Project What has two seats, a mid-mounted 6 cylinder engine, and a turbo? Going solar

[mat_the_cat]

I never posted up a photo of the installed batteries, so here you go:

Today saw another minor milestone (whilst dropping off some food on the doorstep of my self-isolating father in law)...

...and it's now due a service. Looking through the history this will be the 48th oil change, and the 15th I've carried out.

As well as the engine oil, the axle and gearbox are due, as is the fuel filter. I also way to change the front wishbone upper bushes which are squeaking, and one of the ball joints which was an advisory on the last MOT. I'm going to leave the gearbox oil alone, as the bearings are a little noisy and I'm planning to replace the whole gearbox this year or next, once lockdown is finished and I can collect the 'box I've found! The cambelt is actually a year overdue, so better change that sharpish.

I drained the axle oil...

...and was pleased to note very little debris on the magnetic drain plug...

...but I did notice the oil was very frothy coming out!

Not something I've seen before - maybe it's because I've just been on a run rather than indicative of any problems.

Still to do fuel filter, cambelt and suspension work, but unfortunately I still have to go to work so lockdown isn't giving me any more free time!

I'm making some progress on the green Discovery though, and BX is next in line. Both taken for a spin today on the forest tracks, and positioned in readiness for tinkering

[Zelandeth]

If I remember rightly, the anti foaming additives are usually one of the first things to break down in EP like that, so just indicative that it was due a change I think.  It will tend to still get pretty well churned up on a run though, did that settle out quite quickly?

Still love the dash in that.  Having the rev counter really makes it look the business, a rare option to find too.  Don't think I've ever seen one other than yours with it.

Actually saw one yesterday strangely enough.  Was a petrol one though with the five pot Audi engine judging from the lovely warbling exhaust note it was treating us to.  Sadly probably not long for this world judging from the rust that was visible.

Still of two minds as to whether to actively look for an OM.605 for my Merc...I love the no nonsense character of the OM.601, and it just has the feel and sound of something which will keep going long after the human race is history.  However nearly doubling the power and torque availability wouldn't be a bad thing...though honestly the five pot noise would probably be a bigger draw than that given how well she actually goes once wound up.  Plus it's impossible to complain about how gently she sips diesel from the tank...which still surprises me for a 2.8 tonne brick with 78bhp to play with.  It should not be averaging 25mpg.

We do need to get a photo of our two together at some point I reckon. 

 

[mat_the_cat]

Seeing as we won't be going away in this in April, I've SORNed it for this month at least Good news is I can carry out the service at leisure though. Fuel filter is now done, so attention moves onto the cambelt.

I'm feeling very lucky that I finally have a suitable space to work on everything, out of the way of the rain - and this weekend, out of the baking sun!

The cambelt job on these is actually pretty straighfowards, just a case of removing the radiator cowl, then fan...

...before removing the crank pulley.

There's plenty of space to work in, albeit lying on my back for most of it. Beats the XUD on the BX anyway, which is waiting its place on the list!

There's a bit of an oil leak from the crank seal, so I need to order one (good job there's no time pressure). However I'm going to wait until I've taken the belt off, so I can check the pump, idler and tensioner bearings. Tensioner was done at 218k miles so should be OK, but pump was done at 150k and idler is apparently original! But if it's still smooth I will leave it on, unless a quality part is super cheap.

[mat_the_cat]

Bits arrived late last week, so I could finish off the job. The idler felt slightly rough, but pump and tensioner were fine, so have left those alone. A new idler bearing was only 30 quid for an OE part, so pretty happy with that.

Puzzlingly, the seal came with instructions stating not to lubricate it before fitting, going against logic and experience! It did come with a plastic guide to help it over the crank keyway undamaged, so fitting was straightforward. 

Then on with the belt:

Followed by the crank pulley. This is held on by a fairly chunky bolt, tightened up to 300 lb ft (more than my torque wrench goes up to!) So I have to just estimate, using my longest breaker bar, and a home-made tool to hold the crank in position.

I'm always nervous about the first start, although there was no need. Despite forgetting to pull out the cold start advance knob, I turned the key to hear the sweet sweet* sound of the engine bursting into life.

Next job should be simple - I've noticed a slow loss of coolant which I've traced to the head outlet. Not sure whether it's just the O ring, or the flange itself is distorted so will pop it off and have a look. 

[mat_the_cat]

Well, the O ring had definitely seen better days!

