Builds A not so informative LJ78 'build' thread (2 Viewers)

[clintnz]

Nice work Jim, good luck with the doc.

Jimmy, really nice work on that exhaust! Just curious, if any other 70 series owners out there have come up with a "exhaust / rock slider" work around. If anyone has any pics they can post or links to projects they did that have sliders on the right hand side of the vehicle that don't interfere with the center section of the exhaust.

My take is here: Clints Cruiser Project - Page 7 - Offroad-Express
It's not perfect, & they were a bit fiddly to make, but they work ok.

Cheers
Clint

 

[JimmyPrado]

Thanks guys. Surgery went better than expected and I’m headed home today. 2 days earlier than expected. Appreciate the thoughts and hopefully I can get the IC pics and story started soon

 

[CRSWA]

Hey Jimmy. Glad to hear the surgery went well.

I've had my '92 LJ78 for less than a week and this thread has my head spinning with plans for it.

Did you do the exhaust work yourself, or did you turn that over to a pro?

 

[JimmyPrado]

No. I was going to, as my two sons are pipewelders but they never get much time off and so I designed it but had a shop do it. Thanks for the well wishes. By the way, if you ever get up around Bellingham with your cruiser, let’s have coffee or beer!

 

[CRSWA]

No. I was going to, as my two sons are pipecwelders but they never get much time off and so I designed it but had a shop do it. Thanks for the well wishes. By the way, if you every get up around Bellingham with your cruiser, let’s have coffee or beer!

Absolutely! I'd love to see the work you've done first-hand. I don't really mind having to become a diesel mechanic at this late stage, but I think it's a little too late for me to learn welding. Good luck.

 

[JimmyPrado]

OK, so I have f i n a l l y finished installing my Inter Cooler! I wanted to get it done and tested first before I posted a bunch of trial and error pics on here. LOL.

So I'll start at the beginning and see how far I get posting today. After seeing some cool Inter Coolers others have done on their Prado, I decided that I would give it a try. Not a mechanic by any description, but I am having a bit of fun learning as I go. After reading up on Water to air intercoolers I started tinkering with an idea. I wanted as streamlined version as I could get from turbo to intake.

Here's the progression of the idea..

Version 2

Mocked up....

Too Boxy, Version 3

That's as direct as it gets. It's not big, but, I don't tow or do any hard driving, just wanted to take a few degrees off the EGT's and try my hand at something I've never done.

 

[JimmyPrado]

I went to Bell Intercoolers and got a 5 x 6 x 2 1/2 water to air core and designed the end tanks myself.
Here's the rest of the equipment

The heat exchanger is 10"x 13" and the hose is 3/4" Got 10 feet, used 9. The Hump hose was not used and you'll see why in a bit. Got it from Frozenboost.com

 

[JimmyPrado]

So, Off with the bumper.........

And with the Grill....

And this is what I had to work with....

My thinking at this point was a bracket to hold the heat exchanger and I toyed with several ideas before deciding on which direction I wanted the Heat exchanger to sit. Once I had that figured out I then mocked up a bracket to hold it on the bottom.

It's held in place with two bolts that fit into holes already in the frame. Handy.

 

[JimmyPrado]

I decided to put the Heat exchanger in so that the water gravity fed and it made for a cleaner look in my opinion. The instructions for the pump said it pushes water better than it draws water so put it low in your system. By mounting the exchanger this way, it was easy to make that work.

Once in position, I had my first obstacle to overcome....

Nothing Tin snips and a pair of pliers couldn't over come....

 

[ALEXY]

how much egt drop you managed to achieve?

lack of extra tubing/complication to connect a far distance intercooler makes your idea very tempting.

 

[JimmyPrado]

As soon as I get insurance back on it. I’ll let you know! Should be this week sometime

 

[quietmission]

Really good idea on the intercooler setup. I will be tempted too since space is problem for me with the 3l under my hood... Nice work!

 

[JimmyPrado]

Next up was running the plumbing for the water. I had to get back into the engine bay and there just isn't much for room anywhere so I decided to go thru it. I removed the horn from the drivers side to make room and went for it.

2 holes, a tin snip and a file and I had my passageway...

And, just to be doubly sure I don't rash the hoses, I grabed some wire guard and put that on to help protect it.

 

[JimmyPrado]

Next came the bracket for the pump. As I mentioned earlier the advice was to keep it low in the system and by putting the exchanger in the way I did, I was able to put the pump at the lowest point.

This could be my weakest point in the system. I'm prepared to use bolts through the support if the screws fail to keep it tight.

Here's the pump mounted..

I ran the wires (blue wire guard) up to the power box in the bay. I have run some heavy gauge wire from the power box leads out into the bay and I'm tying into them there rather than trying to get all the wires into the box.

 

[JimmyPrado]

After thinking about the position of the exchanger being behind the bumper and the front valence I decided to add a fan behind it. I went with a 7 inch because anything bigger wouldn't fit. It's 2 1/2 inches deep and has to fit under the cross support.

I'm gonna start with it connected to the original fog lights. Down side is that the Headlights have to be on for the switch in the cab to work. However, this Prado has the headlights wired to come on anytime it's running ( to meet Canadian law) So, turning the lights all the way on isn't as big a deal. This way I can play with it on and off and see what, if any, difference it makes. I may change my mind as the fan only draws 3 amps and I may just wire it to go all the time. (this is test mode, I'll do a more professional hookup to the fog light wire)

In this picture you also see the bracket to support the top of the exchanger I fab'ed up. It's solid as a rock now.
And the pre threaded hole at the top is already there! Nice.

 

[JimmyPrado]

Did a test run with the water lines. Looked good. Really started to feel like progress here.

Started with the easy things first...

 

[JimmyPrado]

Finally got he end tanks for the I/C tacked up and so we checked all the clearances before my son tig-ed the tanks in place. Note that I said earlier the hump hose didn't get used. Here you see that the turbo outlet is not high enough to go straight out of it into the I/C. I ditched the hump hose for a 30 degree bend out of the turbo. This does two things. It allows the I/C to be high enough and in fact this Silicone and the 90 degree into the intake actually hold the I/C in place AND up, off of the valve cover.

from turbo side with water in-out. As you can see, tight fit.

On the outlet side into the intake I had to make a slight correction because doing the 30 degree bend on the inlet side moved the I/C slightly to the passenger side and the angle we had built into the end tank wasn't correct so we had to correct the angle by cutting the outlet piece.

And of course none of this would work without using the adaptor to the intake that Nick was so kind to share the blueprints for!

 

[JimmyPrado]

Alright, after the fitting it was back to the tig machine and before long my son had it done.

Just for kicks, the underside

 

[JimmyPrado]

Once I had the I/C back it was time to do some final fitting and then the testing. Here I have the 90 on the intake and adjusting it for height.

Side view. Looking pretty good.

 

[JimmyPrado]

I did/do have some concerns about heat from the engine affecting the system, so, I took several precautions to minimize the risk. In this picture you'll see I wrapped the cold water intake line in aluminized tape to help protect it because it does sit near the turbo. You'll also see a totally frivolous in-line fill cap. I have too much money to spend I guess. You certainly don't need it but what the heck.

As for the I/C I put a layer of Aluminized fiberglass wrap (designed to keep heat out) on the bottom to help control the heat issue. The pump is designed for 500 gal/hour which if it actually is pushing that, is 8 gal a minute or 1 gal every 7.5 secs through the I/C. I'm thinking that's enough to handle the heat especially with my precautions.