Thread: What happened to your Discovery 2 today?

Oh today I am wrapping that Darkside Stainless Steel manifold with titanium exhaust wrap.

Originally Posted by Tombie

You’ll cook it…

The thermostat also provides resistance/back pressure in the flow cycle…

And that DC fan is useless. Less than half the airflow of the driven fan.

You will soon find you’re lacking electrical power too!

Originally Posted by johnp38

Tombie makes a good point RRT

I have not used electric water pumps but what I found in converting (older) cars over to electric fans was the current draw idling in city traffic on a hot day with aircon on was always a downer.

Also the high volume of air the mechanical fan flows is also pushing its way around the engine and taking some of that turbo heat out under the car too.

And while I am at it, a twin fan factory setup from the wreckers is peanuts ( about 40 to 60 bucks around here) and is the most efficient high volume airflow vs current draw setup in my (not very humble) opinion.

You are drawing a lot of extra amps with the aftermarket electric fan/waterpump combo at idle.

How are you preferencing water flow through the heater core when you want cabin heat on a cold morning?

I would still put a thermostat housing (with a small bypass hole drilled in the thermostat flange or already built into the fitting) just after the branch off to the heater core then hose straight through to radiator top inlet (as I believe you would be eliminating/blocking the radiator bypass downpipe). This coupled with your lekky water pump set to a slow speed would draw through the heater circuit , initially pulling the warming water through and then as it all gets up to temp and thermostat opens you can speed up pump with your fancy controller settings.

My 5 cents worth

Thanks for your candor gents!

1484524180.18922-LCDEWPFANDigitalController-PN800012.07.16.pdf

Appreciate that I am taking a risk and will answer the points made, but the risk as with going Stainless Steel manifold are ones that are being taken with a fair degree of research and weighing up the breadth of knowledge available on sites such as Aulro in regard of the TD5 etc., against the fact IT IS A RISK!

In regard of the EWP, it is all reversible and will not be heading straight out the VHC to test it out, firstly it has to work around town to see how the temp is maintained and then looking to do some low speed, high revs low range driving before I take it out to the bush - will be keeping the standard fan in the D2 as a spare until I am confident that the system works as it should.

As to the point of electrical power the EWP draws 2-9 amps and the fan at full tilt is 19amps so the draw on the 120 amp alternator is a maximum of 28 amps, this leaves ample head room to charge and maintain functioning of a diesel engine.

As to the thermostat and the points as to how it operates in a mechanical, firstly it is important to understand how the EWP with controller works and the attached PDF (Page 3) shows the operational pulsing of the system which no doubt mimics the resistance/backflow of the thermostat until full flow is required. The warm up of the car interior may take a hit until temp is reached, valid point, lucky I have electric seat heaters in the D2 and wool covers then and, the electric fan wont be on!!


The EWP does not just run, it is modulated to pulse at increasing amounts dependent only on TEMPATURE and not REVS as in a mechanical system until it deems full flow is required. This also controls the fan speed and therefore the only time the system would operate at max amps is when required, it is not a constant drain of 28amps.

Starting to sound like a rep for Davies Craig, this said it is a calculated risk and one I am willing to undertake for the potential benefits (especially reducing heat soak on shutdown).

It does one thing, if I am wrong and it goes tits up, you can all say "I TOLD YOU SO" !!!

Originally Posted by RRT

Oh today I am wrapping that Darkside Stainless Steel manifold with titanium exhaust wrap.

What's the saying..."..throwing good money after bad" ?

On a positive note, at least the 'titanium' exhaust wrap will hide the cracks that will develop sooner rather than later. Also you will not lose the bits
that break out of your 'stainless steel' manifold. Mine had a 1/2" square piece break out of mine. Then it gets noisy!

$60 to get the original refaced, drill out the end holes and next ones towards the centre. Job done!

Originally Posted by mylesaway

What's the saying..."..throwing good money after bad" ?

