Club 80-90 Forums

My T25 has got an AAZ fitted and I'm thinking of fitting an intercooler. Has anyone got any experience on fitting one in a T25 engine bay.
I've changed the normal air filter for a K&n cone type filter which now gives me loads more room to fit one right next to the turbo.
Hopefully it will get enough air flow in the engine bay from the air flowing under the van. Might even fabricate a slight air scoop to direct more air in the right direction.
Just got to find a suitable intercooler off eBay.

The cooler from a rover 400 TD is a nice shape about 40 cm long 8 cm thick and 13 cm wide. I used one on an ldv pilot that I turbo'd and intercooled.

123-jn wrote:The cooler from a rover 400 TD is a nice shape about 40 cm long 8 cm thick and 13 cm wide. I used one on an ldv pilot that I turbo'd and intercooled.

Nice one.
I've found an intercooler off eBay and it got delivered today, it's from a Vauxhall Zafira.
I'm planning on designing a housing for the intercooler and air filter in the air inlet area in the wing. My idea is if I mount the intercooler in between the filter and the wings air inlet, and make it a sealed unit. The more air the turbo sucks, the more cold air that travels through the intercooler.

Might post a sketch to explain my idea.

There will be alot of plumbing involved in this idea as the cooler needs to go after the turbo before the inlet. I would put it ahead of the engine with possibly an aluminium scoop to funnel air through it from under the van. This way the turbo Output hasnt got so far to go neither has the tubing to the inlet. The turbo compresses the air making it very hot and it expands , the cooler cools it back down so more is squished into the cylinders. I used semi flexible plastic tubing with strengthening rings in it from an ldv pilot and welded up joiners to modify this diameter onto either end. Don't underestimate the pressure in this pipework. I used quite strong coolant hose at first and the pressure bulged it out until it eventually split towing my caravan up the M5. Even loads of gaffer tape wouldn't hold it. It's the compression and heat together. I am not sure what the pump is on a VW but mine was a bosch with plenty of fuelling room to manouvre. I was able to crank up the fuelling and the wastegate pressure on the KKK K14 turbo until my 1.9 XUD gave my around 115bhp instead of 92 Torque was up almost 30lbs also. Mpg in an equally brick shape LDV pilot was around 35-40.

I would bracket it to the engine using some existing bolts maybe even bracketed from the bellhousing bolts on the left of the gearbox. That way your cooler will move as the engine moves and the hoses and fixings will not get stressed as they will all move together.

123-jn wrote:There will be alot of plumbing involved in this idea as the cooler needs to go after the turbo before the inlet. I would put it ahead of the engine with possibly an aluminium scoop to funnel air through it from under the van. This way the turbo Output hasnt got so far to go neither has the tubing to the inlet. The turbo compresses the air making it very hot and it expands , the cooler cools it back down so more is squished into the cylinders. I used semi flexible plastic tubing with strengthening rings in it from an ldv pilot and welded up joiners to modify this diameter onto either end. Don't underestimate the pressure in this pipework. I used quite strong coolant hose at first and the pressure bulged it out until it eventually split towing my caravan up the M5. Even loads of gaffer tape wouldn't hold it. It's the compression and heat together. I am not sure what the pump is on a VW but mine was a bosch with plenty of fuelling room to manouvre. I was able to crank up the fuelling and the wastegate pressure on the KKK K14 turbo until my 1.9 XUD gave my around 115bhp instead of 92 Torque was up almost 30lbs also. Mpg in an equally brick shape LDV pilot was around 35-40.

NIce idea, i intend on keeping the hose lengths as short as possible. I've fitted a few retro fit intercoolers in the past, one massive one on my 110 Land Rover. I used blue silicon hose for that and it looked an awesome job.
The intercooler i bought has pipe inlet and outlets that drop just next to the turbo so hose lengths will be short. I'm not a fan of ducting air from the underside of the van especially at the back as anything that gets flicked up from the road could potentially be scooped up and go straight through the intercooler. Not to mention all the water and road dirt as well. I think the best place to duct air from is the high up air scoops in the side of the van that already deliver nice cool air to the air filter. This is more than adequate at supplying sufficient air to run the engine. Ducting it through an intercooler first won't impact the air flow much at all i don't think.

Will sketch up the idea first.

Managed to source an AAZ Inlet manifold from a member of this forum, which will hopefully arrive today or tomorrow. Then its time to find some flexi pipe and some stainless bends from work so i can crack on with the inlet pipework mods.

Here's the intercooler I'm using, it's even got the pipes pointing the right direction towards the turbo on the engine.
I'll Post more photos once the new inlet manifold is on and I've got some of the pipe work modified.

What vehicle is this intercooler from? How did you get on with the installation?