I have mounted a new upgraded intercooler to my 110, so I will be able to get some more power from the good (but not too strong) TDI-300 engine. The installation wasn’t simple, since I had an A/C fitted and the intercooler had to be mounted in front of the A/C radiator and fan.

The new intercooler, waiting to be fitted

As you see in the picture, this unit is about 3-4 times larger than the original intercooler fitted by Land-Rover.

First, I decided where the intercooler will be fitted. I got a “bridge” over the winch that will hold it – just a bit over the winch. Then, after few screws the front grill went out, and also the aluminium frame that is holding the plastic grill.

intercooler bridge over the winch.

After that, I made two holes for the pins in the bottom of the intercooler.

I used the plastic gourmets of the old intercooler to fill the space between the intercooler pins and the bridge.

Hole in the bridge.

Left side of bridge, with the hole for the intercooler pin.

Now I’ve placed the intercooler in the desired position, and made marks of where the air pipes will go.  Since the installation was made with an A/C radiator in the front, I had to put the intercooler as far as I can to the driver side of the car, so it won’t hurt the A/C radiator.

Upper part trimming of the frame.

I took out the intercooler and made the desired cuts in  the radiators metal frame. As you can see in the photo, I had to make space for the both of air pipes .

In theis photo you can see all the cuts I made for the intercooler. Notice the A/C radiator on the left side.

Next step was to close all the nuts and bolts, and put the intercooler into it’s new home.

And now, the intercooler was fitted to it’s place, I had to make some changes to the turbo air pipes, but finally it all went to it’s place.

Ready to cool

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The gauge that I’ve  installed can store the maximum value reached.  To date, the values Celsius, UPSTREAM (after engine, before turbo) are:
1. Most relaxed urban driving – 200-300C.
2. Traveling in non-urban areas without pressing the gas pedal down- 250-350C.
3. Traveling in non-urban areas with the gas pedal pressed down to the maximum with around 17PSI, temperaure values on 350 and up. Generally around 450- 520.
4. Observed Max Value of EGT Temperature – 580C.

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Later on, I will add EGT values on the same conditions.

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The photo above shows the 2″ boost gague I’ve installed. I’ve got it from eBay. Model is Swoosh SA-58.

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Problem 2: The new seats are very comfortable, but do not fit into the original holes.
Solution: Build something temporary, that converts the new seats holes layout to the Defender holes layout.

Problem 3: After 2 years of ignoring the problem that the new seats did not fold, I was looking for a better solution.
Solution: That’s the time to solve the problem and here is the story:

The problem was that the old temporary solution (that I used 2 years) placed the seats 4cm higher than the original.  Also- every time you need to jump start yourself or a buddy or add water to the battery was uncomfortable. Last problem- remove the chair when you need to change the battery.

First thing was to place two stripes on the original holes of the seats

In this picture you can see one of the attachment stripes after the paint job.

On these stripes I have welded one side of the hinge as you can see here:

In this picture you can see the two stripes after paint – attached to the original holes:

Next step was to create a compatible “H” to the seat:

And to add one more point so it will be possible to attach the seat in more than one point (this applies only to the drivers side):

Then, I added the static ends of the clips that locks the seats- like the ones that locks the chambers under it.
The Drivers seat, in this picture you can see the locks of the seat (locked)

And now to the demo…
This it how it looks when the seat is locked:

Moving the seat maximum forward in order to lift the seat up:

Unlocking the clips and the seat is up high:

Giving us a full access to the storage box on the right side:

From this position it takes about 10 seconds to move the pins out and take the seat out of the car.

Closing the box:

And the small noise-reduction carpet:

The carpet also adds tension to the locking mechanism of the seat.

And… Locked again!

That’s it!

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That was the reason that pushed me into this little project. I wanted another thermometer, more accurate and trustable. My first thoughts were to add a mechanical thermometer of a tractor. Then a temperature controller of an old retired machine rolled in to my hands. The controller has a display that I used as a thermometer, entry voltage of  12 Volts DC, entrance to thermocouple (the measuring unit) and an exit of two internal relays that can operate any electrical device- in our case I used it to operate a simple buzzer.

The temperature tracker is a thermocouple in a shape of a ring. External diameter is 15mm and the cord is 2 meters long. When you order a thermocouple, specify that it should be the kind that fits the controller, my type was “J isolated”.

Most of the thermocouples in the industry don’t isolate the thermocouple. These types of thermocouples will not fit to a car where the chassis grounded.
That causes problems and actually the controller did not work and showed a fault message until I solved that isolation problem.

The thermocouple is connected to the block of the engine, using a screw in the center of the ring.

For the installation of the controller I made on a special bracket for all the switches that I added, as you can see in the picture above.

From electricity point of view the connection is pretty simple:

Foot #9 – gets the minus (-)
Foot # 8 – gets the plus (+) after the switch  and sends the (+) also to the buzzer’s positive leg.
Foot # 11 and 12  – gets the lines from the thermocouple (and if the reading doesn’t make any sense – switch them)
Foots  #3 connects to the buzzer’s negative (relay controlled) leg.
In addition there is a bridge from the controllers minus (in our case #9) to foot # 2 – the relay’s “active” foot.

The temperature measured in a usual drive is between 82 to 86 c degrees.
And this is how I adjusted the temperature in witch the buzzer is set to 95 degrees.
That already proved to alert before a real damage happened.

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compressor will be referred as “A/C compressor“, and the on-board air compressor will be referred as “Air compressor“.

I looked for a solution for a fast air compressor, which will be able to operate the ARB air locks as well as fast inflation of the wheels.
One option was to buy a good electric compressor (such as Thomas) and make some changes so it will be able to operate the ARB air-locks.
The other option was to take an old A/C compressor and use it as a fast-air compressor. – The 2nd option was much more complicated, but definitely faster and

stronger compressor.
In this case I had to find a proper place to place the additional air compressor without moving out the A/C compressor.
It looks simple, but after having a look under the defender TDI-300 hood, you can see that there is no so much room.
Pictures:
In this picture you can see the original stand to the A/C compressor next to the just-built new stand that supports two compressors:

After connecting the base of the stand to the engine block with the four screws that were holding the original stand, we were able to determine the exact location of the compressors. After locating the exact spot of the compressor – using Arc Welder and attaching it to the right place.
The air compressor was located closer to the engine head, in the same level the A/C compressor was mounted before the change. The A/C compressor was lifted a little in order not to hit the injection pump.

In this picture you can see the cylinder attached to the A/C compressor, just before welding it into the base:

In the following picture we removed the Air compressor in order to weld the cylinder to the base properly:

This picture shows the final location of the compressors after the installation:

On the right side you can see the Air compressor connections- Air intake from the engine breather:

The output compressed air runs to an airline filter, that separates the water and oil from the air. passing one-way valve – to the air-tank. The one-way valve is required in order to avoid pressure loss from the air compressor:

Air tank in located under the vehicle, just below the right side chair, from there air line goes to the box under the passenger side. You can see the pressure safety valve connected to the air tank:

In this box we installed the pressostat- the pressure sensor that controls the compressor. It is connected to a “T” – where in one side there is a pressure regulator- which goes to the Arb front and rear solenoid. The other side of the “T” is connected to a quick disconnect – where we can use tools and wheel inflation.

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