 

But I think the main problem is with the housing. Not only is the O ring land damaged, meaning a reduction in compression when clamped down, there's also a hairline crack!

A replacement was cheap though, so no big deal.

A light smear of silicone grease on the new O ring, and it was soon in place.

I've run it up to temperature, and it seems leak-tight so I can now move onto the suspension work. 

[mat_the_cat]

I've started on the upper wishbone bushes this evening. Pivot is a 14mm Allen headed bolt, so had to scratch around for something to hold it.

I'm pleased and surprised that despite 27 years and nearly 300k miles, there is next to no rust on it, and even the wishbone itself is pretty tidy.

Bushes are well worn though, and I'm amazed there was no play, just a squeak!

They're actually welded in place, so I've ground the weld down and knocked the first one out at least...

EDIT - Success!!!

[spartacus]

I'm sure there's some way to make a torque wrench read higher by adding an extension between it and the fastener. Obviously it requires a little light fabrication and some maths, I think if the extension is 1' long then the amount read at the torque wrench is doubled, although I could be way out at that. You've done it now though, so it's all academic, nice work, I like a camper!

[mat_the_cat]

I've just remembered that I have a 1:4 torque multiplier, which would have done the trick nicely!

[mat_the_cat]

FFS. New bushes are too big! Of course, I only realised this after trying to reinstall the wishbone, and it wouldn't even fit. So have had to grind them back in-situ, taking repeated measurements to ensure I kept them square.

So much for quality parts

[mat_the_cat]

More of a positive post today, as it's all complete and back together on both sides!

I've also changed the lower ball joint, as that was an advisory. It's too big for all three of my splitters, so I had to improvise.

The modified bolt also doubles as a timing pin for the fuel pump on this engine, hence why the threads are reduced in diameter! To remove the BJ, I just loosen the nut until it cracks apart.

To fit the new joint I have to remove the bump stop to replace the bolts. A slight pain is the bump stop bolts also hold the tie rod in place,  so I had to employ a ratchet strap to get the lower arm in position for refitting!

Job done

Last little job was replacing the T piece for the diesel heater into the fuel line with a brass one. The plastic one I'd used was of unknown age, and felt like it wasn't engaging with the hoses as much as I'd like. Don't want to risk introducing any air leaks!

Hopefully this weekend we'll get to use it. Obviously we're still in lockdown, and whilst there are still places we could probably 'get away' with it, we'll just drive up into the forest and not on any public roads. Means no chance of any disturbances in the night!

[stuboy]

keep up the good work.

 

whose is the bx?

[mat_the_cat]

Mine, patiently waiting its turn! Needs a bit of inner wing welding and a cambelt. 

[Cooper1]

Love everything about this thread.. 

 

Quite fancy a classic Vdub van..  

L

[mat_the_cat]

What could be better for a Friday night than parking up in the middle of nowhere...

...turning the heater on (note the new switch)...

...and settling down for a bottle of wine and a DVD?

Oh, and a dog who has decided that we're more comfortable than her bed!

[mat_the_cat]

I forgot to mention that I took this to get the shopping yesterday, only a 20 mile round trip to the nearest town, but it seemed a little bit more eager and responsive. There was a fair bit of slack in the cambelt, so I guess the valve and injector timing was a bit off, and I just hadn't noticed the gradual degradation.

No more squeaking from the suspension bushes either, and my better half remarked that it seemed to be riding better. Success! I'd better get the alignment checked soon though, as despite setting the eccentric washers in the same position as previously, it may have shifted slightly.

[mat_the_cat]

Tick, tick, tick, tick...

A sound that is very familiar to Chinese diesel heater owners! I've suspended mine in foam inside a sealed box under the van, but you can still hear it inside. It bothers me less than my wife, but I'd still rather not have to listen to it (the pump...)

So I decided to splash out on a Planar 'silent' pump, unfortunately at a similar cost again to the heater! But as a total cost I think it's still good value.

Out with the old pump, and in with the new - blissful silence! You simply can't hear it from the inside, even with the fan on its lowest setting. A detectable tick from the outside, but once I stepped out that was the least of my worries

Black smoke! I'd assumed that the pump required for a 2kW heater clone would be the same regardless of make, but apparently not.  The old pump markings suggested 0.022ml per stroke, and the new one 0.044ml.

I have requested a refund, but if they understandably refuse there might be a very lightly used one up for sale!

