Thread: Defender 300TDI Intercoolers????Links Added

Rick, I'm waiting on an intercooler kit from Alisport in the UK.

I want to fit it to the disco for a trip coming up in July - following Madigan Line in Simpson Desert. I tried to have the rangie done for this, but it's not going to happen so have to prepare the disco again.

In the limited time that I have left, I thought getting it from someone who has a good name with supplying intercoolers for Land Rovers might save some of my time.

Regarding using the refrigeration cycle with intercoolers, I don't know of anyone who has done it, but would expect someone would have tried it.

For short events, it is common to use ice boxes, and some have used compressed CO2, to provide cooling.

Originally Posted by mcrover

As long as air can pass through the intercooler easilly then there is no reason it should change how the radiator operates.

The air that is going through the air to air intercooler is not heated in any way so it SHOULDNT change the temperature of the air on the other side of it.

If the fins are fairly course rather than fine and tightly packed then it would still be efficient but wont make the radiator less efficient.

<snip>

It's the simple function of increased air resistance in front of the radiator that causes the problem.
On the Defender I've logged running temps from no condenser to fitting the condenser on a cold winters day and it affected the temp immediately, particularly hill climbing. (the condenser is an off the shelf Sanden, with a very fine pitch)

A Land Rover engineer tipped me off years ago that during the Perentie development, they ended up running a very coarse pitch fin radiator, as it cooled much better than a fine pitch one, even though they dramatically reduced surface area.
The air was 'packing' up in front of the fine pitch version, regardless of road speed, leading to overheating.

It'd be something to do with the air pressure and flow in the engine bay.

plenty of articles on autospeed about intercooling, designs, water spray controllers etc etc...

look here: Browser Warning

and this link has the specific article on the maths of intercooler assessment before purchasing: http://www.autospeed.com.au/cms/A_109789/article.html

there also was a bulk buy/manufacture or whatever of uprated intercoolers run either last year or before that by "Jase" - do a search...

hi, just thought i would add my experience with fitting a full size intercooler to my 95 disco 300tdi , i got mine when in the uk and had it specially made to fit my model -auto with air con - i was given the option of the 50% larger volume to replace the orignal but wanted the full size one , i was told they dont do a full size one for disco's with auto & ac but they said they could make one and supply all the silicon hose's and adaptors . so i went for it , it cost me £600 ($1300 aus ) but when i got it i couldnt see how the hose's would go through the front to the mainfold , apparantly i didnt tell them that i had duel batteries installed as the pipes go through the passager side where another battery would sit , so i had re-design the condenser and a/c pipes ( fortunatley thats my job) i fitted a diiferent condenser and mounted it differently then i had to moved the auto cooler further out , my big intercooler now sits between the rad and the condenser but leaves the space where the orignal intercooler sat empty. as i have a winch the space under there is tight , my auto cooler just clears the condenser fans . performance wise im not impressed, it came with instructions to tweak the pump but i havent noticed much difference , i dont know if its because i have so much armour on my disco which had increased the weight by about 4 people when empty. im not sure but if anyones got any idea why i havnt got the performance it shpould give ( they said upto 35hp more) please let me know. if you or anyone is planning to fit one of these i can tell you how i did it.

Originally Posted by taslev

hi, just thought i would add my experience with fitting a full size intercooler to my 95 disco 300tdi , i got mine when in the uk and had it specially made to fit my model -auto with air con - i was given the option of the 50% larger volume to replace the orignal but wanted the full size one , i was told they dont do a full size one for disco's with auto & ac but they said they could make one and supply all the silicon hose's and adaptors . so i went for it , it cost me £600 ($1300 aus ) but when i got it i couldnt see how the hose's would go through the front to the mainfold , apparantly i didnt tell them that i had duel batteries installed as the pipes go through the passager side where another battery would sit , so i had re-design the condenser and a/c pipes ( fortunatley thats my job) i fitted a diiferent condenser and mounted it differently then i had to moved the auto cooler further out , my big intercooler now sits between the rad and the condenser but leaves the space where the orignal intercooler sat empty. as i have a winch the space under there is tight , my auto cooler just clears the condenser fans . performance wise im not impressed, it came with instructions to tweak the pump but i havent noticed much difference , i dont know if its because i have so much armour on my disco which had increased the weight by about 4 people when empty. im not sure but if anyones got any idea why i havnt got the performance it shpould give ( they said upto 35hp more) please let me know. if you or anyone is planning to fit one of these i can tell you how i did it.

hi,
just thought i would add my experience with fitting a full size intercooler to my 95 disco 300tdi.

I got mine when in the uk and had it specially made to fit my model -auto with air con - i was given the option of the 50% larger volume to replace the orignal but wanted the full size one.

I was told they dont do a full size one for disco's with auto & ac but they said they could make one and supply all the silicon hose's and adaptors, so i went for it.

It cost me £600 ($1300 aus ) but when i got it i couldnt see how the hose's would go through the front to the mainfold.

Apparantly i didnt tell them that i had duel batteries installed as the pipes go through the passager side where another battery would sit, so i had re-design the condenser and a/c pipes ( fortunatley thats my job) i fitted a diiferent condenser and mounted it differently.

Then i had to moved the auto cooler further out, my big intercooler now sits between the rad and the condenser but leaves the space where the orignal intercooler sat empty.

As i have a winch, the space under there is tight and my auto cooler just clears the condenser fans.

Performance wise im not impressed, it came with instructions to tweak the pump but i havent noticed much difference, I dont know if its because i have so much armour on my disco which had increased the weight by about 4 people when empty.

Im not sure but if anyones got any idea why i havnt got the performance it should give ( they said upto 35hp more) please let me know. if you or anyone is planning to fit one of these i can tell you how i did it.


Sorry to go through and puntuate it a little better but it was a good post just hard to read, I think that made it a bit easier to understand.

What Rick said about the air not going through the rad is the same thing my local rad specialist said is the main problem with new vehicles.Every day we have the grey nomads enter town and 99% of them have grossely overloaded vehicles and overheating drama's.I asked him about my Defender and said cutting vents into the wings or louvers into the firewall end of the bonnet would be better than fitting a larger rad.Bullbars,spotlights,winches etc are all in front of the grill and the engine bays of most cars are packed solid and then sealed up to improve the VHS which is a selling point.The air into the bay is restricted and there is no clear way out once it gets there. Pat

Originally Posted by PAT303

<snip>.
I asked him about my Defender and said cutting vents into the wings or louvers into the firewall end of the bonnet would be better than fitting a larger rad.
<snip>

actually, further forward is better.

The base of the windscreen is a high pressure zone (remember the rearward facing bonnet scoops on A9X Torana's ? )
The best spot is the first third to half way along the bonnet. (look at an EVO Lancer, or a Panoz ALMS car for where they vent the under bonnet air)

I've wool tuff tested a Defender and a GU Patrol (bet Land rover have never done that ! ) and the top of the wings weren't real good for flow, either, partly as the underbonnet air is coming out of the gap between the bonnet and guard.
I removed the false vent in the drivers side and was actually getting flow reversion into the engine bay.
Vents in the side of the guard behind the wheels should work, as that would be an area of low (disturbed) pressure.

Raising the trailing edge of the Patrol bonnet resulted in flow into the engine bay (which is what I expected, but wanted to prove it)

I will be installing some rear facing louvers on the bonnet just back from where the thermostat housing is.
I have an Allisport intercooler and larger capacity Alloy Radiator ordered so I want the engine bay to ventilate allowing a flow of air over these units,I have removed the Air con and have an extended grill housing to go on so hopefully this will aid in keeping everything cooler.
Mickey.