blew a hole in not time So the new plan is to cut off the end tanks and rebuild them so the inlet and outlet are pointing in the downward position and centered over the turbo and throttle body respectively (see drawings below). The cost of employing a welder that can weld aluminum was gonna blow the budget so I bought a cheap eBay AC TIG welder instead and have been hard at work practicing my TIG skills. I think I'm now ready to have a crack at this! Have cut out the sections of end tank this weekend and spent yesterday fabbing up a home made sheet metal folder out of scrap metal to bend the Ali into shape. I might finish the folder off and paint it first before sharing pics of it. It looks a bit Mad Max right now Heading off fishing with the family today so I'll continue working on this through the week next week.

 

[KiwiBogan]

Ohh mate, that was way trickier to make than I expected. First time TIG welding aluminum and it's a very different metal to work with than I'm used to. I'll give it a lite hit with a lubricated flap disk and see if I can improve it visually. But for now, it's functional. I had to whip up a DIY sheet metal folder to do the job. Looks like a bag of s*** but works perfectly lol. Will finish the other side this weekend and then pressure test it to see how bad my welds actually are

 

[KiwiBogan]

Well I finally finished the custom intercooler. My Ali TIG welding got slightly better for the second tank as I finally learned to dial in the right settings. I'll give it a pressure/leak test before installation. Anyways, really pleased how it's come together. Really looking forward to getting this project finished so I can get the old girl in for a well overdue tune up!

BTW, I've started a new build thread for for this over on the 1KZ-TE_Owners sub on reddit if anyone want to see the whole process. This thread got a bit diluted with all my earlier experimentation. I also spend more time over there these days.