RD28t intercoller

I am looking at going to a 3" exhaust and maybe an intercooler on a rd28t and then a dyno tune to get a bit more grunt. it is a 95 model so just mechanical pump. The question is will it be worth it or am I going off track. I have seen a couple of intercoolers that fit the rd28 but they are the air to air type and I think that won't be of much help in the bush when there is now decent airflow , I would think a water to air a better choice but just want to get some input as to weather I am off the track or it is worth the money and effort. Any guys that have tried this combo I would like to hear your thoughts. Cheers

I had a 1997 2.8TD and ran a Safari Snorkle, Safari Air to Air intercooler and catch can, egr blocked off, 2.5" exhaust and after all the time and money it was still a torque-less mule. This is a tiny engine in a big vehicle. Even in low range I had to install Marks 85% reduction to make it less of a struggle. Each change brought a tiny improvement, and combined they added up to next to nothing. I will say mine is a very heavy barge, full of all sorts of stuff and that does not help. If you drive it around empty I am sure you will probably be happy, but don't wear two sets of socks as you will notice the change in performance. I ended up doing a motor change as i liked the way the vehicle is set up. I had mine from new and did 100,000klm on it before the engine change. For me, the improvements didn't match the dollars spent.

Thinking about it though, a mate of my brothers has a 4.2 TD Safari Turbo GU ute and he reckons the best improvement he has made is changing the air to air IC to a water to air unit, and he has most of the fruit on his and would not throw money away if he didn't think it was worth it - I think it was a pretty big PWR set-up - ok different engine, but W/A did make a tangible difference over A?A.

In my country, the process of changes RD28T/Ti to the QD32 (avg price 1500 USD) or *UZ-FE (avg price 2000 USD) is already a stable business.

Hmm not much info, I have heard you are always late in a 2.8 Hahaha but the only other thing I have read is blaking off the EGR valve. the search continues.