Isuzu turbo diesel tuning guide

[Hacula]

Hello hacula,

i'm from belgium, duchtnova also helped me with my swap.
I have a 95 opel combo, with 1.7 diesel.
swapped it to a 1.7 TD from astra F.
I used my stock F13 transmission. problem with the F13, hight rpm on the highway. 4000 rpm to drive 145 km/h.
ALso, the clucht began to slip. I thought the clutch couldn't handle the torque. But it was worn out. So i removed the F13, and replaced it with a F15 transmission with a new clutch. I didn't took a new "stock" clutch, but i took one from a corsa GSI. A stock clutch is 190 mm. The one from a gsi is 200 mm. So it can handle more torque. I don't now if the 190mm cannot handle the troque, some guy's here said it works fine. But i want to be sure so i put the 200 mm in.
With the F15 i still can use the stock driveshafts. 4000 rpm with the F15 give about 160 km/h.
the only thin i extra needes was a intercooler, i bought that one on ebay.
some pics of mine:

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3104647

good luck!

Hi Kristof,

I won't be driving fast too often, so I'll stick with the F13 for the time. At the local scrapheap they have a collection of used clutches that are still in good shape. The guy told me I could get one for about 25 euro's, so I'm gonna try to find a 200mm clutch that will fit. Do you know if the GSI clutch will fit on the F13?

You did some funny stuff with the holes for the intercooler. Do you have any pictures of the engine bay with the new intercooler? I was wondering how you routed the pipes for the intercooler.

Badass.

Who?

[KristofHA]

hello hacula,

the gsi clutch will fit. it's 200 mm and the centre hole has 14 splines.
I only mention it because the engine bay will be full. If you have to change the transmission or clutch later you have to remove the transmission again.
it's a lot of work.
the f13 drives good, better acceleration.

First i used the stock intercooler of the astra. But this one was not easy to mount.
I found a cheap small intercooler on ebay. Turbo lag is little bit higher now. So if you don't want to go for verry hight performance, i recomende to put a small intercooler, the size of the original.



the intercooler is fit it as high as possible, because the bumper otherwise wil not fit.



i removed some metal undernead the headlight to route the pipes.


i only put a k&n filter because the original air filter wil heat when the engine is hot.

i put the hole in the bumper because the engine get to "hot". Driving on the highway at 4000 rpm/150 kmh get the engine at 100 °C.
I also drive on veggi oil, so the engine temp goes a littel bit hotter then normal. Maybee you don't have any problem if you drive it stock. Also, the combo ( van ) will weigth a little more than a corsa.
if you have the room and time, you can put an extra oil cooler.

[cavalierkc]

Does anybody know which way to turn the fuel screw to increase and decrease the fuel?

[KristofHA]

it is mention somewhere here on the forum. I now it's the opposite direction you think.
So i guess to turn out the screw to increase. Am i right?

[cavalierkc]

it is mention somewhere here on the forum. I now it's the opposite direction you think.
So i guess to turn out the screw to increase. Am i right?

i've been flicking thru for ages, cant find it

[Jack]

Screw it in to increase fuelling, clockwise.

[cavalierkc]

Screw it in to increase fuelling, clockwise.

cheers jack, been looking on here all morning

[KristofHA]

damm, not a good gues from me.thanks jack

[cavalierkc]

i'm also finding it real difficult to get the in-car bleed valve actually in the car, the pipes i'm using are vacuum pump pipes and i cant get them thru the dash anywhere. just wondered if i could use smaller hose and if i do how thin can i go before the pipe would explode or melt o whatever.

[KristofHA]

the longer ( and smaller ) you make the "bleed" pipes, the less effect the bleed valve wil have. It depends on the opening of the valve.
you can test it first while keeping the pipes under the hood. If you then have the right boost, you can put them in the dashboard.

the pipes wil not explode ( i don't now how much boost you are going to set, but normaly it will handle it without problems )

I put my bleed valve under the hood. once you have fine tuned it, you don't need to adjust it any more. If you want to adjust the boost while driving, then you also need to adjust the fuel. And that's not so easy. you have to increas/decrease the fuel scew.

[Hacula]

hello hacula,

the gsi clutch will fit. it's 200 mm and the centre hole has 14 splines.
I only mention it because the engine bay will be full. If you have to change the transmission or clutch later you have to remove the transmission again.
it's a lot of work.
the f13 drives good, better acceleration.

