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ive spoken to the guy off eblag by email and asked him for more info
he has emailed the guy who fitted it to his 2.4 surf
the website is http://www.universal-intercoolers.co.uk/
the pics are here http://www.dja121.plus.com/Gallery%20Hilux.html
now im not brave enough to do this myself because i dont have the knowledge needed
but would be interested in paying someone to do it if there is anyone in the west yorks area technically minded enough to have a go
anyway heres the mail i rec'd tonight and he seems a straight up guy
Hi mate... heres a write up from the first guy who fitted an intercooler...
after my email...
Im not trying to sway you either way to be honest...
if you want one and dont mind a challenge then go for it...
If you want an 'easy ride' then personally I wouldnt bother with one!
have a read of the email below.... and form your own conclusions.
I cannot post on that forum even tho ive registered, hey ho... maybe i need
to be approved.
Dan
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dan,
Thanks for your message...I was going to send you some pics, but was waiting
until I had a picture with everything re-assembled (bumper & A-bars back
on).
Vehicle in question is a TOYOTA Hilux Surf LN130, ie a Jap import, now
common on British roads, 2.4TD (efi) engine. They're great vehicles, but a
bit underpowered!
I decided to fit an intercooler for 3 reasons: More power, more torque,
lower operating temperatures (temperatures were never a problem on mine, but
they can be on some).
I checked out all the owners forums etc, could find very few folk that had
fitted one. 1 or 2 had fitted small top mounted intercooler and scoop, that
was about it. Did hear of some folk in Australia and US that had fitted an
front-mounted IC on similar vehicles.
Procedure:
Stripped down front end, take both batteries out (2 fitted in parallel as
standard, 1 behind each headlight) and the 2 tanks between batteries and
headlights (expansion tank on 1 side, and windscreen washer resevoir on
other)
Had to cut 2 (60mm approx) holes in the bulkhead, beneath headlights so that
I could fit alloy tubes through, just below water tanks (see pictures).
Slight modification needed to bolts etc that hold Aircon fan...minor stuff,
but necessary.
This is where it gets very Blue Peter...!
The hardest part of the whole build was getting the intercooler squeezed in
so that bumper etc could be re-fitted, and so that the intercooler was
positioned in max. airflow. I wanted avoid major cosmetic changes to the
front bumper....I'm a Forest Manager, so do lots of off-roading and it would
soon break anything that was weakened in this way.
It took me hours of trial and error to get this right but using (4X) 90
degree brackets, some angle iron and rubber washers I just about managed it.
There is virtually no room for error at all. Intercooler is fitted
slightly off the vertical (set back towards the bottom) but so is the
lower-bumper thing, and the integral vents deflect the air in such a way to
hit the intercooler face-on.
Getting the pipework etc done was relatively straight forward after all
that. Again, not much margin for error and I did have to cut and modify 8
of the 9 silicone elbows I used! Also needed 1 metre of Samco flexi-pipe
and 1 metre of alloy tube. Used some heat proof cloth to avoid the alloy
pipe on the 'hot' side from damaging the windscreen washer tank/pump.
I went with a 2" pipework. Wasn't overly scientific, but had given it a lot
of thought. Turbo outlet is 2", and I didn't want to overload it and end up
with loads of turbo lag. There was no avoiding a 270 degree bend near the
turbo, and the 2 things I was really worried about before I went ahead with
the installation were turbo lag and loss of power.
Only other things of note, fitted some aluminium mesh to protect the
intercooler and raised the number plate a couple of inches to increase
air-flow.
WAS IT WORTH IT?
$$$$$$ hell, yes!! More torque, more power, pulls from much lower in the
rev range and will happily accelerate to higher revs. Temperature guage is
visibly lower. Because the engines happier etc there's no noticable turbo
lag at all. Early indications are better mpg but haven't done enough miles
to be 100% sure. Much less gear changes and cruises easily in higher
gear/lower revs, so better mpg makes sense.
Would I recommend it to anyone else? For the better performance etc,
absolutely. But anyone attempting it would need to be very good at
improvising. Also may not suit all vehicles of this type, depending on what
type of front bull-bars/A bars they have (more to the point, where the upper
brackets fit to the chassis).
I'll send you an 'after' picture in a couple of days. If you want to see
what the intake plumbing looked like as standard, plenty of pictures on the
web. Pretty obvious though that it took a direct route across the top of
the engine, directly behind the black induction pipe.
I will be posting this info with pics on the Surf forums when i get round to
it, maybe some others may try it. When i do, can I say where I got the
intercooler from? (yours was the only one I could find that would fit!).
If you need any other info, let me know.
