Freelander 1 Freelander Turbo build

monkfish24 said:

Yup, swapped the cams around! Reset the cams to where they should be and its running beautifully now.

Click to expand...

Sweet!!!

So a day of testing and fettling while driving has shown up a few VERY minor issues which have been or can be corrected easily.
Slight oil leak on turbo oil drain line, sealed with sealant for now while I source a new pipe. The pipe had corroded and had a few pinholes.
The exhaust down pipe was rubbing against the freelander under engine subframe. That has now been corrected with a notch cut in it, to allow the downpipe unhindered access down under the engine.

I ran the car this morning with no mid section and it was decent chair pinning acceleration, after I put the pea shooter standard freelander exhaust on, it restricts the turbo severely. I'll be off to get a stainless custom exhaust made at some point. It is still reasonably quick and the turbo just makes LOADS of noise which I like. It has already made someone in a boy racer BMW 3 series give it a double take.

All in all, a very worthwhile job. I like the freelander but never loved it due to it's lack of pace. Something I like in a car, this engine has changed that feeling! (pictures on the way!)

Pea shooter exhaust coming from the turbo downpipe, unfortunately the MG exhaust wouldn't fit over the subframe.



Engine bay, intercooler from a TD4 used and it works extremely well. The pipe work was all sourced from the scrapyard and mostly from diesel cars.



And just a small clue as to what the car is capable of

well done !!

It has already made someone in a boy racer BMW 3 series give it a double take.

Click to expand...

