2002 GU TD 42 Turbo advice!

G’day all you Patrolian Trendsetters out their!

I am seeking advice at present on which might be my best option in gaining extra power from my 2002 4.2 GU Turbo diesel. (HT18 turbo)

I am currently heading up to Cape York next August 2013 towing my Jayco Off-road Hawk camper trailer (View RLI’s Jayco Hawk Off-road camper trailer under the Caravan and Campers thread under Great outdoors heading) I am looking for the best power option for towing my camper up and down hills, beach driving and entry and departure sections on the Old Telegraph track.

At present the poor old GU could not pull an Air force pilot off your sister or a sailor off your son! My old stock standard 2.5 turbo inter-cooled D40 Navara had a lot more power and torque than my current Patrol. (Both vehicles were fitted with bull bars, rear bars, roof racks, winches and all the usual goodies) My aim is to get the Patrol to pull has hard as my old D40 with reasonable fuel economy.

My D40 when I had it Dyno tuned produced 120kw, if I can achieve power, torque around 110 to 120kw from my Patrol I will be a happy man. I am not after a power monster!

I know there are a lot of threads on the forum; however, I am using this thread also to help provide the latest info of what is currently happening out there in the market place now!

The mission should you decide to help this thread trendsetters would be to provide the following;

1. Firstly allows all those members who have already gone down the track and up-graded their Turbo’s or modified their Turbo’s to share the latest up to date views. Ie, fuel economy, torque; power the good points and the bad points of their up-grades! What would they do differently if they were going to do it again!

2. Advise us on what brand of Turbo’s you used and why? (Ie, TDO5,Garett etc)

3. What modifications you used and why? (Ie, high flowing the Turbo, modifying fuel pressure, Dyno tuning etc.)

4. Your opinion on what boost pressure you are using and why?

5. Your opinion on which exhaust size is best and why?

6. What you think is the best value for money option set-up and why?

PS, all the best with your research info for this thread!

Regards,

RLI
:sterb003:

1. The most you want to do is an exhaust side high flow on a HT18. I am currently in the progress of upgrading to a TD05 18G and will show results once done. I have had the standard setup tuned to a respectable 142hp and towing a 3 tonne trailer it will do about 17-18l/100. The standard turbos spool nice and early but run out of puff pretty quick. Ben-e-boy has just finsihed some modification on his TD42 and is running a TD05 16G from the dts kits with very good results.

2. I have only used TD05 turbos as they are a journal bearing turbo and the garret ball bearing turbos reliability is sometimes questionable. The journal bearings can take a lot more abuse before failing and a minor rebuild is cheap compared to that of a ball bearing unit.

3. Like I said I have just dynoed mine and it returned 142hp at the wheels. This is on a factory intercooled turbo motor though. I have removed the EGR and vent the crank case breather to atmospher, run a 3" mandrel bent exhaust with dump pipe. The bigger the exhaust the quciker the gases can escape allowing your turbo to work better.

4. Without an intercooler I wouldnt exceed 14 psi. When you compress air it heats up and being that the HT18 is on the smaller side anything beyond this it just makes to much heat (air thins out) and EGT's will start to become an issue. With a intercooler I wouldnt go much further than 16 as the turbo will be out of its efficiency range (HT18).

5. 3" from the turbo back. This will improve response and help lower EGT's slighty. It is the most common size and is cheap enough.

6. With a HT18 best value for money would be an exhasut side high flow, 3" exhaust from turbo back and an intercooler setup. Follow this up with a tune and you will be very satisfied.

My standard factory turbo setup with intercooler with my tune will pull our big heavy trailer without to much drama in a 100k zone and up an incline I havent had to go below 4th gear. And I hear what your saying about the standard setup they are dismal power and torwue wise. Mine without any load normally sits around the 13/100 mark.

Sorry if this isn't the info that you want...but a diesel mechanic told me that the TD42T with a 3" exhaust, manual boost pushing the turbo to 13-14psi, bigger plunger(?) in the fuel pump and intercooler (if you don't have one) is capable of putting out 115kw with the factory turbo if tuned right.

I can't verify this (yet) but if may change your mind about paying for another turbo if you want to explore other mods as an option and keep the factory one. (But a garrett turbo would be sooo nice).

Rob

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nissannewby

1. The most you want to do is an exhaust side high flow on a HT18. I am currently in the progress of upgrading to a TD05 18G and will show results once done. I have had the standard setup tuned to a respectable 142hp and towing a 3 tonne trailer it will do about 17-18l/100. The standard turbos spool nice and early but run out of puff pretty quick. Ben-e-boy has just finsihed some modification on his TD42 and is running a TD05 16G from the dts kits with very good results.

2. I have only used TD05 turbos as they are a journal bearing turbo and the garret ball bearing turbos reliability is sometimes questionable. The journal bearings can take a lot more abuse before failing and a minor rebuild is cheap compared to that of a ball bearing unit.

