Hi all,
A bout 3 or so months ago, I bought an old W123 Merc 300D from a bloke on the Ozbenz Forum. I'd wanted to get one for a while and when this one came up, I couldn't talk myself out of it. I drove down to Melbourne with Timorcoco, filled the tank with biodiesel that we brought along and drove it back to Sydney. Since then I’ve been working on it as necessary to get NSW roadworthy and it is has now been registered for a month or so. The big selling point for me was the custom T4OE turbo with 3" mandrel-bent straight through exhaust that the PO fitted, which makes an otherwise very slow vehicle able to participate in normal traffic. He had also fitted a water-methanol injection system to further increase power and keep EGT’s under control. This system did not come with the car, but, fortuitously, I had already bought one that I was planning to install on my Rodeo ute, so that sealed the deal.
PO was kind enough to leave all the pipework and wiring from his old one in place and the new one bolted basically straight up.
Here's a link to the one I had already purchased…fortunately when the AUD was nice and high:
http://www.coolingmist.com/pagedisplay.aspx?pid=cmstage1&feature_key=turbo_ki ts
Here's the installation manual:
http://www.coolingmist.com/coolingmist/instructions/CMS1deluxe.pdf
If I had my time over, I think the following kit is even better value as it is the older version and is basically the same, just old stock and with a check valve in place of the solenoid, which I haven't installed (yet) anyway.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/161709434...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
I think you would struggle to buy all of the parts for the cost of this and I am very tempted to put a second one in my Rodeo the results are so positive.
I feel like I've got it dialed in now. The boost pressure switch comes set at 10 PSI from the factory, but is adjustable from 1 - 25 PSI. I feel 10 PSI was a bit too late for this particular turbo as the engine is already screaming by the time it makes 10. I've adjusted it down to about 4 and it makes an amazing difference to driving around town. You can really feel it kick in and the boost pressure climbs much more rapidly than without it. The result is more low-end torque and you don't have to rev it as hard to extract the power. It is effortless driving around town and actually pulls up hills, whereas without it, you can just maintain speed up hills (which I guess is an improvement over a NA 300D anyway). If I do any highway driving I think I will adjust it up to about 6 PSI as it would be on all the time at 100 km/h and I will end up draining the 5 litre tank too quickly. At 6 I think it would just come on when overtaking or on the hills.
I opted for the smallest option of ‘up to 300 horsepower’ with the smallest nozzle. I believe the PO had one several sizes larger and had the boost switch set much higher, which would have produced a lot more power much higher up in the rev range to the point where the turbo was making up to 21 PSI from memory. In the interest of engine conservation and not going through the 50/50 mix of water/methanol too quickly, I will stick with the small nozzle for the time being. I don’t think I have hit more than 12 – 14 PSI before I chicken out and shift gear.
Around town, I think I will get at least 100 km, maybe 150 – 200 km, to a 5L tank of ‘boost juice’ under the current settings, depending on how I drive it. I may also try just straight water when this tank runs out to see how much difference that makes.
If I fit one of these to the Rodeo, I think it will be a (comparatively) formidable weapon.....maybe even able to keep up with some of the slower modern common-rail diesel utes?.....if the clutch holds
A bout 3 or so months ago, I bought an old W123 Merc 300D from a bloke on the Ozbenz Forum. I'd wanted to get one for a while and when this one came up, I couldn't talk myself out of it. I drove down to Melbourne with Timorcoco, filled the tank with biodiesel that we brought along and drove it back to Sydney. Since then I’ve been working on it as necessary to get NSW roadworthy and it is has now been registered for a month or so. The big selling point for me was the custom T4OE turbo with 3" mandrel-bent straight through exhaust that the PO fitted, which makes an otherwise very slow vehicle able to participate in normal traffic. He had also fitted a water-methanol injection system to further increase power and keep EGT’s under control. This system did not come with the car, but, fortuitously, I had already bought one that I was planning to install on my Rodeo ute, so that sealed the deal.
PO was kind enough to leave all the pipework and wiring from his old one in place and the new one bolted basically straight up.
Here's a link to the one I had already purchased…fortunately when the AUD was nice and high:
http://www.coolingmist.com/pagedisplay.aspx?pid=cmstage1&feature_key=turbo_ki ts
Here's the installation manual:
http://www.coolingmist.com/coolingmist/instructions/CMS1deluxe.pdf
If I had my time over, I think the following kit is even better value as it is the older version and is basically the same, just old stock and with a check valve in place of the solenoid, which I haven't installed (yet) anyway.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/161709434...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
I think you would struggle to buy all of the parts for the cost of this and I am very tempted to put a second one in my Rodeo the results are so positive.
I feel like I've got it dialed in now. The boost pressure switch comes set at 10 PSI from the factory, but is adjustable from 1 - 25 PSI. I feel 10 PSI was a bit too late for this particular turbo as the engine is already screaming by the time it makes 10. I've adjusted it down to about 4 and it makes an amazing difference to driving around town. You can really feel it kick in and the boost pressure climbs much more rapidly than without it. The result is more low-end torque and you don't have to rev it as hard to extract the power. It is effortless driving around town and actually pulls up hills, whereas without it, you can just maintain speed up hills (which I guess is an improvement over a NA 300D anyway). If I do any highway driving I think I will adjust it up to about 6 PSI as it would be on all the time at 100 km/h and I will end up draining the 5 litre tank too quickly. At 6 I think it would just come on when overtaking or on the hills.
I opted for the smallest option of ‘up to 300 horsepower’ with the smallest nozzle. I believe the PO had one several sizes larger and had the boost switch set much higher, which would have produced a lot more power much higher up in the rev range to the point where the turbo was making up to 21 PSI from memory. In the interest of engine conservation and not going through the 50/50 mix of water/methanol too quickly, I will stick with the small nozzle for the time being. I don’t think I have hit more than 12 – 14 PSI before I chicken out and shift gear.
Around town, I think I will get at least 100 km, maybe 150 – 200 km, to a 5L tank of ‘boost juice’ under the current settings, depending on how I drive it. I may also try just straight water when this tank runs out to see how much difference that makes.
If I fit one of these to the Rodeo, I think it will be a (comparatively) formidable weapon.....maybe even able to keep up with some of the slower modern common-rail diesel utes?.....if the clutch holds
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