200tdi conversion intercooler location

Hi guys, I'm part way through replacing my old 19J with a 200tdi and I've realised I don't have an intercooler. I've had a look around and the prevailing consensus is that it's pretty necessary to have one.

My 200tdi chassis didn't come with a radiator attached so I was going to use the rad I've already got an pick up an intercooler from elsewhere - has anyone done this? If so where would be a good place to put it?

Get one that's larger than the radiator enough that any pipes can fit either side or one side or the other and mount it in front of the rad.

Ok cool. My current radiator has the oil cooler built in, and is full-width, so would I be better off replacing this?

Merryck said:

Ok cool. My current radiator has the oil cooler built in, and is full-width, so would I be better off replacing this?

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I'd run with it as is for a while, see how it goes. It's pretty easy to add in an oil cooler somewhere, they don't have to very large.

An intercooler doesn't take much airflow away from a radiator, it's made to channel air through it easily, so shouldn't unduly impair a radiator or rad/oil cooler.

Ok cool, cheers! I'll have a look around and see what I can come up with!

One last question about this hopefully! I've bought an electric fan and I'm making up a shroud for it. Obviously the fan will pull air forward into the radiator, would I still want the intercooler in front of the radiator, or mounted between the fan and the rad?

here's what I fitted to my 300 Tdi D1....

These guys will make you more or less anything you want:-

www.alutec.co.uk

( no affiliation blah blah )

I'm not sure I understand your question about the electric fan - it should pull air through the rad from the front to add to the airflow from forward movement - otherwise it would be "sucking" hot air from the engine, and blowing it through the radiator against the normal flow....

Merryck said:

One last question about this hopefully! I've bought an electric fan and I'm making up a shroud for it. Obviously the fan will pull air forward into the radiator, would I still want the intercooler in front of the radiator, or mounted between the fan and the rad?

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No ... the fan should pull air through the rad from the front INTO the engine bay .. the other way means you'll be blowing hotter air through and effectively screwing up any airflow.

Haha, sorry, I'm being an idiot, of course it pulls, what I meant was having the intercooler behind the radiator, would that work?

I'm off up to the scrap yard in a bit to see if there's a radiator and intercooler from a Disco.

The idea of an inter-cooler is to cool the charge air and thus increase its density....if it is behind the rad, as the air flows through the rad and gets warmed by the coolant, it will warm the inter-cooler, which negates its point....

That's as far as I see it in any case....

It would run better without than having the intercooler behind the rad.

Saint.V8 said:

The idea of an inter-cooler is to cool the charge air and thus increase its density....if it is behind the rad, as the air flows through the rad and gets warmed by the coolant, it will warm the inter-cooler, which negates its point....

That's as far as I see it in any case....

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+1.

blue beasty said:

It would run better without than having the intercooler behind the rad.

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+1.

Plus, the IC is designed to allow sufficient air flow through it for the Rad, whereas the Rad isn't.....

Excellent, cheers for your replies guys, I'm still a novice with diesels and turbos, prior to this my only engine experience is with minis, so none of this stuff really applies! Just trying to work out how to get the thing running again with as little cost as possible!

If I can't source a cheap radiator and intercooler then I'll run it without until I can.

For some reason I thought I took pics of them temporary mounted on my Landy, but cant find them.
This is the IC and extracting fan I will be installing on mine.
I did some math on the IC fitting dimensions, CFM and cooling efficiency, this is a great match.

IC fits in front of the rad and behind the grill.

Have been using these fans for many years on out BMW turbo projects, never had a complaint.

Cheers.
.