Thread: Upgrade D1 intercooler - anyone have experience of these?

Yeah(and no!)

I've had one for years, just haven't fitted yet.
So can't comment on performance, or advantage, if any.
Mine is the same as the cheaper type. The 115mm type didn't exist when I searched for them.

But I can say with 100% certainty, not quite easy to fit. Not into the std rad/IC frame anyhow.
The std frame is curved at the front and rear edges and won't allow the thicker IC to sit into it.
So you got to either cut the frame, or bend out, the edges for the IC to sit into it.

I chose to leave the std frame alone, and I 'purchased' an Allisport frame instead. Again this was a few years ago and still hadn't been fitted. Just sat in the shed gathering dust.
But Allisport stuffed me about and sent me wrong parts ... a couple of times ... so much so I think I ended up with an entire Defender frame too. They sent me wrong parts a few times.
Finally got it right, and started the process of putting the whole frame assembly together.
I'm not happy with the way it all sits in place tho.
I got a ally rad to suit too .. thought may as well give it all a go, and if no good, easy peasy to pull out the whole assembly as a unit and put original one back in.

The major problem with the thicker IC is that the seams get in the way of the IC and rad 'fitting nicely'. It all fits in the frame now, and I haven't yet got any foam to protect each edge from rubbing/scoring.
The original outfit has a thin foam to do this, and I reckon good idea. But those seams are causing me concern.
Probably OK on the frame, but seam sitting up hard against rad .. I can't see any good in that. I'll fish it out of the shed and take photos for 'ya.

And I haven't had much chance to get to it again, due to other life stuff, other cars to sort, house to move, etc. and it just got pushed back continuously.

Thanks Arthur
Based on that I am leaning to the thinner of the 2. The 90mm one.
I had a similar thickness one on my last D1 and I didnt have problems with fitting it in.
I think if they are any good it will make quite a difference.
I notice mine getting fairly sluggish with increased black smoke in the recent extreme heat so I'm confident i can improve the performance I have inherited from previous owner.

Do you have a pressure gauge fitted, or can you fit one?

Need to know this type of data.

I've posted elsewhere about, but ATM the tdi won't boost more than approx 14-ish psi.

Std they're good for 15psi at a minimum, and I have an electronic boost solenoid, where I can vary it how I like.

I used to have it set to 20psi(but never really used it) .. just good to know I can.

But recently, after turbo rebuild(and before that) it's struggled to boost past this seeming upper limit of 14psi.

A short while ago it also started making bad turbo chattering noises too, reason for new cartridge, but before that 14psi max.
Post new turbo cartridge 14psi max again ... and I think the mufflers have clogged up.

This was a bit of an issue when I first bought it 2016, and I tried a few tweaks, but couldn't get boost.
Just on the off chance I thought pop in a new exhaust(just muffler), and I thought maybe good to have a resonator down back.

Instant turbo whistle, and now I have boost.
I didn't like the drone from the resonator, so had a larger muffler/resonator fitted which sounded better when cruising, but cost me about 50°C in higher EGT numbers.
But it still boosted, up to 21psi if required.

So based on this memory, I think new exhaust boxes may be in order .. and it has done 150K since then too.

increasing black smoke ... not a good thing, pretty much equates to too high EGT.

After tweaking this and that and then learning more about how to tune the VE pump, I thought I'd have a go at it too.
Easy to do, easy to get yourself mixed up, but with methodology it's really quite easy.

I used to use the Pentland Hills as my test strip.
It was the one road that always caused me grief in the Tdi. about 3/4 of the way up it would struggle at about 80k/h(not full throttle) just very heavy on the throttle trying to maintain above 80k/h. reason was the annoying lockup cycling from the torque converter at about this speed(roughly 79-81).
I could add fuel and it would roar up the road at up to 130k/h! .. so they can be made to go with fuel .. but EGTs skyrocketed at the same time.
I wanted it set that in the time it took to get over Pentland, I could (kind'a) max EGT at 700°C.
With the max fuel tune, it hit 700°C about 100m at the start of the long climb.
I finally got it set to how I wanted and it took a few runs. All done on a hot day. And it used to cruise at 95-100 with high 300's on the exhaust. But now shes running into the mid 400s and sometimes higher on hotter days . so I reckon time for new mufflers again.