Thread: Air Cleaner - 3.9Isuzu

I would not even consider changing to the smaller aircleaner. Apart from the resistance to airflow, which is, as you say, very important for diesels (and even more important for a normally aspirated engine - the turbo can make up for some resistance) the larger size of the Isuzu aircleaner means you can collect more dust before it needs servicing. Also, it has (or should have) a guard element which I don't think the others have, and this can save your engine - it has mine when the wing nut holding the main element was not tightened properly (not by me, I might add!).

I have never looked at the details of the Stage1 installation, so I am basing this on the County setup.

Double what John said, if indeed the Stage 1 is the same as a County.
<edit> the 300Tdi housing isn't big enough to have the guard element inside the main element, and if you ever get a look at a Donaldson filter selection chart, the 2 & 300Tdi filters are undersize, according to their flow requirements and ratings. For the frequency of servicing, etc, I'd stick with the big stock one.

Originally Posted by Aryoch

Hi

Been wondering, the big air cleaner on the Series 3 stage 1 with the Isuzu engine is a nuisance to change or check the filter in dusty conditions etc and the intake pipe is in a pain of a place for attaching anything like a snorkel as it is right behind the motor/exhaust manifold.

The Air Filter's for the 200TDI and 300TDI in the Defender's are smaller and the I think both have the inlet and outlet on the same side so would be easier to change the filter and plumb to a snorkel.

The pipes on the 300Tdi are 3"diameter from what I can see while the intake/outlet on the V8/isuzu air cleaner is some-what bigger at 3 3/4".

Do you think using the 300/200Tdi filter housing would restrict air-flow for the isuzu 3.9???? Particularly as airflow is supposed to be quite important for the diesels. Though most Snorkel setups seem to be 3" diameter for the engine bay piping and the Snorkel intake head anyway??

Filter dimensions also are as follows:
Defender 200tdi is 132mm Diameter, 280mm Long.
Defender 300tdi is 133mm Diameter, 290mm Long.
Defender/County/Stage 1 V8/Isuzu is 165mm Diameter, 365mm Long.

Cheers

Adrian.

Just reread your post, and it sounds as if there is a significant difference between the County and Stage 1 - the County has both inlet and outlet on the driver's side, just has a dump valve over the exhaust. Air is taken by a hose from the top of the driver's side mudguard. You may be able to simply drop in a County filter.
John

On my '84 county, the inlet to the aircleaner was on the passenger side and the outlet on the drivers side. I say *was* because I change it when I fitted my drivers side safari snorkel.

I drilled out the 20 or so spotwelds holding the inlet to the filter canister and pop riveted and sikaflexed the elliptical hole up.

I then cut a hole on the drivers side that was suitable for the snorkel position and spotwelded/sikaflexed it in place.

I fixed a simple deflector panel inside the filter to force the air toward the passengers side. Not sure if this was needed.

Interesting to note that my inlet was on the opposite side to John's inlet. Thene again, my county is two years older and started life as a V8.

Here's a picture of my Stage1 Isuzu airfilter can modded to take a snorkel on the drivers side.
Hope it's of some help.

It's still a pain to remove for cleaning, but it's not that often it's gotta be done, and the snorkel certainly helps keep it clean.

Thanks for the feedback and photos, don't think I'll worry about the 300tdi/200tdi air cleaners. Moving the air intake on the existing air cleaner would seem to be the go.

A job for one of these cold nights here in Canberra!

Cheers

Adrian.

I had some air cleaner elements of mine cleaned at Brisbane air cleaners last month and he commented that they are good because of there size.
They are defiantly bigger that the county uses.
I have the same problem with mine they are a pain to change.
The air cleaner bloke suggested that I could fabricate a new clamp from 1 inch by 1/8 inch strap mount it in the same place but located the clamping bolt in an easer position rather than against the back of the head.
If you don't understand what I mean I could email you a drawing