Land Rover 300tdi tuning

Get an egt gauge on it, cheap off eBay and stick n the egt blank.

Bear in mind a 2 ton truck with a lowly tuned tdi engine isn't ever going to be mega quick.

Ours is fairly stock, egr blanked but with a boost pin off eBay.

You can tune the stock pump, but the boost pin adjusts the ramp angle of the governer pin. The biggest problem with the boost pins is then adjusting the fueling down so you don't get clouds of black smoke following you around.

There's loads of info about and as you say, the stock 1 bar boost is the max really. You can tap the inlet manifold for a boost gauge and make sure you are getting 1 bar though. Adjust the actuator rod if you are down on boost.

Yeah, my 300 is fairly standard but just really healthy and the truck isn't exactly slow,, has the usual EGR bypass, silicone Turbo hoses (the cheap rubber ones blow up like a balloon), has the big Allisport intercooler and a new Turbo last year though.

So i think the first step is to make sure everything is healthy with the motor, should go pretty well.

pump timing is critical on turbo diesels.
before i did anything else id do the cambelt and tensioners, and be meticulous about getting it timed right.
most mechanics these days are pretty slapdash and working to the clock, so don't seem to take particular care about such things, they just want the job done as quick as possible.
getting this bit right is more important than any tuning you do afterwards and is essentially free, so id start there.

First things first, if your discovery is an automatic you can't do most of what i'm about to say as its governed by an ecu controlling it. However that is chip-able so if you want more power that is your best route.

For a manual start with removing the EGR valve and fitting a blanking plug and getting silicone inlet hoses to the turbo. Then i would get a de-cat down pipe, leave the mid and back box in unless you want a really loud exhaust noise. the cat will not make much difference to the noise but does let the engine/turbo breath easier.

Next  before playing inside the pump I agree with Dez pump timing is an often missed and very important step in getting the 300tdi engine to work well. Any tweaks you do to the pump itself will not have their full effect if the pump timing isn't optimum first so that is your next port of call.
A lot of people who change the belts (mechanics and owners) do so following most of the instructions and use pins. But most are not interested in getting the best performance from the engine, they simply want to put a new belt on before the old unknown one snaps. Often they use drill bits to lock everything in place (which is fine) but they use a 9mm (instead of 9.5mm) drill bit for the injection pulley which is where they unwittingly retard the timing and loose a load of performance from the otherwise healthy engine, this is often accompanied by lost of white smoke when cold. 0.5 mm doesn't sound like much but it makes a big difference.

There is an important bit in doing the timing when you are looking to get the original setup right. The timing pin in the injection pump needs to be tight in the housing and the pulley turned clockwise to touch the pin (the slot hole in the pulley is a fraction wider than the pin hole in the housing). That fraction is enough to have the timing retarded a bit past where landrover designed it to be and does affect the standard power output.
If the pump is empty of fuel its not a problem as there is no internal force on the pulley, but unless you are fitting a replacement pump it will be full of fuel and this is being compressed inside at the point the pin is inserted (after all that is what an injection pump does, compress fuel) So if you loosen the 3 pulley bolts without having the pin in the pump and shaft will rotate anti-clockwise quite a lot as the compressed fuel expands. Same happens if the pin isn't tight in the pulley, but only till the pulley touches the pin. Which is retarding the injection pump.
So getting the right size pin and rotating the pulley clockwise till it touches it, then tightening the 3 pulley bolts makes a big difference.

For a bit more performance you can advance the pump timing a bit more, i did this on my 300tdi by using a slightly smaller pin and rotating till it touches. Think the standard pin is 9.5mm and its only 0.1 or 0.2 to get the advance right.

As a quick tip when doing the pump timing or changing the belt you need to lock the crankshaft in position at TDC, there is a wading plug in the bottom of the bell housing that corresponds to a slot in the flywheel. Many people just line this up by eye, or you can buy a timing pin that screws in to place. Problem with both of these is you either need 2 people (you can't physically look at the timing marks and rotate the engine by the crank pulley bolt) or you are up and down a load trying to get it in exactly the right position. However there is a much easier way. Whether by coincidence or design the reverse switch on the manual box has the same threads as the wading plug, and has a sprung loaded plunger at the end. You can turn the crank to near TDC going by the crank pulley markings, then screw the reverse switch into the wading plug hole, then slowly turn the crank until the plunger pops into the groove and locks the crank in place.

After the pump timing comes the injection pump itself. Inside is an eccentric control cone which governs fuel delivery in reference to boost pressure. This is the part you can replace with a boost pin. But before you do that its worth checking where your original pin is set. When i checked mine i found it wasn't even at the factory position (which itself isn't for best performance). So mark where it is and try turning it around to get the most movement from the pin.

After that you can also add more pressure to the preload of the diaphragm spring, but too much and you get black smoke.

Did all the above to mine and from a numb old truck that wouldn't really pull bellow 3000rpm it now pulls from tick over and goes much much better. Doesn't smoke apart from that first moment you mash the pedal to the floor, and then its only a slight puff which is how a diesel should be.

Well worth the time to do.

Ok brilliant guys lots of useful information there thanks

Two things that have been said that I personally disagree with.

1, don't bother with increasing the boost as you won't gain anything. What rubbish!!

2, adjust the fueling screw on the back of the pump. Why? Do you like pumping in extra fuel at idle as well? Only time you need to adjust this, is if you're pushing in some quite serious boost and turning the diaphragm to the steepest side, doesn't give you enough fuel.

Diaphragm adjustment is correct and only gives you the extra fuel when you need it, when on boost.
Also important is the star wheel that sits below the spring, under the diaphragm. That needs to be turned clockwise (lowered slightly), to allow the pump to start giving extra fuel sooner (less boost pressure required to push the diaphragm down)
On a 200, wastegate adjustment in situ is simple, on a 300, it's nearly as quick and definitely easier to just remove the manifold from the engine and downpipe. It's only 11 bolts/nuts.
If the engine is good mechanically and hasn't done intergalactic mileage, shorten the wastegate actuator rod by 7mm.
All these alterations will (if everything else, valve clearances, pump timing etc are correct) give you an increase of approx. 20-25bhp with a single box exhaust and egr blank.

Mark the position of the diaphragm before you turn it, as you'll be able to put it back if need be. As has been said, make sure cambelt, tensioner and idler is changed if you don't know when it was done last.

There's plenty of info on the web, including pics, showing how to do these mods.