Zoltan's Shed

[zoltan]

I thought about this but it is a bit of a two edged sword: the water tanks are in an insulated box effectively: the shed itself, so I really need them to have access to the internal heat. I've accepted that the heating needs to be on a minimum frost stat level all the while we are there anyway. I have a sheet of 1" cellotex so bedding the tanks on that might be the best way of increasing their insulation whilst still giving access to the heat

[zoltan]

Expect frequent updates on the Shed build now, I've booked and paid for my ferry tickets so the Gaz must be ready for the 1840 Dover Calais sailing on the 18th February come hell or high water. Destination Alpe D'Huez.

Bit of a spendy few days as well. As mentioned elsewhere I have now got the 15 litre calorifier to install and plumb in. Plus I went for a 140 litre LPG tank and some more pipe and fittings. Still deciding how to go about the water plumbing as I want all my options open.

Luckily we had a small Bowman heat exchanger kicking around at work so this will figure in the plumbing somewhere, probably as a physical barrier between the Gaz shed and the engine coolant.

Seems to make most sense to add a 12 volt water pump in the engine preheater lines to run hot engine water to the Bowman which would in a preheating setting use hot water from the Eberspacher to heat the engine. The Eber has its own pump so that kept as a separate circuit in the box will do the heating and water heating. I foresee lots of gate valves so the interior will have a certain submarine feel about it. I will probably need another 12 volt water pump to circulate water in the shed if the Eber is switched off such as when driving.

I decided I had to go LPG as this one trip will pay for the LPG instal on its own. I know it won't help the Gaz get up the hills but it should take a little bit of pain out of a long run down through France. It is entirely a reversible change as well so if it really kills the engine power wise I will whip it off.

Also spent most of last night dyeing calico/canvas that I will use to make seat covers for the seat boxes in the shed. Have opted for dark green so it will look a bit like a snooker hall in there ;)

[haymish]

will be interesting to see just how good/bad it runs on gas with the low compression.

[cors187]

So your intention is to use the gas on the long flat roads and switch to diesel when you need load power?

[zoltan]

LPG/Petrol on mine. I am, like Haymish, resisting all temptation from the evil smelling, smoky, tractor fuel

[Rob Reznik]

I know of at least one Gaz that runs purely on LPG and he is very happy with it even starting it up on gas.

[zoltan]

I'll be using the same BLOS propane carb I use on my Land Rover and that gives me absolutely no trouble. That mostly starts first time whatever the weather on gas

I started laying out the wiring loom for the Megasquirt this weekend. The main loom is about 13 feet long snaking round the tops of the rocker covers then dipping down to the cab hinge and climbing up into the cab. I've set out a large board with nails with all the components and wiring paths on. I'll post a couple of pictures later on to convey the true horror of this job for non electricians

[haymish]

definite wiring nightmare time -i ran my 101 for 2 years without it ever seeing a drop of petrol[with a big weber 4pot carb on].starting on gas absolutely not a problem.only reason injected cars start on petrol is to stop fuel going stale in the injectors and assosiated plumbing-cos will turn to gunge and block them if not shifted periodically.

-did it cos smashed the fuel tank on rocks

[Andy_l]

definite wiring nightmare time -i ran my 101 for 2 years without it ever seeing a drop of petrol[with a big weber 4pot carb on].starting on gas absolutely not a problem.only reason injected cars start on petrol is to stop fuel going stale in the injectors and assosiated plumbing-cos will turn to gunge and block them if not shifted periodically.

-did it cos smashed the fuel tank on rocks

Theory is that the vaporisers freeze up and stick is the reason that they start on petrol until the coolant reaches a predefined temperature deemed high enough to keep the vaporiser from freezing.
Obv not always the case tho!

I intend to convert mine to LPG some time, tho with the miles I do it'll have to be REALLY cheap to ever pay for itself!
Be interesting to hear Zoltans performance comparison on LPG before all the mods.