In other news I'm planning to fit the roof light which I've taken from the Airstream. Only 2 years old, and will help with both daylight and ventilation, especially when cooking. It can be tricky to get rid of the heat from what is effectively an insulated box after making a meal. Here looks to be a suitable spot, once I've thought of something to fill in the ribs.

[Zelandeth]

Hmm... I'll need to check the markings on my pump, but if it's a 0.044ml/stroke one I might well be interested in your "old" one.  The ticking doesn't really bother me, but if it can be cut down it can't be a bad thing.

It does seem confusing looking at Google, the listings mostly seem to say 1-5kW for most of the pumps.

[mat_the_cat]

Yours being a 5kW unit might well be better suited to it. I've done some research, and the Afterburner (which I'm planning to get) should in theory be able to pulse at a low enough frequency to work with it on a 2kW heater, but I can't find anybody who's actually done it!

Onto the roof light for now, and I reached the point of no return!

Which led to this:

Think I've got my money's worth from the jigsaw blade, mind!

I've loosely put it in place for now, but fortunately it fits, despite a wandering blade.

I need to clean up the frame, but pleased with the way it looks

No high speed reversing though!

[Zelandeth]

13 minutes ago, mat_the_cat said:

Yours being a 5kW unit might well be better suited to it. I've done some research, and the Afterburner (which I'm planning to get) should in theory be able to pulse at a low enough frequency to work with it on a 2kW heater, but I can't find anybody who's actually done it!...

This will probably be the setting you would be looking for...

In theory I'd think that you'd find out what values you transfer over from the old controller, then just half the pump min/max numbers...At least that seems to make logical sense!

[mat_the_cat]

Yes, that was my logic too! Mine is 1.6 Hz on low, so to fuel correctly  0.8 Hz (0.5 is the minimum allowed) should do with the silent pump. But would this be too infrequent to maintain combustion I wonder? There's also the question of how close to the nominal value each pump is, so likely to be a bit more trial and error than I want.

[mat_the_cat]

Plastic spacers now bonded into position:

And today a replacement fuel pump arrived for the heater. Different brand, and slightly cheaper, although I noted it was advertised as whisper quiet rather than silent...

Connected it all up, fired up the heater and.....

......there's no doubting it is quieter than the original, but you can still hear it, and I would say it's maybe only reduced the noise by 50%. Bugger!

I'll be ordering an Afterburner shortly, so let's hope I can tweak that to run the higher volume pump satisfactorily! 

[Zelandeth]

I do wonder if a better approach to that would be to use a bigger box with a far lower density fill medium (fibreglass wool insulation?) and to then have the box mounted on some rubber bobbins, and to do away with the nylon fuel lines.  The shock from the piston will be transmitted far more sharply through them as they don't deform like rubber would.  It looks to me in that box as though it will still be mechanically coupling quite a bit of noise straight to the case.  If you can find a good heavy die cast metal box all the better as that will obviously help damp it as well.  Failing that, possibly attaching a weight to the pump inside the box might also help damp it.  This is a whole side of things I've yet to really investigate.

I had a look at my pump today, and it's helpfully devoid of any markings whatsoever that I can see...

[mat_the_cat]

Roof light installation is now complete.

It was bedded onto a layer of sealant before tightening the screws down. I placed a blob of sealant under the screw head before tightening, and another over the head afterwards to help prevent leaks.

Once that had cured I installed the interior frame and mesh.

For any screw nerds out there, this used Robertson square drive headed screws, which I'm a fan of compared to the usual Posidrive or Phillips. I'll add a blind to cut out sunlight in the mornings, but happy with it for now.

[mat_the_cat]

We've booked this week off work, and for the first time since March, leisure travel over 5 miles from home is allowed, so spent a couple of days over in Shropshire.

It was lovely to get away, and no problems with the van. Today I had a parcel arrive from Australia, with an Afterburner controller, and a pair of P76 rocker cover gaskets for the Stellar! 

First job was plugging it in, and copying the existing settings from the heater ECU.

This was incredibly simple, and equally easy just to halve the Hz value to pulse the pump less often.

So with some trepidation I fired it up. Success!

No smoke, even on low, and no surging of the burner at 0.8 Hz. Plenty of scope for playing with the rest of the settings, but I'll save that for when we next go away. It just remained to mount the controller in place of the old rotary dial.

[Zelandeth]

Bloody clever little bit of kit aren't they?
 