First i used the stock intercooler of the astra. But this one was not easy to mount.
I found a cheap small intercooler on ebay. Turbo lag is little bit higher now. So if you don't want to go for verry hight performance, i recomende to put a small intercooler, the size of the original.



the intercooler is fit it as high as possible, because the bumper otherwise wil not fit.



i removed some metal undernead the headlight to route the pipes.


i only put a k&n filter because the original air filter wil heat when the engine is hot.

i put the hole in the bumper because the engine get to "hot". Driving on the highway at 4000 rpm/150 kmh get the engine at 100 °C.
I also drive on veggi oil, so the engine temp goes a littel bit hotter then normal. Maybee you don't have any problem if you drive it stock. Also, the combo ( van ) will weigth a little more than a corsa.
if you have the room and time, you can put an extra oil cooler.

Which F13 did you have? CR or WR? Because mine doesn't make that many rpm as yours i think. In fourth gear it does ±5200rpm @ 160 km/u and in fifth ±4000 @ 160 km/u.

Thanks for the info about the GSI clutch, i'll try to find one.

About the extra oil cooler, where should i tap the oil from? Since the stock oil cooler of the astra is already bigger than the 1.5TD, with the oil filter on i won't have enough room to fit an adapter for extra oil hoses i think.

[KristofHA]

i don't now. I didn't find any numbers on the f13. On the F15 i found WR.
the F13 is the stock transmission that came with the car.
maybee the corsa with 1.7D ( or 1.5 D) came with a f13 CR, and the 1.5TD came with a F13 WR(?) i don' t now.

The stock oil cooler of the astra uses the water of the engine to cool the oil. ( there are water hoses on the oil filter).But ( in my case ) when the water also gets hot, it wil not cool the oil.

there is not mutch room there to put an adaptor, i now.
Maybee you can use the output at front of the engine, where the alternator gets its oil from( i mean the vacuum pump)?

you can put a oil cooler between the output of the vacuumpomp and where it's goes again in the engine?

or maybee between the pipe to the turbo? you can ask dutchnovadiesel.

[Hacula]

I'll stick with the stock oil cooler for the moment, it's easier and cheaper
What I did do is: buy a clutch

Left: 20mm Tigra clutch, right: stock 1.5D clutch


The Tigra clutch has dubble springs. I think this one is good enough

[KristofHA]

yes, that's the one.
My also had dubble springs.
Didn't now it was fitted in a tigra.
What kind of engine was it? 1.6?

[Hacula]

yes, that's the one.
My also had dubble springs.
Didn't now it was fitted in a tigra.
What kind of engine was it? 1.6?

I don't know. They had a pile of clutches sorted on type and size. This one happened to be from a Tigra. Maybe all the Tigra's have the same clutch? EDIT: I've looked it up, and the 1.4 and 1.6 have the same clutch

I was thinking about a way to work around the immobilizer (should be the correct word). What if I take the transmitter together with the proper key and place it somewhere in the car, still connected to the immobilizer. That way I'll have no problem with it and when I take the key with me the car will be 'immobilized'. Should work right?

[KristofHA]

i don't now what you mean.

What is the immobilizer?

[Davcohen]

Does anybody know which way to turn the fuel screw to increase and decrease the fuel?

if your still not 100% sure mark the original position and with the engine running turn it if the rpms increase you have increased the fuelling and vis-versa

KristofHA, i wouldnt mind to see some more detailed pictures of how exactly you have routed your intercooler hoses/ piping

also surely for your setup it would be worth moving the fuel fiter back a bit and shortening your air intake removing the bend, either way having the airfilter that much closer really allows the turbo to spool up faster

[KristofHA]

Davcohen,

i will take some pics tomorrow.
Yes, your right, if the airfilter i closer the turbo will spool up quickly. Its a K&N filter, so the airflow is better then stock.
I have chose the intercooler to big. It was the cheapest that i could find. For me it's now problem. But for some guy that want the most power, i recommend to choose a smaller intercooler.

[Davcohen]

Just thought i would advice you as my old corsa td was non intercooled but the airfilter was bolted just infront of the fuel filter and spooled up very quickly



also made a very loud induction sound combined with the straight through exhaust on the move it didnt even sound like a td

[KristofHA]

Nice!!

but i'm going for "low profile". Also, its not legal to put a turbo engine in this car here. so don't want the attention.

