I think I’ve seen twenty different solutions to this problem, ranging from an all out custom made Bell intercooler to generic ebay junk to a salvage yard Saab 900 intercooler. I looked into all of the above solutions and then decided to go my own road. The stock D90 intercooler that came with the engine was in good shape, all I had to do was make it fit. In stock form the intercooler would not fit in front of my already recessed radiator. My solution was to reconfigure the intercooler. I cut the top center port off, made a patch and tig welded the hole shut, bored a new hole for the amputated port on the side of the intercooler tank and tig welded it in place. I now had a stock intercooler that was slim enough to fit in front of the radiator, would sit under the grill mounted headlights, and was easy to plumb around the left side of the radiator. At this point all I needed to make was a couple of mounts.
The space I was working with.
Plumbing would have to fit behind this headlight bucket and between the radiator and the grill support.
The reconfigured intercooler.
Mounts bent up and in place.
And in. Functional and inexpensive solution.
Plumbed.
Very nice work. I’m in the process of installing a Defender 200tdi in a swb series IIa. Your intercooler solution seems to be what the doctor ordered.
the hankster
I’m installing a P38 power steering box, but the Defender engine I have doesn’t have a power steering pump. Any pics with this sort of detail available?
The Hankster
Hi Hank,
My 200TDi came from Rovers North with the power steering pump already mounted up. The pump sits directly below the alternator. I can’t find any good photos in my archive that display the pump very well but did find a good shot through a Google search, here’s the link:
Colby
Thanks Hank, I appreciate the kind words. The reconfigured stock intercooler has worked out very well, was an inexpensive solution, and allowed me to keep the inboard headlights. Break out the tig welder!
Colby