Help please!

[84ranger]

Ok I'm a newb. I keep getting this guy coming to my job trying to put together his own kit. I think he's crazy but this does look plausable. My truck is a 1984 Ford Ranger with the 2.8l carburated v6 and around 265k miles. It sat for 3 years and barely ran, I got my hands on it and it got 8mpg, after I tinkered with it, it now gets around 15mpg. I'd like more but the engine has seen better days, before I rip it out and replace it I'd like to see what I can get out of it. Everything seems simple enough I mean making the bubbler and generator is cake work but what I don't get is how do you control delivery? You know get the right amount/mixture. AFR. I've got a lot of automotive knowledge and I think I'm just over-thinking this. How do you keep it from going too "rich/lean" and I know you have to play with the timing. Do you need to play with spark plug heat ranges too? Like I said it's on it's last leg but I don't want to blow it to hell quite yet. Pretty much I want to know how do I go about setting it up once I build and install everything.(I'm too cheap to buy an actual kit)

[Mindcrime13]

hello!

well i would suggest you seafom the egine, and ran some gas tank cleaners, change spark plugs, oil, trans oil, and coolant,

clean very well the engine, and then mess with the hho!

good luck

[84ranger]

That all has been done. Any answers to my actual Q's?

[VanHalen]

Ok not sure if this helps or not. I have an 2.8 V6 Carb 84 Blazer, and I put a system similar to W4G in my truck( get off me, no use in making fun of me). Anyways, I so far have adjusted nothing in terms of spark plugs and timing. It seemed to just even itself out. As for the mixture, I'm not sure about that. I have a two cell system and haven't measured the output yet, but I have noticed an increase in power so I just let it alone. I get kind of an uneven idle, as I don't have a total vacuum seal, but I'm working on that. All that said, you probably have a totally different system, so I'm not sure how much applies. I would assume you'd have to have a pretty good output to blow your engine to hell, I've never heard of it happening

[hydropower KY]

You'll probably to want change the jets on your carb.You have to lean your engine to see substantial gain.As far as timing,I would suggest leaving it alone for now.See what gain you get by just changing your jets.Just don't get it to lean.

[computerclinic]

84ranger,

It sounds to me that you really dont need to mess with the timing just yet...Set up your HHO generator to get around 1.5 lpm for your V8...simply plug and play at that point because your running just the carb with no computer that adjusts the mixture for you...

If it does sound like the engine wants to be timmed diffrently, try working at the carb mixture before the timing...

The 1.5lpm is just a general rule of thumb..some folks get good performance with just a little...some need a bit more than 1.5

Overall, your mielage should get better and will also likely help extend the life of that old engine (so long as the rings and valve seals are in good shape)....

Keep digging on the boards here, too...there is a ton of info related to your question

Best of luck!

[ridelong]

84ranger,

Just put it on the truck. HHO by itself will not hurt the motor. Screwing around with the A/F ratio is what can get you into trouble.

Watch your tailpipe after installing HHO, the carbon (black) should start dissipating, leaving brown tinted metal. That lets you know it is working. Get some MPG data. Then mess with the A/F and timing if you want.

I have a 2003 ranger, 2.3 liter, 5 spd manual. Without mods, I got a 37% increase. From 22.4 to 30.8 mpg.

[smartHHO]

Most of what everyone is saying is correct. Before you put in the system, run a few solid MPG tests. Then, make a system, (easiest one to build would be the smack,) and try to get good production out of it. Get all the needed pieces for it, IE bubbler and generator made. cO2cutter is selling the whole plate kit on ebay which is a real good price. I bought it and put it together in about 10 min. Cell that is. Getting the rest of the stuff takes some time.

http://www.hhoforums.com/showthread.php?t=933

After you install it, just see what it does. Since your truck has no super computer, you should see results and not have them go away like the rest of the new cars normally do. Feel lucky on that part. My friend installed one in his 95 chevy truck, and got 3mpg for 2 weeks solid before the generator failed due to cheap steel and not SS for the plates. One reason to buy from cO2cutter. His steel is the real deal.

If you don't see the gains you want, then maybe lean out the carb some, but don't go crazy. You could hurt your engine if the generator fails and your engine does not get the required gas.

Good luck.

[snapper1d]

Hey there,84ranger.I have an old 73 ford f100 with the gas glzzling old 360 engine.Heres what I have done and got real good results.I first started out with the water4gas jar.Then I decided if one works more will work better.I added 3 more.I went from 10 mpg up to 15.7 mpg.I added some gallon sized units and I got less mpg.It went all the way back to 10 mpg.
I changed the jets in the carb and no help there just loss of a little power due to less gas to the engine.I was stumped.Well heres what I finally found.I read on several places that people were doing better by cutting off the bubbler on the top of your unit so it was getting just only the hho from the unit and no extra ait flowing thur it.Thats was my problem all along.I opened up the air bubbler on the unit and bingo the milage was back up.Now on the plugs.I looked at the plugs for sings of over heat on them and there was none at all.The plugs were clean as a whistle.Unbealiveably clean.The hho burning cool will keep it from burning too hot.I have let a ton of extra air run thru my hho generator and it still does not burn hot.All that extra air upped the milage a lot.I hooked my hose from the hho generator to a vaccumn line at the base of the carb that was plugged because it was just an extra vaccumn port.You dont need to adjust the needle vavles on the carb to lean your mixture since the bubbler on your unit can be adjusted to give more air.You will see a real power boost also.I was just getting ready to check the mileage to see what I am getting now and my automatic transmission went out.I have bought all new clutches and seals and I am rebuilding it right now and hope to get it back in this weekend.I will have to start over on my milage check since I have drawn gas off my tank instead of going all the way back to town to get some for washing parts.