that's what i like to read
```````````````````````````````````````````````

I can't believe you got this much done so quickly.

Well done.
Couldn't you drop the subframe to get the MG exhaust through and bash it flat where you need to? Although it would be a bit flatter the overall area would be the same at that part.
Dropping the subframe is a ten minute job.

Alibro said:

I can't believe you got this much done so quickly.

Well done.
Couldn't you drop the subframe to get the MG exhaust through and bash it flat where you need to? Although it would be a bit flatter the overall area would be the same at that part.
Dropping the subframe is a ten minute job.

Click to expand...

Thanks! This isn't the first time Ive had an engine in and out of this freelander so the engine side of things was easy. I really like the K series, its easy to work on.

I have two large scrap yards only 15 minutes from my house and they are dirt cheap so getting parts isn't hard either.

I am also lucky in that there were two of us doing the work. I have a farm hand who helped me

With regards to the exhaust, on the MG, the 1.8t and V6 engines have the same diameter exhaust, hopefully I can get hold of a freelander v6 exhaust and see how it fits up. It needs to be a road legal system for racing and obviously cant be too loud for normal use but still gives full power. Hopefully a modified V6 or TD4 exhaust will do that.

The other issue is emissions, obviously a TD4 cat wont work on a petrol engine. Ive already lost one cat from the freelander downpipe. There is one in the mid section so I might be able to get away with using the v6 mid pipe with just one cat and modifying the rest to release those horses.

The V6 exhaust manifold is very different to the K4. The V6 front manifold only has 3 cylinders gasses going through it, so it's smaller in diameter than a K4 downpipe. Both manifolds then combine, just before the CAT.
The V6 rear manifold goes down and over the rear of the subframe.
The V6 system has an extra box fitted at the rear too, and a larger cat iirc.

Nodge68 said:

The V6 exhaust manifold is very different to the K4. The V6 front manifold only has 3 cylinders gasses going through it, so it's smaller in diameter than a K4 downpipe. Both manifolds then combine, just before the CAT.
The V6 rear manifold goes down and over the rear of the subframe.
The V6 system has an extra box fitted at the rear too, and a larger cat iirc.

Click to expand...

The diameter is the important thing though, I obviously understand that there are two exhaust banks on the V6. The exhaust goes over the front and rear subframe. I can then weld it up to fit in with the car.

monkfish24 said:

The diameter is the important thing though, I obviously understand that there are two exhaust banks on the V6. The exhaust goes over the front and rear subframe. I can then weld it up to fit in with the car.

Click to expand...

There are Infact 6 diameter exhaust systems on the 1.8, 1.8t, and kv6 range in these cars (there's the 2.0 v5 2.5 160 2.5 177 and 2.5 180/190) ranging from 48mm internal to 57mm internal.

ColinNI said:

There are Infact 6 diameter exhaust systems on the 1.8, 1.8t, and kv6 range in these cars (there's the 2.0 v5 2.5 160 2.5 177 and 2.5 180/190) ranging from 48mm internal to 57mm internal.

Click to expand...

I found a V6 FL in the scrapyard, it had a 57mm ID exhaust, unfortunately it was very rusty and probably wouldn't stand up to much cutting and welding. I will order a new one and go from there.

Fitted an LDperformance boost controller and solenoid last night.
It shows quite majorly how the exhaust is suffocating the turbo. I should be seeing 11psi before it opens the wastegate but the turbo struggles to get past 7psi! Next test is exhaust off and just double check it is the exhaust not flowng well enough. Mark Stacey seems to think that 7psi will give me around the 150-160bhp mark but 11psi will give the full 200horses

Mystery of poor boost solved.... I hadnt set the boost controller up correctly.... doh!

i like this turbo swap on a budget,as for exhaust i go with 60mm stainless steel with no restriction ...

Hi @monkfish24 I think we've had a few chats on the FB Freelander Owners Club webpage.

I'm still in a dilemma about my gearbox and clutch. Did I read on hear you moved the flywheel sensor and some pipe which then allowed you to use the MG ZT-T clutch, flywheel, and housing?

Freelander Winnie said:

Hi @monkfish24 I think we've had a few chats on the FB Freelander Owners Club webpage.

I'm still in a dilemma about my gearbox and clutch. Did I read on hear you moved the flywheel sensor and some pipe which then allowed you to use the MG ZT-T clutch, flywheel, and housing?

Click to expand...

Hello, Yeah, my initials are JM so it was most likely me!

Yeah, be sure to use the engine mounted flywheel sensor rather than the gearbox mounted sensor if you are using the K maps set up. That way, the freelander loom including the injector and intake manifold loom will work with the ZT engine. The single mass flywheel from the freelander fits straight on and the clutch is a good quality LUK clutch, it hasn't slipped once.

The fixed coolant pipe that comes out the back of the thermostat and goes round the back of the engine needs to be swapped for the extra connection for the gearbox cooler pipe.

Also use the freelander temp sensor mountin on the hard t piece located on the nearside front face of the engine and the complete freelander engine mount on the offside as the mount is different there.

Hope this helps!

BTW this engine change was completely worth it. It made towing a large trailer the other day a breeze, no struggling uphills and plenty of power to pull out and that was on a low boost setting. The trailer is about 750kg and again, even at higg boost, no clutch slip!

Yes, my initials are SW.

Thank you for this info, I wish I fully understood what it meant but I think I get it . I'll pass it on to the garage and I'm sure it'll make sense.

I'm using the Kmaps remap so will gonwoth this option. The LUK clutch you're using, is that an uprated MG ZT-T clutch?

When I do mine I'm going to put in some steel cage bearings at the same time to help try and beef it up and help with longevity!

Do you plan to change gearbox and IRD oil on a higher frequncey?

One last question: Did you use a mixture of Td4 and MG ZT-T coolant hoses?

Thanks again for all this advice.

Freelander Winnie said:

I wish I fully understood what it meant but I think I get it

Click to expand...

You need to use the standard Freelander coolant rail, not the turbo coolant rail. The Freelander rail has the take off for the IRD cooler

Freelander Winnie said:

The LUK clutch you're using, is that an uprated MG ZT-T clutch?

Click to expand...

I'm guessing the Freelander clutch is being used. You could use the L series clutch which is designed to take the kind of torque your looking at.

Nodge68 said:

You need to use the standard Freelander coolant rail, not the turbo coolant rail. The Frwelander rail has the take off for the IRD cooler


I'm guessing the Freelander clutch is being used. You could use the L series clutch which is designed to take the kind of torque your looking at.

Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure the K and L Series did have different clutches when Freelander was first released, but they then standardised on 1 for both engines.

Nodge68 said:

You need to use the standard Freelander coolant rail, not the turbo coolant rail. The Frwelander rail has the take off for the IRD cooler

Click to expand...

Would that be similar to the coolant rail used in the MG TF160 I wonder? That car had an engine oil cooler (coolant: oil heat exchanger) as standard.

Nodge68 said:

You need to use the standard Freelander coolant rail, not the turbo coolant rail. The Freelander rail has the take off for the IRD cooler


I'm guessing the Freelander clutch is being used. You could use the L series clutch which is designed to take the kind of torque your looking at.

Click to expand...

Correct and correct!