Cheers,
Nick
he has emailed the guy who fitted it to his 2.4 surf
the website is http://www.universal-intercoolers.co.uk/
the pics are here http://www.dja121.plus.com/Gallery%20Hilux.html
now im not brave enough to do this myself because i dont have the knowledge needed
but would be interested in paying someone to do it if there is anyone in the west yorks area technically minded enough to have a go
anyway heres the mail i rec'd tonight and he seems a straight up guy
Hi mate... heres a write up from the first guy who fitted an intercooler...
after my email...
Im not trying to sway you either way to be honest...
if you want one and dont mind a challenge then go for it...
If you want an 'easy ride' then personally I wouldnt bother with one!
have a read of the email below.... and form your own conclusions.
I cannot post on that forum even tho ive registered, hey ho... maybe i need
to be approved.
Dan
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dan,
Thanks for your message...I was going to send you some pics, but was waiting
until I had a picture with everything re-assembled (bumper & A-bars back
on).
Vehicle in question is a TOYOTA Hilux Surf LN130, ie a Jap import, now
common on British roads, 2.4TD (efi) engine. They're great vehicles, but a
bit underpowered!
I decided to fit an intercooler for 3 reasons: More power, more torque,
lower operating temperatures (temperatures were never a problem on mine, but
they can be on some).
I checked out all the owners forums etc, could find very few folk that had
fitted one. 1 or 2 had fitted small top mounted intercooler and scoop, that
was about it. Did hear of some folk in Australia and US that had fitted an
front-mounted IC on similar vehicles.
Procedure:
Stripped down front end, take both batteries out (2 fitted in parallel as
standard, 1 behind each headlight) and the 2 tanks between batteries and
headlights (expansion tank on 1 side, and windscreen washer resevoir on
other)
Had to cut 2 (60mm approx) holes in the bulkhead, beneath headlights so that
I could fit alloy tubes through, just below water tanks (see pictures).
Slight modification needed to bolts etc that hold Aircon fan...minor stuff,
but necessary.
This is where it gets very Blue Peter...!
The hardest part of the whole build was getting the intercooler squeezed in
so that bumper etc could be re-fitted, and so that the intercooler was
positioned in max. airflow. I wanted avoid major cosmetic changes to the
front bumper....I'm a Forest Manager, so do lots of off-roading and it would
soon break anything that was weakened in this way.
It took me hours of trial and error to get this right but using (4X) 90
degree brackets, some angle iron and rubber washers I just about managed it.
There is virtually no room for error at all. Intercooler is fitted
slightly off the vertical (set back towards the bottom) but so is the
lower-bumper thing, and the integral vents deflect the air in such a way to
hit the intercooler face-on.
Getting the pipework etc done was relatively straight forward after all
that. Again, not much margin for error and I did have to cut and modify 8
of the 9 silicone elbows I used! Also needed 1 metre of Samco flexi-pipe
and 1 metre of alloy tube. Used some heat proof cloth to avoid the alloy
pipe on the 'hot' side from damaging the windscreen washer tank/pump.
I went with a 2" pipework. Wasn't overly scientific, but had given it a lot
of thought. Turbo outlet is 2", and I didn't want to overload it and end up
with loads of turbo lag. There was no avoiding a 270 degree bend near the
turbo, and the 2 things I was really worried about before I went ahead with
the installation were turbo lag and loss of power.
Only other things of note, fitted some aluminium mesh to protect the
intercooler and raised the number plate a couple of inches to increase
air-flow.
WAS IT WORTH IT?
$$$$$$ hell, yes!! More torque, more power, pulls from much lower in the
rev range and will happily accelerate to higher revs. Temperature guage is
visibly lower. Because the engines happier etc there's no noticable turbo
lag at all. Early indications are better mpg but haven't done enough miles
to be 100% sure. Much less gear changes and cruises easily in higher
gear/lower revs, so better mpg makes sense.
Would I recommend it to anyone else? For the better performance etc,
absolutely. But anyone attempting it would need to be very good at
improvising. Also may not suit all vehicles of this type, depending on what
type of front bull-bars/A bars they have (more to the point, where the upper
brackets fit to the chassis).
I'll send you an 'after' picture in a couple of days. If you want to see
what the intake plumbing looked like as standard, plenty of pictures on the
web. Pretty obvious though that it took a direct route across the top of
the engine, directly behind the black induction pipe.
I will be posting this info with pics on the Surf forums when i get round to
it, maybe some others may try it. When i do, can I say where I got the
intercooler from? (yours was the only one I could find that would fit!).
If you need any other info, let me know.
Cheers,
Nick
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