intercooler for ZD30?

[michaelmohr]

Hi, anyone here with experience on installing an aftermarket intercooler onto a 2005 D22 Navara (zd30 engine)?

[tweake]

what exactly are you after?

theres the forefront kit which requires very little mods to the ute (by mem a bit of plastic trlmming).

[michaelmohr]

I have seen these for sale on eg 4wd bits and just wanted to find out if someone has put one in and what the result is: more power?, less fuel consumption?, do you need to /can u chip tune it on top of that?, effects long term engine life?, .... ie is it worth putting in?

[tweake]

its well worth fitting an intercooler to the navara ZD30.
one problem they do suffer from is blowing the turbo and compressor is known to split apart. those broken bits then go through the motor and you can kiss it goodbye.
an intercooler catches the bits and saves the engine.
certainly helps performance, economy and most certainly reliability. if you want to chip it i highly recommend fitting an intercooler first.
there is almost no downside to fitting an intercooler. its mind boggling that nissan did not fit one as standard.

the only downsides come from the kits themselves.
some remove the pre filter (not always a bad thing), others have pipe going under the chassis or through the bull bar mount!, or top mount right over the alternator (hot air off the alternator!).
seen a few water/air ones that sit the IC where the fuel filter is. also some won't fit if you have a winch. something to check before buying.

probably the best one i've seen is the forefront one, but it does remove the pre filter which makes intake noise a bit louder. they actually fit a snorkel fitting, some of the snorkels also remove the pre filter.

edit: i said helps performance. as always real performance comes from adding fuel. IC lower temps so you can add extra fuel without melting pistons, which they are infamous for.

[michaelmohr]

Hi Tweake, thanks for your reply.

Yeah really a bit incomplete without an IC (Nissan probably aimed for a certain pricebracket and omitted the IC in favour of a slightly lower endprice).
According to my local Nissan tech (Grant Ward Nissan Alexandra) ,and that makes sense so far to me, adding an IC would foremost only increase the power, because to take full advantage of the thermodynamic improvements of the IC you would have to re-map the ECU. That though is not possible on the one that's mounted on the ZD30. Hence my question about "chipping". Is there an easy to install and set out chip set/kit that could basically reduce my fuel intake by keeping the power at the same level then pre-IC? Where do I get one? and: Who do I need to talk to about the "good one"(IC) that you mentioned? I dont have a winch and I dont mind intake noise louder because pre-airfilter removed. Also, any ideas on top mounted ICs with a bonnet scoop? (less boost loss through shorter pipes).

[tweake]

Hi Tweake, thanks for your reply.

Yeah really a bit incomplete without an IC (Nissan probably aimed for a certain pricebracket and omitted the IC in favour of a slightly lower endprice).
According to my local Nissan tech (Grant Ward Nissan Alexandra) ,and that makes sense so far to me, adding an IC would foremost only increase the power, because to take full advantage of the thermodynamic improvements of the IC you would have to re-map the ECU. That though is not possible on the one that's mounted on the ZD30. Hence my question about "chipping". Is there an easy to install and set out chip set/kit that could basically reduce my fuel intake by keeping the power at the same level then pre-IC? Where do I get one? and: Who do I need to talk to about the "good one"(IC) that you mentioned? I dont have a winch and I dont mind intake noise louder because pre-airfilter removed. Also, any ideas on top mounted ICs with a bonnet scoop? (less boost loss through shorter pipes).

don't bother about reducing fuel. any gains power wise from IC are small and is not enough to cause problems.
an IC will gain you reliability. also the zd30 fairly under fueled in the low rpm, reducing fuel will make it run badly.

ecu can be tuned, there is a couple people doing it, but it requires the chips to be unsoldered and sockets soldered in. that way you can fit new programmable chips.
the advantage over an external "chip" is that they can tune so if the weird issues out eg nissans full throttle at half throttle and the low rpm under fueling.
however external "chip" is easier but has the model is old now they are getting fewer. 2nd hand ones come up now and then.

have a look at
http://www.forefrontindustries.com.au/# ... cooler-kit
i like this one due to the pipes coming over the top rather than underneath where they can get damaged.

due to the intake design, top mount intercoolers don't have significantly shorter tubing. you would really need a decent body lift to get a good sized one fitted.
most of the ones i've seen are to small and/or fitted in a bad location. they are generally a ton of work to make one fit, plus need a fan fitted, bonnet scoop etc.

[michaelmohr]

Hi Tweake,

ordered and installed!!! I did get the forefront ind. one which arrived pretty quick after we'd agreed on courier, OZ GST off, etc..

Installed easily, with a few tweaks on my truck. Thanks a lot for the info and safe trucking.

MM