Replace / upgrade intercooler

[Merlot man]

Hello all
I've a 95 TD bus and , looking at the intercooler last week it's in poor condition , fins coroded and bent , generally in bad condition so I'm considering replacing it with an up graded version , so I'm looking for ideas of people who could supply or make such an item . if I can I'd rather not change the piping but I'm not writing it off either .
If it gives EVEN more power I'd be really happy with that
Thank you all in advance
Brian

[Northern Bongolow]

http://igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/view ... de#p583199.

and

this ones long but good.

http://igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/view ... er+upgrade

[Merlot man]

Thanks for the reply NB . I've spent the last couple of days going through them ! Lots of really good information .
I found a company , allard turbo sport, that at least some time ago did an upgrade kit for the bongo , emailed and rang them today but as of yet no reply , has anybody heard of this kit or even have / had it fitted to their bus and ,if so , how is it performing ?
Lots of kits out there for land rovers, not so many for bongos
I'm not looking to turn the bus into a drag racer but it would improve the driving if it could overtake abit better and not slowly die going up long inclines
Thanks in advance
Brian

[Northern Bongolow]

i found mine ran best when the outside air temp was 10 deg c, i dont know what the engine inlet temp was but i know when it was running at its best.

i never really found the need to improve that side of things to get the best out of what is really a plodder of an engine, the best results were noticed when you do the basics, 4 wheel alignment, replace all the oils with the correct grades, good low running resistance tyres inflated on the hard side of correct, then i diverted the crank case breather to atmosphere and blank off the egr both these things improve the quality and lower the temps of the air at the inlet manifold so giving a bigger better bang, i wouldnt bother with a k and n as they dont do a lot but you could play with breathing by cleaning out all the intercooler pipework, ive seen some intercoolers full of oil, then clean out the inlet manifold maybe even polish the ports.

one of the best people to talk to about engine performance would be helen in bulgaria, she has vast knowledge from old style tuning to water injecting her bongo with good results. she will have good data as she is a bit of a geek (sorry helen buts its probably accurate seing as your background is science)

[Merlot man]

Thanks for that NB
I plan to clean out the intercooler piping either way , maybe even this week end and I did blank off the EGR a long time ago .
Can you talk me through how to divert the crank case breather and where I can find it !
Thanks
Brian

[Northern Bongolow]

lift the passy seat and look at the rocker cover, half way along its length is a rubber pipe about 15-20mm thick, this bends to the back of the head and drops down into the thick black air pipe. remove the pipe from the stub on the air duct and blank it off with a piece of pipe and a plumbing blank or similar, this leaves the rocker /crank breather to be extended down the back of the engine towards the ground.
this is how the old minis were before the save the planet lot got their way, you can put an oil catch tank on the pipe end if your valve stem seals are shot but most dont drop much on the floor. . it should pass the mot ok as long as its not chucking loads of oil out, either way way you dont want hot oily vapour going into your air inlet, this is usually where all the black slime comes from when its found round the oil cooler/inlet manifold pipework.

[helen&tony]

Hi Ady...
No problems...definitely "geeky" when it comes to improvements.
Be careful if you think of improving your engine. Insurance companies HATE anything they don't understand....The UK is like that....IT doesn't like anything it doesn't understand, and generally both institutions just raise prices in the case of insurers to stop you doing something, and the country just adds regulations to prevent sensible use of resources / manpower etc.
Most car manufacturers make cars to a price by cutting corners. When you do what the manufacturer should have done in the first place, you find it's called "tuning"...Just delve into what makes an engine work, and you'll soon see how to improve the engine. Dump the EGR, and divert the breather pipe as Ady says. This can be construed as "replacements" for parts not available. Change the exhaust for something less restrictive...same thing with the air filter.The charge cooler is too far away where its, so Yes, I'd add a bigger one...plenty out there to choose from. That little lot will help you slightly.
Cheers
Helen

[rita]

