2lte intercooler - LJ78 (1 Viewer)

[LeonLJ78]

Hi,

Wanting to know if anyone has fitted a Isuzu bighorn/ trooper (also the Holden Jackaroo)
top mount intercooler to a 2lte, and if there is much improvement with it in the system.

Ive seen a scoop from these installed to a LJ78 and it looked tidy, but wanting to know if i could run the entire system on it. i like the simplicity of a air-air top mount, however if i should be thinking differently please let me know. Im not worried about having to install a bonnet scoop as the location of the scoop on mine has paint fade and minor bonnet dings, so a hole/ scoop my improve it over all.

Cheers

 

[Dprio34]

@LeonLJ78, I have seen some air-to-air top mounted intercoolers on google images, but I have not seen any "how to" articles on this forum for a 2LTE top mount air to air. There are several water/meth injection side mounted systems out there from some very talented folks like (@GTSSportCoupe, @Nas90tdi, and @malteser and @JimmyPrado did a top mount but is was a custom fabrication. Check out their build and maybe get some ideas.

If you decide to do a Jackaroo / Isuzu air-to air top mount, be sure to post some pics!

 

[malteser]

The thing with top-mount intercoolers is if they're not setup correctly then their efficiency will be very poor. The bonnet scoop needs to meet the intercooler in such a way that all the air coming through it passes through the intercooler, and not around it. Also, underneath it must have an adequate heat shield yet leave some space for the air coming in to flow properly out of the intercooler.

 

[Nas90tdi]

That would be my concern as well. I actually looked into this a bit before I committed to the air/water. I actually prefer air/air intercoolers, but decided the top mount was too much trouble with no guarantees of efficiency. And, putting in in front of the radiator and keeping the A/C required to much hacking up of the truck for my taste. Plus the additional loss of airflow to the radiator.
The hood scoop needs to completely seal around the top of the intercooler or it will just heat soak and be useless.

 

[Waikato Willy]

go for the front mount, im halfway through mine, just got to finish of the pipe work, minimal cutting on the front plastic grill and airconall still there with a good amount of space between radiator heat exchanger and intercooler
Intercooler is actually a modified aftermarket upgrade for an xr6 turbo ford falcon

 

[LeonLJ78]

Are you able to do a bids eye view looking down with the bonnet open? Also do you find that reduces the airflow to the radiator more/ any impact on running temps?

 

[Waikato Willy]

yep ill take some pics tonight after work
airflow still good, been doing alot of towing lately , ive only mounted just to check and its made no difference with the running temp

 

[Waikato Willy]

transcooler location, bolted to bottom crossmember, potential to get smashed to bits with serious off roading but the location seems to cool really well and its out of the way of the intercooler and aircon

top view

i had to trim the bonnet catch brace and i just bent the aircon pipes out of the way

 

[LeonLJ78]

Thought I’d post the recent install. Just finished up last night. Seems to breathe well, will look at playing with the boost soon also.

Went for a 600x300x80 front mount. It’s a tight fit but not that bad. Did have to shave the back of the grill 30mm though where the pipes and cooler sit, along with modify some of the brackets/ move the horn and radiator overflow.

Went with silicone joiners and 2.5”/63mm pipe for ease and welded spots to the pipe ends to stop the hoses popping off. Took x4 45 deg bends, x5 90 deg bends and x1 90 deg reducer from 2-2.5” at the turbo.

One bend above the ac pump sits a little high and just touches the matting on the underside of the bonnet, but nothing major.

 

[LeonLJ78]

Other pics showing painted pipes all installed

 

[gotoy]

Hi,

Wanting to know if anyone has fitted a Isuzu bighorn/ trooper (also the Holden Jackaroo)
top mount intercooler to a 2lte, and if there is much improvement with it in the system.

Ive seen a scoop from these installed to a LJ78 and it looked tidy, but wanting to know if i could run the entire system on it. i like the simplicity of a air-air top mount, however if i should be thinking differently please let me know. Im not worried about having to install a bonnet scoop as the location of the scoop on mine has paint fade and minor bonnet dings, so a hole/ scoop my improve it over all.

Cheers

I had 2lt once and tried to tune it up little. Used a top mount intercooler from Ford Ranger, if recall.

So performance increase......zero.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Nice work @LeonLJ78 !

