I am a 17 year old teen, I live in timaru and I am a apprentice mechanic. I Am quite new to 4wd in which I brought a Nissan terrano TD27 a couple of months back and I am keen to do some mods to it to make it a better vehicle for 4wding. I've got some wheels tyres and a snorkel on their way. I've already done the basic service on this truck but from reading other posts there is more stuff I wanna do. I noticed on my intake manifold the EGR system has a carbon build up around it, that is on the external of the intake manifold so i i might remove that system Well I think it's the EGR valve.... and another thing I was thinking about is the engine temp (water temp) gets quite high when offroading. A couple of things I was thinking of doing is remove my catalyst converter (if I have one) to reduce the back pressure in the exhaust system which reduces heat as well I guess? And by doing that i also want it to sound better I'm also almost tempted to sorce and fit an inter cooler to it aswell. Are these things worth doing? And where would be the best place to fit a rear recovery hook on this truck, I love playing around with the workings of my truck to make it an all road better offroader so if there's anything else I could do what you guys have done it would be great to know cheers!
best thing to do would be fit an intercooler, several ways you can do this, A: get a bighorn intercooler and assorted piping, B: get a mistral intercooler, bolts straight on, C: subaru water to air intercooler, this involves mounting the intercooler above the turbo and sorting out piping, but gives best results in my opinion for offroad, or D: get one custom made.
if your looking for a lift, to fit bigger tyres etc then go for a body lift to start with, you will need a cert for this, 50mm is the max you want to go without modifiying too much, suspension lift really starts making the front end wear alot faster.
Now if your going to put bigger tyres on it, get an idler arm brace made up, these are prone to bending, and if you have the chance, go factory tierods, not cheap branded ones, the factory ones will take much more to bend.
Before you start tweaking fuel and boost etc, i suggest you get an egt guage, and plumb that in so you know what your exhaust temps are doing, to save both the turbo and the head, put it pre turbo if you can.
last but not least, cooling.
if your getting hi temps you could be due for a radiator flush and clean out, aswell as servicing the viscous fan, but you will notice a difference in both power and temps with an intercooler.
if your into the whole electric fan thing, aparently xr6 twin fans are the easiest to fit onto the radiator.
That valve you have a picture of on the crossover pipe is part of the egr system. The actual egr valve is at the back of the intake manifold and has a pipe running around the back of the head to the exhaust manifold. I removed mine by taking the egr valve off and putting a blanking plate over the intake manifold where it bolted on and also on the egr pipe. I didnt take the pipe out as it bolts onto the underside of the exhaust manifold and would be a real ass to get off.
Im 17 with a TD27T terrano too Lots of interesting modifications on this site if you search around. And the pictures of what you said to be a leaky EGR valve actually the throttle body for creating a vacuum for the EGR, and it would be oil from the engine breather going into your intake and leaking out under boost. Oil catch can should fix that. Mine had a overheating problem when i first got it, I bought a new Radiator for $110 Water pump and fan clutch assembly for $126 both with free postage. Definitely flush the block with drain plug at bottom right hand side and new coolant will fix that. Also if it is an Auto get a trans cooler!
ChurchurDan wrote: I didnt take the pipe out as it bolts onto the underside of the exhaust manifold and would be a real ass to get off.
I got the angle grinder in there and cut it to get it out But also had to take the exhaust manifold off to drill snapped bolts, they were so rusted
Camfitz30 wrote:I am a 17 year old teen, I live in timaru and I am a apprentice mechanic. I Am quite new to 4wd in which I brought a Nissan terrano TD27 a couple of months back and I am keen to do some mods to it to make it a better vehicle for 4wding. I've got some wheels tyres and a snorkel on their way. I've already done the basic service on this truck but from reading other posts there is more stuff I wanna do. I noticed on my intake manifold the EGR system has a carbon build up around it, that is on the external of the intake manifold so i i might remove that system Well I think it's the EGR valve.... and another thing I was thinking about is the engine temp (water temp) gets quite high when offroading. A couple of things I was thinking of doing is remove my catalyst converter (if I have one) to reduce the back pressure in the exhaust system which reduces heat as well I guess? And by doing that i also want it to sound better I'm also almost tempted to sorce and fit an inter cooler to it aswell. Are these things worth doing? And where would be the best place to fit a rear recovery hook on this truck, I love playing around with the workings of my truck to make it an all road better offroader so if there's anything else I could do what you guys have done it would be great to know cheers!
Great first truck and in timaru of all places!!! (sorry Im from there)
Let us know which way you decide to go with the intercooler as Im going the way of the subaru water to air set up.
and another thing I was thinking about is the engine temp (water temp) gets quite high when offroading. A couple of things I was thinking of doing is remove my catalyst converter (if I have one) to reduce the back pressure in the exhaust system which reduces heat as well I guess? And by doing that i also want it to sound better 
I'm also almost tempted to sorce and fit an inter cooler to it aswell. Are these things worth doing? And where would be the best place to fit a rear recovery hook on this truck, I love playing around with the workings of my truck to make it an all road better offroader so if there's anything else I could do what you guys have done it would be great to know cheers!
