Thread: Disco TD5 Turbo Upgrade

Thanks All for the kind words.

I'm out in the North West suburbs of Melbourne near Calder park raceway. If there's any Land Rover get togethers out this way I'd be keen to pop in.

The Exhaust turned out to be pretty straigt forward. I thought it would be a pain in the butt. Most of it is the original down pipe. I pulled the front half of the exhaust system and cut the original down pipe section off. I then welded a flange to where I'd cut it off. What was left of the original down pipe then got trimmed. I cut the original flex joint off and was left with the lower section which I reused on the new down pipe.

The connection to the turbo was the trickiest part. I got a lazer cut flange from Turbo Engineering along with the new turbo. The outlet of the turbo is actually only about 1.5" in diameter so I had to step it up to 2.5" to match the exhaust. I machined a step into the inside of the flange where I pressed in and welded in place a section of 2.5" pipe that had been shrunk down. The elbow welded to this is a section from tight radius donut. You can but them from exhaust supplies. They are basically a donut shaped tube made from 2 pressed halves welded together. They can make a much tighter radius bend this way compared to a mandrel bend. That elbow is welded to a short section of 1.5"tube that goes into the flex joint.

I lined it all up on the vehicle and tacked it then welded it on the bench and amazingly it all fit nice.

I've got to pull it off again to add an EGT bung on the outside of the elbow. I've decided to take the temps just down stream of the turbo.

Cheers

Cheers

Michael

Just a quick tip Micheal, you should measure the EGT before the Turbo to be the most accurate. Chances are your readings will be low after the turbo. Might mess you up if comparing to others.
Put the probe for you Gauge in the EGR Blockoff plate.

Thanks Keith,

I was originally going to put the EGT probe in the EGR block off plate but it's not in the best position in a TD5. According to Ray at Turbo Engineering he reckons that you can get a false reading with the EGT too close to the exhaust ports. You actually end up measuring the temp of the exhaust flame. He's not keen on installing the EGT probe before the turbo on a TD5 because they run such short intake manifolds and you may still be seeing the exhaust flame temps. He runs it immediately after the turbo and works out the temps back from there.

I may go this way also but I've been thinking about pulling the turbo and drilling and tapping directly into the exhaust housing. I'd put the probe just after the inlet to the turbo. That'll show me the temps just before The gasses hit the diffuser ring in the VNT. These are the parts that are probably the most temperature vulnerable.

Here's the new silicone rubber turbo hose. Pity they couldn't supply one in black. It's really hard to find silicone turbo hoses in smaller sizes. This elbow is 1-3/4" ID.



Here's some detail on that oil leak I mentioned. There's about 3 or 4 bolts that retain the heat exchanger to the front of the motor. the bottom left one may actually be drilled right through into the oil return passages in the head.



I always had oily grime all over the front of my motor even before I deleted the EGR heat exchanger. I thought it was the O-ring on the cam plug. I reckon oil had been seeping past the threads on this bolt for some time. When I ran the motor with no bolt in there there was quite an oil weep down the front of the motor. I couldn't see it initially because it had nice new clean oil in it and the cooling fan blew the oil everywhere.

The fix was simple. Install a bolt with a copper washer under it and no more oil leaks. Worth checking even if you haven't removed the EGR heat exchanger.



Cheers

Michael

Hi
Thank you very much for the tip about Turbo Engineering
Yes the freight from Down Under to Norway will be expensive, but I have thrubble to find a Turbo shop in UK that sells VNT turbos to the TD5.
But it seems like I have found one now:
http://www.bellautoservices.co.uk/
They say that their conversion will be ready for sale in april, and it will be a bolt on conversion.
I think he is fighting with the same issue as you are, controlling the boost, and get it set right up.
As I understood it the challenge was that a normal VNT turbo is vacum operated, but on the TD5 you have to use pressure from the exhaust manifold to operate the turbo. Anyway I am glad that there are people like Mick, Turbo Engineering and Bell Auto Service that will do the R&D, and hopefully there will be just a bolt on job for me to do

Thanks
Bjorn

Welcome Bjorn,,

remember to take pics and let us know how the installation went

My Auber EGT gauge turned up in the post today. Looks like this coming weekend will be a busy one.

Quite impressed with the gauge. it's nice and compact with the front panel only measuring approx 50mm wide by 20mm high. Should make it easy to find a suitable mounting spot.

Here's a pic of it with a car key next to it for scale.



It's got some neat features. It displays in Celsius or Fahrenheit, has a Max hold display, an alarm output that you can set the temp on and it dims when you turn on your headlights.



I'll try to post some pictures of the install.

Cheers

Michael

Imitation is one of the greatest compliments.

I think I shall start being dangerous! I hope to make Michael proud.

Something just arrived from QLD! Well not the flanges I made those for my 300Tdi. Hope to see another turbo coming in for the TD5 soon.

Originally Posted by revor

Imitation is one of the greatest compliments.

I think I shall start being dangerous! I hope to make Michael proud.

Something just arrived from QLD! Well not the flanges I made those for my 300Tdi. Hope to see another turbo coming in for the TD5 soon.

Hello Keith,
I hope I can follow your progress.