[haymish]

you got to try pretty hard with the loud pedal on a very cold day to get them to freeze.if you got a half decent system and have it set up well it's really not a problem.most of the injector systems turn on the gas once a certain rev ceiling has been reached-normally around the 1500 to 2000rpm mark-so one blip on the throttle and you are running on lpg-definitely not enough time for any heat to have reached the vapourizer the only vehicles i've come across with freezing problems have had too small a vapourizer for the engine size.my v8's all have had a system capable of feeding 5.5l and all been smaller than that and i've only got the 101 freezing twiceish in 15years!-both times my fault for flooring the throttle for an extended period up big hills with a cold engine

[Andy_l]

you got to try pretty hard with the loud pedal on a very cold day to get them to freeze.if you got a half decent system and have it set up well it's really not a problem.most of the injector systems turn on the gas once a certain rev ceiling has been reached-normally around the 1500 to 2000rpm mark-so one blip on the throttle and you are running on lpg-definitely not enough time for any heat to have reached the vapourizer the only vehicles i've come across with freezing problems have had too small a vapourizer for the engine size.my v8's all have had a system capable of feeding 5.5l and all been smaller than that and i've only got the 101 freezing twiceish in 15years!-both times my fault for flooring the throttle for an extended period up big hills with a cold engine

Interesting. I've only had 2 LPG vehicles and both had a temperature switch at about 30'C as well as the rev switch you mention. Vapourising anything can get pretty cold, so I never questioned it.
Both mine were injection engines tho, RV8 4.2 and 4.6, so it would be a good idea to circulate some petrol regularly anyway, as you mention.

[zoltan]

My fuel pump is running permanently even when the vehicle is on LPG. With Megasquirt I have a switch maps option which gives two fuel maps and two ignition maps one each for petrol and LPG. The one for petrol which has all the boxes in the fuel table mapped for petrol running and then for LPG the second map with all the values set to zero so that I don't have any injector on time on this map but the fuel is still running round the system and returning to the tank

[haymish]

good idea cos not a lot of fuel in the plumbing and have seen injected engines in hassles with dead injectors from crud build up from not sufficient use.

[zoltan]

Got my LPG tank and associated bits.

It's H U G E and very heavy

140 litres, 1267mm long and 400mm diameter. That fits behind the off side front battery box and the rearmost battery box goes. 400mm diameter brings it down to the bottom of the existing fuel tank. I will skid the bottom of it. 140litre tank should take 110 litres: 24 gallons. At 10 mpg I can live with 240 mile range for the time being. That is about 5-6 hours driving at Gaz speed. I'll be glad of a fuel stop.

Hope to install the tank at the weekend. May take the Gaz to work for this as it is so much easier with all the lazy mans chop saws and pillar drill.

If I can get this and the front pulley on at the weekend I will be very very pleased

[haymish]

that is good and big-got a 110l one on my 101 and well knackered on a long run doing a tankfull.it gets about 11 to 12mpg on lpg on a long run and 10 to 11 on lpg in general use.

[zoltan]

Along with the progress on the Megasquirt for the Tuning Challenge I have been getting ready to fit LPG on the Gaz. I've taken off one fuel tank and a battery box on the offside and bought a 140 litre LPG tank

Here I'm just positioning it to make a frame to mount it on



The thinking behind the frame was that because the chassis needs to flex I must either mount it on the body or on the chassis but not both. Not wanting to drill any more holes in the chassis the existing tank holes have been used and I've made up a fairly stout frame on 50x50mm angle which sits the tank fairly high yet protects its underside. I'll add a couple of straps to hold the tank but for now this is the frame mid construction. Its really crappy having to do this in winter between showers and in falling light however I have a ferry to catch



Both the tank and the frame are being painted in Nato Green which almost everything else will eventually be coated in. I know it isn't right to use Nato Green on a Warsaw pact vehicle but I didn't see any Russian green for sale and it nearly matches what is on the truck

The tank looks sooooo much better in green I'm going to stencil something pointless in cyrillic on it too

[Andy_l]

I'm going to stencil something pointless in cyrillic on it too

водка
(which according to google translate means vodka! )

Oh, and don't forget the " No Smoking" note!

[zoltan]

I was thinking of

Нет Голые дамы

[zoltan]

Placed the painted tank in position. Still have the straps to do but green looks good!

[Rob Reznik]

when are you travelling and how much work is there left before you go?