No pics as yet I'm afraid, but basically the same unit that Jock the Rock installed on his Defender recently. It was actually sold to us by the other purchaser in his 'group buy' who decided a Defender would be better with a Gen3...(I can understand it actually) so it became available after a troublesome time with another brand of VNT 'kit' already supplied which basically didn't fit.( Enough about that episode.)

Anyway, the vehicle is a 1997 Auto D1, 3rd gear lockup mod to auto, Defender transfer gears, 245/75/16 tyres, Twin tru tracs, one of Jases bigger intercooler cores, and a 2.5" exhaust. It is a little heavier than standard, lightweight ally bar and a winch/cradle. Storage drawers and twin wheel carrier with step bumper.

Originally some years ago we fitted a watercooled Mits turbo kit from MTQ in Sydney. Made a bit of difference but still lacked bottom end. Intercooler and exhaust was done at the same time.

Now, adding the MD Engineering VNT was a simple task. Removal of old unit and fitting new took about 4.5 hours, we also replaced the coolant hoses that were cut to accomodate the watercooling, not req with the new VNT unit. As you can see in Jocks photos, the manifold and turbo is basically a 2.8Tgv unit, and the pipework etc is made for specific applications. In the case of this one, the dump pipe was for a Defender, would've fitted a manual D1, but trans cooler lines and adapter housing for auto made it a tight squeeze so local exhaust place made a new dump pipe and flanges etc, plus mounted a Pyro fitting for me and flex to join up with original engine pipe.

Intake plumbing req an elbow and cutting/ shortening of the original intake flexible rubber pipe to fit from airbox straight to turbo intake.

The performance was quite, errr, different. I had wound on a bit too much fuel at first, and I believe that it would be quite easily to break drivetrain bits like CV's etc behind this Tdi if driven spiritedly The front Trutrac even broke traction on dry bitumen on a turn up a hill under 3/4 throttle as soon as it had boost. This comes in VERY early now, straight to 18psi then drops off to a steady 15 to 16 psi all the way through the gears.

A little more pump adjustment including to the kickdown cable etc, saw a very happy medium. Great low down and midrange performance, at 90km/h it will pull strongly without downshift to 120.


I will try and get some photos, but it really isn't any different to look at than Jocks one.

I would highly recommend the upgrade

JC