Intercoolers drop the EGT's by a huge amount on these motors. That alone is a huge win. You won't see a power increase, but you will see an economy increase. You can also raise the turbo boost significantly, as the intercooler largely null's the increase in temperature of the compressed air at higher boost levels.

The side benefit, is the lower EGT's and higher boost allow for a safe increase in fueling. This DOES make a big increase in power. I've doubled the wheel hp on mine. But I've tuned for every last drop of fuel I can get out of the pump (@20psi after intercooler right now). Still lower EGT than factory stock engine.

 

[LeonLJ78]

Nice work @LeonLJ78 !

Intercoolers drop the EGT's by a huge amount on these motors. That alone is a huge win. You won't see a power increase, but you will see an economy increase. You can also raise the turbo boost significantly, as the intercooler largely null's the increase in temperature of the compressed air at higher boost levels.

The side benefit, is the lower EGT's and higher boost allow for a safe increase in fueling. This DOES make a big increase in power. I've doubled the wheel hp on mine. But I've tuned for every last drop of fuel I can get out of the pump (@20psi after intercooler right now). Still lower EGT than factory stock engine.

Just on that boost adjustment, if i increase it to 14 to start with on the current set up, will i also need to adjust the fuel? or will the ecu automatically do this to a certain point with its boost sensors?

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Just on that boost adjustment, if i increase it to 14 to start with on the current set up, will i also need to adjust the fuel? or will the ecu automatically do this to a certain point with its boost sensors?

If you just set boost to 14 psi the computer will add more fuel yes. You'll still be running on the lean side (cool EGTs), but that is a very good thing! If you're happy with how it runs, just leave it like that. No need to push it further unless you really have that itch for more power.

 

[LeonLJ78]

If you just set boost to 14 psi the computer will add more fuel yes. You'll still be running on the lean side (cool EGTs), but that is a very good thing! If you're happy with how it runs, just leave it like that. No need to push it further unless you really have that itch for more power.

great, thanks for all the advise- on this one and the other thread i started about towing. thinking ill start with 14, take it for a few runs/ trial it with the trailer then make adjustments from there once i see what i feels like, tbh I quiet like making the adjustments one at a time (in the correct order) to understand how each effect the running of the truck. I'm not expecting it to be a rocket, but if these improvements help without taking things to far / having to start bypassing sensors etc at this stage it'll be good.

 

[LeonLJ78]

Just wanting to open this up again, I've installed the boost gauge at the manifold and a Turbosmart tap on the wastegate.

I'm finding that the last 4-5 adjustments on the tap i've made aren't making any change (quarter turn on the tap at a time) and its maxing on the gauge at about 12psi. ill keep making adjustments but i'm also wondering if this is hitting a wall with my set up as i would have expected some increase over the last adjustments on the tap that i have made, or could the turbo really pushing about 14psi+- but the large intercooler is changing the pressure at the manifold?

Intake wise it has a snorkel to the standard airbox/ filter. would this need to change to a hiflo filter to get the next couple of psi? or do i just go full turns on the tap (i have been stepping it slowly to make sure nothing spikes till now)


Also i took it through the rangers last night running it at 12 psi and its definitely climbing the hills nicer... true test will be with the trailer soon though.

 

[Waikato Willy]

I found with a generic turbosmart copy bleed valve with it opened right up max was 15psi, that was it, I ended up just using a "Y" plastic fitting that is about 4mm inside diametre and this bleeds off allowing 18-20 psi on max load, with a 3mm dia it maxed at 15-17 psi


works good because it never changes, but looks kind of rough I guess bleeding off straight to the atmosphere, could plumb back to the airbox?

 

[Nas90tdi]

It's the boost controller maxing most likely. I am running snorkel to standard air box. Through an intercooler and can get 19+PSI at the manifold.
A lot of the cheaper boost controllers aren't going to allow the max pressure through even when bottomed out. The turbo is capable of around 26PSI max if I remember correctly. The Supra crowd like our turbos because of the larger bearings and turbine wheel. I have never ran mine above 19PSI as I hear it starts taking life off of them running them over 20.

All of that being said, keep in mind that more fuel will create more boost. So, if you are maxed out on the fuel available, you won't see more boost until yoou feed it some more fuel. Do that slowly however. Extremely small changes in the fuel will move your baseline around a good bit.