3. Like I said I have just dynoed mine and it returned 142hp at the wheels. This is on a factory intercooled turbo motor though. I have removed the EGR and vent the crank case breather to atmospher, run a 3" mandrel bent exhaust with dump pipe. The bigger the exhaust the quciker the gases can escape allowing your turbo to work better.

4. Without an intercooler I wouldnt exceed 14 psi. When you compress air it heats up and being that the HT18 is on the smaller side anything beyond this it just makes to much heat (air thins out) and EGT's will start to become an issue. With a intercooler I wouldnt go much further than 16 as the turbo will be out of its efficiency range (HT18).

5. 3" from the turbo back. This will improve response and help lower EGT's slighty. It is the most common size and is cheap enough.

6. With a HT18 best value for money would be an exhasut side high flow, 3" exhaust from turbo back and an intercooler setup. Follow this up with a tune and you will be very satisfied.

My standard factory turbo setup with intercooler with my tune will pull our big heavy trailer without to much drama in a 100k zone and up an incline I havent had to go below 4th gear. And I hear what your saying about the standard setup they are dismal power and torwue wise. Mine without any load normally sits around the 13/100 mark.

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G'day nissannewby,

Fantastic info mate!

Regards,

RLI

Quote:

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Originally Posted by snewin

Sorry if this isn't the info that you want...but a diesel mechanic told me that the TD42T with a 3" exhaust, manual boost pushing the turbo to 13-14psi, bigger plunger(?) in the fuel pump and intercooler (if you don't have one) is capable of putting out 115kw with the factory turbo if tuned right.

I can't verify this (yet) but if may change your mind about paying for another turbo if you want to explore other mods as an option and keep the factory one. (But a garrett turbo would be sooo nice).

Rob

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G'day Rob,

Great in-put!

Regards,

RLI

G'day Trendsetters,

Latest in-tell over!

I spoke to Tony at MTQ Engine Systems in Toowoomba QLD today, who advised me they do a stage 2 turbo upgrade (a fully reconditioned HT18 Hi-flow turbo with a new 3 inch mandrel bent exhaust system and a dyno-tune) for $2810 inc gst drive in and drive out. I was advised this would suit my needs for towing my camper and i would be happy with the power gains.

Has anyone gone down this path and if so are you happy with the results!

Regards,

RLI

G'day folks!

The following info is from MTQ website regarding Nissan Patrol turbo upgrades!


DTS manufacture two up grade packages for Nissan Patrol 4.2L Factory Turbo Diesel.

Stage 1

Involves a redesigned Turbine Wheel at the exhaust end of the turbocharger, complete with high flow dump pipe and 3inch high flow constant radius exhaust system. Testing has proven power levels of up to 35% Increase over Factory standard engine.

Stage 2

Involves the induction and exhaust side of the turbocharger, a redesigned Compressor Wheel and Turbine Wheel, complete with high flow dump pipe and 3inch high flow constant radius exhaust system. Testing has proven power levels of up to 42% Increase over Factory standard engine.

Stage 1 and 2

Peak power levels will be determined by the condition and tune of the engine. Turbocharger Dump Pipe and Exhaust System can be purchased separately.

www.dtsturbo.com.au

Regards,

RLI

I would stick with the stage one. The limiting factor with compressor side mods is the stupid factory elbow which feeds your induction side of the turbo. Your dollars will be better spent upgrading the turbo than modifying the original.

I looked at the option of a full cartridge swap out on my ht18 so it was a ball bearing and what they call a disco potato. The figures they could give me weren't any better than what I was gettin. I have a full 16psi by 2000 rpm. I wanted plenty of info which I couldn't get before forking out the money.

Have just had United Fuel Injection in Perth fit a 3'' mandrel bent exhaust Hi Flow the turbo and fit reconditioned injectors on my 2001 4.2TD (no intercooler) and set up on the dyno.
Result was increase from 71kw (96hp) at rear wheels to 114kw (155hp) and increase from 294Nm of torque to 355Nm.
The torque curve has also flattened out considerably.
Apparently the gauze filter on the top of the IP was partly blocked so that would have contributed.
Did a seat of the pants test on a fairly steep hill nearby, pre mods standing start topped hill at 90km Hr post mods 110km Hr.
Fairly pricy exercise and yet to tow our caravan which will be the ultimate test but pretty happy at this stage.
No noticeable change in engine temp.
One problem was that the turbo drain pipe no longer lined up properly with the sump inlet pipe with the result that the connecting hose is barely long enough to fit over the belled ends, potential for hose to slip and drop engine oil.
Just needed longer oil hose to fix.
Problem with that is hose is 22mm or 7/8'' ID and that is hard to find and very expensive when you do at about $70 per foot (neoprene).
Hope that helps.
Briandon

Forgot to add to previous post that mod also included 3'' dump pipe.
If discussions with Matt prior to the job were followed there was to be no change to the fuel pressure.
My emphasis was on reliability and longevity over absolute maximum performance also did not want to affect the engine operating temperature which for a 4.2 is very steady regardless of conditions.
Briandon