[Hacula]

i don't now what you mean.

What is the immobilizer?

The black box on the pump.


There's a chip inside the key, which can be read trough the ignition. If the chip doesn't match with the chip inside the immobilizer the valve (with the magnet) on the pump won't open so there's no diesel coming into the engine. That way its harder to steal your car.

Just thought i would advice you as my old corsa td was non intercooled but the airfilter was bolted just infront of the fuel filter and spooled up very quickly



also made a very loud induction sound combined with the straight through exhaust on the move it didnt even sound like a td

I didn't know that would make that much of a difference. If that's the case I'll re-rout my k&n filter too. Now it's in the place of the original one, going trough the inlet manifold first. It DOES make a lot of sound though

[santaclaus]

Quick Question guys
any one know if you can fit an XE fly wheel ?

i could of sworn i read some where that i cant remember that some one had done it ( can anyone verify this )

Anyways due to this ive only gone and brought said , XE flywheel to replace my dished one - in order to fit a c20 let clutch and possibly F23 box in future

And the bloody thing doesnt fit !
the crank snout is too big , the flywheel bolt holes are not spaced wide enough and the XE ring gear is too small a diameter to reach the starter motor

---OR is this purely a major diffrence between early flat flywheel ISUZU'S and late dished ones ( if so , it would entail major block + crank differences between them ? )

-- THOUGH this may not seem too far a stretch for the imagination , as a guy on here once told me some interesting info
He said all 1.7td's after engine number - 209892 share the same con rods as the 1.5td
earlier ones had diffrent ones all together !

If this is correct , then my presumption would be that this is when the flywheels and other major internal changes may have been made

IF ANYONE CAN HELP , i would dearly love stronger gearbox options

P.S - Baxter claimed to have fitted a F28 box to his , any guesses what flywheel + clutch cover combo he would of used
he doesnt answer pm's any more etc

[DutchNovaDiesel]

What car & engine are you using ? (out of interest and to see what'll fit (F23's are big!))
(drag alternative: go mental and put it in a light RWD car)

XE flywheel, nope that won't fit, you can use the flywheel of a vauxhall 17TD on a C20NE to fit an F13 and drop it in a nova.
(i have seen several descriptions about swapping diesel & petrol flywheels, but this is the only one that works afaik)

The flywheelside on all the (1.5 & 1.7) isuzu flywheels i've seen are the same.
(that's on the 15D 15DT 15DTR 17D 17DT & X17DT)

As far as the con rod story, the size of the piston pins are:
1.5D 1.5DT 1.7D: 60x25mm
1.7TD: 64x27mm
I've got a few sets of conrods (1.5TD & 1.7TD), and the small ends are different (to be able to fit the bigger bearing).
I'll have to check EPC (parts catalogue), to see if there are different conrods in the later 1.5TD's and or 1.7TD's but somehow it doesn't seem likely.

Stronger gearbox options:
-F18WR
Originally fitted to the Isuzu 1.7TD's, so standard flywheel & clutch fit. Downside: Clutch is only 200mm
-F17WR
Originally fitted to the Isuzu 1.7DI/DTI (Mk4 astra/Corsa C), i guess it could be done with a standard flywheel, or swap it for the DTI one and you can use it's 210mm clutch
-F23WR
Originally fitted to the 2.0&2.2DTI & Isuzu 1.7CDTI: flywheel looks like it'll fit and they use either a 220mm or 230mm clutch !
Bonus: available with different final drives (for higher topspeed)

Google came up with a nice picture of a Z17DTH* flywheel: (currently for sale here: £175.00)
*Z17DTH = 1.7CDTI with 100 or 120BHP (also 1686cc )

Now compare that to the 1.7 & 1.5 flywheels: (bolt pattern looks the same)



I think i have something growing in my backyard that'll help me fit the F28

[Jack]

This is awesome information.

[Jack]

Ratios:

	F17(+)CR	F17(+)WR	F17WR.V1	F17+ER
1. 	3,727 		3,727 		3,727 		3,727
2. 	2,136 		1,957 		1,957 		2,136
3. 	1,414 		1,303 		1,303 		1,323
4. 	1,121 		0,946 		0,853 		0,892
5. 	0,890 		0,761 		0,674 		0,642
R. 	3,308 		3,308 		3,308 		3,308