Hello all
I've a 95 TD bus and , looking at the intercooler last week it's in poor condition , fins coroded and bent , generally in bad condition so I'm considering replacing it with an up graded version , so I'm looking for ideas of people who could supply or make such an item . if I can I'd rather not change the piping but I'm not writing it off either .
If it gives EVEN more power I'd be really happy with that
Thank you all in advance
Brian

This Happy Chappie knows what he is talking about (I hope)


by Bongolia » Thu Feb 02, 2017 6:00 pm
I needed to replace the intercooler on the Wasp as the cooling fins had suffered from corrosion and were turning to powder as they were touched . I bought a couple of secondhand units from breakers but these were returned as they were not much better than the one they were replacing.
The options were either have one made or look for a suitable replacement from another vehicle.
The logical place for me to start was the Ford Ranger that uses the same engine type on some years and looking at the images on Fleabay seemed to be the closest in design.
I found a new one for 139.00 ukp from Discount Rads on Ebay very reasonable price when you consider that a S/H one was around 60.00 ukp.
You can see in this image the size difference between the old and new.
https://goo.gl/photos/wH3sWNES1v3XSuR87
The extra area should give a cooler charge to the motor and help reduce head temps as well but it was not chosen because of that although I will be tweaking the turbo a bit so this will be helpful. I will quickly mention that another way to reduce charge temps on a turbo is water injection so if any out there are thinking of tweaking your lump then this is something you may want to consider.
As you will see the swap out was really quite straightforward helped by the fact that there are no radiators in the Wasp at the moment.
Here are some images of the old unit in position and then the new to establish the best route to take regarding mounting and checking for any obstructions, pipe runs etc.
https://goo.gl/photos/NsnbSoysXkRV3S4k7

The original lugs would be adapted to take the new cooler and would position the base of the cooler about a half inch lower than stock. The turbo pipes would need to be raised and the end shortened to allow for the increase in height of the new cooler and the left hand one swung further to the left. All this would mean making up some mounts and an extension to the rubber mounting where it attaches to the cross-member.
These images show the brackets needed and how they were formed.The brackets use the original isolators taken from the old cooler. The original centre top mount was straightened to form an upright fixing for the new top bracket.
In these images you can see how the cuts were made to accommodate the isolators using a cone cutter and snips. The work should be self explanatory.
https://goo.gl/photos/6hSfSea8P7noT2Dv9
On final fitting I realised the lower angled bracket obscured the rear of the cooler so vent holes were made with the cone drill bit in the bracket to ease this.
The IC pipes were cut just below the upper rib this gives sufficient space between the rad spigots and the IC pipes to allow for some movement. You need to do this else the vibration could fracture the rad spigots where it meets the rad top plate.
https://goo.gl/photos/dcdAGfcS9YtjiLcK7
After a bit of tidying and paint here is the rad mounted in position. I have left the Ranger rads brackets in place and the top two bolts extended as they may be useful to mount other things later on. You can see in this image, not very clearly , the new support bracket on the upper left holding the IC pipe.
https://goo.gl/photos/efMAPZ4tXAvguMqc7

Here is are the stub pieces removed from the IC pipes and a better shot of the left IC support that needed to be extended.
https://goo.gl/photos/BM7TmncuNYpWwgw79

It remains to be seen if this has produced any increase or decrease in performance and whether there is a need to modify the lower under-shield and ducting but I need to get the lump back together and in before I can establish that.

P.S. The box arrived back from the overhaul and looks resplendent in its coat of silver and black paint. Big thanks to James and crew at KSM autos in Carshalton for this. Luvly
https://goo.gl/photos/Whs8wXQq6dSvtSvN6

[Merlot man]

Hello everyone
Just found this old tread from 11 years ago on BF
If you scroll to the bottom a poster, joe , talks about allard turbo sport as fitting an intercooler to his bus .
I've rang the phone no. given and it seems disconnected , emailed the web site link, they say that they don't do a kit for the bongo , never had !
it seems that the poster only posted once and it wont allow me pm him
its a long shot but can anyone shed any light on this for me ?
joe where are you ? are yopu still out there
http://www.g8dhe.net/bongo_images/Intec ... pgrade.htm
Thanks
Brian