So, I had a boost leak....

So, the old girl was making all the noises typical of a boost leak, I checked all the hoses and couldn't find an obvious split so I put it down to a crack on the intercooler itself. Anyway, I took the opportunity as an excuse for bit an upgrade

Ordered an RS500 intercooler as I've seen these successfully fitted to Defenders before with great results, and some new hoses:



I then removed the old intercooler and moved the radiator in it's frame to allow the new intercooler's hose fittings to come through into the engine bay. Here's a size comparison between the new one and the old one:



After some cutting, swearing and gentle 'persuasion' it's in place:



Bit of a tight fit

Some more swearing and persuasion later the centre panel is in place:



Grille back on:



Quick shot of the new hoses in my filthy engine bay:



So, has it made a difference? Yes, massively so. I tweaked the fuel pump at the same time and the difference is staggering, the increase in low and mid-range torque is amazing, I'm finding I don't need to change down in places I would normally have to, and the engine is just so much more willing and 'flexible'.

Very happy

looks good, little bit wonky

since you are fiddling with the fuel pump, are you monitoring the exhaust gas temp?

Looks worse in the pics but yeah it is a little bit wonky, need to bring the right side up a tad. I didn't go mad with the pump as I don't have an EGT gauge.

good to know, it would be a bummer if you knackered the engine.

good job

Nice
The Allisports for the 200/300 tdi are £430 ish

I looked on fleabay for the rs500's & realised they are 3" inlet/ outlets & Defenders are 2.5"...
But then looked again at your pics & you have silicon reducer elbows
So, did you buy the hoses & tubes as a kit? or separately?
From Fleabay? & Which seller?

Thanks

ps Do you get the idea I'm gonna do the same to mine?

DreXeL said:

So, the old girl was making all the noises typical of a boost leak, I checked all the hoses and couldn't find an obvious split so I put it down to a crack on the intercooler itself. Anyway, I took the opportunity as an excuse for bit an upgrade

Ordered an RS500 intercooler as I've seen these successfully fitted to Defenders before with great results, and some new hoses:

I then removed the old intercooler and moved the radiator in it's frame to allow the new intercooler's hose fittings to come through into the engine bay. Here's a size comparison between the new one and the old one:

After some cutting, swearing and gentle 'persuasion' it's in place:

Bit of a tight fit

Some more swearing and persuasion later the centre panel is in place:


Grille back on:


Quick shot of the new hoses in my filthy engine bay:


So, has it made a difference? Yes, massively so. I tweaked the fuel pump at the same time and the difference is staggering, the increase in low and mid-range torque is amazing, I'm finding I don't need to change down in places I would normally have to, and the engine is just so much more willing and 'flexible'.

Very happy

Click to expand...

Have you missed out the big idler and the tensioner for a particular reason? Was it worn out or something?

Tivster said:

Nice
The Allisports for the 200/300 tdi are £430 ish

I looked on fleabay for the rs500's & realised they are 3" inlet/ outlets & Defenders are 2.5"...
But then looked again at your pics & you have silicon reducer elbows
So, did you buy the hoses & tubes as a kit? or separately?
From Fleabay? & Which seller?

Thanks

ps Do you get the idea I'm gonna do the same to mine?

Click to expand...

Yeah I used reducers, Defender pipework is 2" OD.

It wasn't a kit, I just worked out what I'd need and got it all from this seller:

autosiliconehoses_outlet on eBay

discomania said:

Have you missed out the big idler and the tensioner for a particular reason? Was it worn out or something?

Click to expand...

I removed the viscous fan, fan pulley and tensioner and bypassed it all with a shorter aux belt. I did it because A: I had no use for the viscous fan as I'm running an electric fan, and B: I couldn't shut the chirping noise from the tensioner up, even after trying the 'penny trick' and replacing the bearing. So with the viscous fan no longer needed I realised the belt didn't need to be as long and I could bypass both the noisy tensioner now redundant fan pulley (which also had an annoying noisy bearing). I've actually been running that setup for well over a year and 8000+ miles with no issues

Fair enough, I was just intrigued into your reasoning.

I still have the fan pulley - I think of it as a big idler now as I've never had a fan on it but if the bearing ever went I would contemplate this set up to save doing a bearing change on it (not going to buy a new t-chest cover) as long as I thought I could get a good tension on the belt, i.e. not too tight or too slack.

Yeah, the noisy fan pulley bearing was the main reason I did it really, a shorter belt was cheaper than an new timing chest

I actually tried a couple of length belts before I settled on this one, can't remember the length off hand but the tension is perfect. Only downside is lack of auto adjustment to compensate for any belt stretch, but to be honest the tension seems exactly the same now as when I first fitted the belt.

Thanks for the link
I removed my viscous fan years ago....
My 19J never needed an electric fan, but the 200 tdi does when ur slogging slow though mud

Just bought a RS500 intercooler on fleabay, £110

My 300 doesn't need the fan either TBH, I can't actually remember the last time I actually needed to switch it on lol. I keep meaning to connect it up to a temperature controlled switch but I haven't bothered as I don't think it would ever get hot enough to trigger it.....

Tivster said:

Just bought a RS500 intercooler on fleabay, £110

Click to expand...

Bought it from the same seller as me then

DreXeL said:

My 300 doesn't need the fan either TBH, I can't actually remember the last time I actually needed to switch it on lol. I keep meaning to connect it up to a temperature controlled switch but I haven't bothered as I don't think it would ever get hot enough to trigger it.....

Click to expand...

Yeah, I used to leave the Viscous fan in the boot of my Disco and I have never had it on or even IN the 90. I have an 18" Kenlow to fit but I never need it so find better things to do!

how did you get it to fit???? mines a 300tdi assume it goes in front of the rad?

THEengineer said:

how did you get it to fit???? mines a 300tdi assume it goes in front of the rad?

Click to expand...

Yes, in front of the rad. I drilled two extra holes in the radiator frame so I could move the radiator over to allow the intercooler hose connections to come through. It's tight, and I'm probably going to redo it as I'm not entirely happy with how it's sitting at the moment. I'll likely make some brackets up to move the whole lot back into the engine bay and away from the grill.

DreXeL said:

Bought it from the same seller as me then

Click to expand...

2fast2cool2 ?