Planning on using any of the connectivity features on it?  Planning on hooking up one of the GPIO pins on mine to give me the ability to turn it on from the cab - though my OCD will insist on finding a proper Mercedes aux heater switch first...

 

[mat_the_cat]

No, I really can't think of any extra functionality that I'd like. Unless you could get the timer function to sound a buzzer perhaps, rather than operate the heater. I've no idea how you'd go about doing that, and given my phone works perfectly well as an alarm clock, probably not worth worrying about!

[mat_the_cat]

A while back I relocated the infra-red 'eye' for the AC up front in the cab, but this did leave an unused blanking plate.

Given that you can never have too many USB charging points, I bought what looked to be a plain, un-illuminated  one from eBay.

Ah. Once powered up, a hidden voltmeter becomes visible. Not what I'd have chosen, and it seemed to be reading a little lower than expected, especially when a current is being drawn. So I connected up my most accurate meter (set to far too many decimal places!), and to my surprise, it seemed reasonably accurate although 0.4 volts below battery voltage. That suggests I have a resistance somewhere in the circuit which must explain the voltage drops I see under load.

I had a little bit of awkwardness getting my money back from ACLS, the suppliers of the 'whisper quiet' diesel heater pump, but got there in the end. They were quite dismissive of the Afterburner controller, suggesting it was quite limited in its functionality and I wouldn't be able to run the Planar pump with it. This raised slight puzzlement, as it's the first negative comment I've seen about it, but I just put it down to them not wanting me to return their pump. Once the Afterburner arrived I was glad to prove them wrong!

Imagine my surprise to see that they had blatantly copied the AB, and were advertising it for a more than 400% markup!! This understandably pissed off Ray Jones, the original designer, who had spotted it on their Facebook page. They've now taken the post down due to ll the negative comments it attracted!

[Zelandeth]

Is it just me or does that gear lever look about ten years too new to be in that cab?  I realise it's not really given the actual age of the van, but it just looks oddly modern.

Shameless behaviour ripping off the Afterburner, though I wish I could say I'm surprised.  Always the risk when you put something like that out there in the open domain.

[mat_the_cat]

Well, after 14 years and 75k miles, for the first time this has needed roadside attention whilst on a journey! We're on a minor European road trip after visiting the Field of Dreams, and first of all crossed into France on an eerily quiet Eurotunnel train. This was the restaurant building!

Managed to find a few quiet spots on the way down, as looking at the rules you are allowed to pass through France, and so long as you don't mix with other people, don't have to quarantine upon return.

This was a lovely car park next to a river, and had it to ourselves. It go me thinking that we prefer to avoid campsites not because we have to pay, but because we'd rather find somewhere away from people camping next to us! I'd gladly pay double for a spot like the one above! 

Compared to a campsite like this one just over the German border:

(Albeit with nice views and sunset!) Surely there's got to be some market for a campsite, with individual secluded spots, so it feels like you're the only one there?

While passing through France I was just about to pull over when the engine cut out. Less than ideal when you're relying on it for transport, charging the batteries to power the fridge, and to run the AC. No strange noises, so inclined not to think a catastrophic pump or belt failure, but without a multimeter I was unable to prove whether I was getting 12v at the stop solenoid. 

Rummaging around I found a length of wire so rigged up a temporary supply directly from the battery and it started! But then cut out again, seemingly at random. In the end I removed the plunger from the solenoid which did fix it, although surprised it has failed again in my ownership.

Crossing into Germany I thought finding one for a Bosch VE pump would be simple, but you'd have thought I was asking for a drive belt for an Invacar with the responses I got. Even pulling into a Bosch service centre I was told no, and that I'd have to go to a town two hours down the road!

I've ordered one from Autodoc to arrive at where we are saying for a while (a log cabin in the Black Forest) so hopefully that will arrive in time.

[mat_the_cat]

After nearly a week, the new solenoid finally arrived from Autodoc.de - I'd expected faster with stereotypical German efficiency, especially after paying 7 Euros for delivery! 

It was a simple job to fit it, and now all is working as normal, so I no longer have to embarrassingly stall it to stop!

All else seems good under the 'bonnet' - no obvious leaks at least!

Yesterday I met up with an old friend who owns a proper 70 Series Landcruiser, which I unfortunately didn't manage to get any decent photos of!

But it's a proper solid old truck which he's shipped back from Tasmania where he used to own it. 4 litre straight six diesel which feels like it will go on forever.