On a positive note, at least the 'titanium' exhaust wrap will hide the cracks that will develop sooner rather than later. Also you will not lose the bits
that break out of your 'stainless steel' manifold. Mine had a 1/2" square piece break out of mine. Then it gets noisy!

$60 to get the original refaced, drill out the end holes and next ones towards the centre. Job done!

The SS Manifold is not one of the $200 ebay jobbies but a properly made manifold, properly welded and most importantly with billet collector. The fact you are talking 1/2" squares would suggest it was the ebay variety and not this one from Darkside Developments.

The quality of manufacture of this manifold is superb and not in the least way comparable to those ebay manifolds which also do not specify (let alone guarantee) the quality of stainless steel used where this has an even greater bearing on the finished product when used in applications such as exhausts. There is a lot of ill informed opinion out there regarding the ability of SS in regards of heat cycles etc.

Would think you went with the SS manifold for the known benefits of using such a manifold especially in a turbo application where the loss of heat in a manifold has a corresponding loss in heat of exhaust gas and hence speed of the exhaust into the turbo.

Spool up is also the reason I am using the wrap, the turbo from DD is slightly larger than other VNT turbo's for TD5's (another risk lol) and any gain in the performance of the manifold will have a corresponding benefit to getting it to spool quicker and if it does it will give me the low down torque I am after. The turbo by the way is a GTB2260VK and not the 2056 it would appear other TD5 VNT turbo's look to be.

The manifold before I started
20210921_105813.jpg

First couple of wraps, need more practice, anybody got a V12 extractor I can practice on???
20210921_120740.jpg

Sorry this is not meant to open discussion in this forum feed regarding SS manifolds, just a reply to your experience and as to why I still choose to go this way after reading of similar experiences with the ebay manifolds which I do not regard as comparable to the DD manifold. Again, if I am wrong and it goes tits up, you can all say "I TOLD YOU SO" !!!

Watching with interest to see how you get on.

Appreciate the drive to “test” the limits. Will be good to see how it progresses.

And I really hope not to say “I told you so”.
I’m hoping to say “Bloody well done”

Happy testing!

Question- the DD manifold is designed for Defender engine bays…

How’s the clearance & positioning in the D2?

Originally Posted by RRT

Sorry this is not meant to open discussion in this forum feed regarding SS manifolds

In my never ever humble opinion it is happening to your D2 so it is part of the discussion in this thread.

Keep going, not that I like being jealous, but it is how we see what others do to their toys.

I nipped down the wreckers today and got an IGG 000010 unit from a V8 D2 (even cheaper than the other experimental one, 25 bucks) and fitted it before I left the carpark for the 30k trip home. Alas it behaves the same oversensitive way the 040 unit does.

Got home and put the td5 tcu back in, will live with the 83km/h shift into 4th and revvy upshifts for now

Originally Posted by Tombie

Watching with interest to see how you get on.

Appreciate the drive to “test” the limits. Will be good to see how it progresses.

And I really hope not to say “I told you so”.
I’m hoping to say “Bloody well done”

Happy testing!

Originally Posted by Tombie

Question- the DD manifold is designed for Defender engine bays…

How’s the clearance & positioning in the D2?

Appreciate it!

It looks with the initial measurements it will fit with a inch or so of clearance (hence one of the other reasons for the wrap on the manifold and have a turbo mitten to comfort the turbo) but if it is too tight, a hole punched in the bonnet with 'cap' may be on the cards, the bonnet needs a paint anyway. The uplift of the manifold appears to clear the turbo into space, may have to get a heat shield if it gets too close to other pipes and the ABS but this is not a deal breaker.

Not adverse to put a bracket from the wheel well to bolt to the exhaust outlet for added stability and minimizing the possibility of structural stress but the manifold is one solid lump and unlikely to fatigue from vertical stress.

One of the other aspects of this kit is that DD have actually cut and repositioned the air inlet directly at the airbox, no big loop up and onto the airbox outlet.