Mercedes diesel test mule

[rcflyn]

With all that Room behind the grill, I don't think you'll have anything to worry about, I'd throw it ALL up there... I sure wish my Beemer had that kind of room...
And I really don't think you installing duct work will really do to much good (Maybe I'm thinking wrong here). But, as the car is moving, I really don't think under hood temps are going to be all that high.. BUT, in Stop and Go situations.. So when you're STOPPED, there isn't going to be any airflow through your Duct work either.. Although...once you get moving again, Maybe the Duct work would cool the reactor down a bit quicker... Or are we just speaking Richard language here??????

[myoldyourgold]

Maybe the Duct work would cool the reactor down a bit quicker..

I put a reactor in a hot spot in one of my tests where there was very little airflow. I just ran an old vacuum hose from the front of the car fresh air to the reactor. It dropped the reactor temperature by 20 degrees when moving but it warmed up quick when stopped. This was in a old suburban OBD I. It did a 2800 mile test for me over a 3 day run and then back after a few weeks another 2800 miles. That test only resulted in a 2mpg average gain. No electronics. This car makes this run 3 or 4 times some years so makes a good test bed. That was a year ago. I am going to try some new things on the same vehicle, which has a new engine in it now, again later this year.

[BioFarmer93]

Unless I had a sweet spot somewhere in front of the radiator I would isolate, insulate and duct. By now you guys know that I tend to approach things a bit differently, sometimes it serves me very well, other times I would have done better to stay "in the box"... It has been a mixed blessing my entire life. Remind me to tell the dyslexia story one day. Any way, I was thinking of using foamcore board, brushing a light coat of Elmers wood glue onto one side and also brushing a coat onto some .01" aluminum flashing from Home Depot. Let the both air dry them lay the flashing on top of the foamcore and ironing it with a medium hot always moving iron to activate the glue yet not melt the foam. Flip over and repeat process. When cooled we have a semi-impervious (if edges are sealed), highly insulative (thermally) structural composite material to build the compartment from that will be sturdy enough to support some ducting and attach to vehicle structure with screws and fender washers to spread the load a bit and insulative enough to provide a significant thermal barrier in stop and go traffic. I'm pretty much sold on the 4" dia. spiral aluminum dryer duct (the expensive good kind, not the cheap stuff) for the ducting, it stays formed well once routed.

[lhazleton]

I just don't understand all the fuss over reactor placement.
If it's in a hot area, just attach one of Richards' 'cooling fans'!

[BioFarmer93]

Oooh mista Lee, don chu be knowin I an' I don need no coolin fan mon,. We gots all de cool air in de world fallin from roun' de little Tesla device what makin de antigravity too.. We be tappin dat one for when de A/C be on da blink.. Ja mon, it be slick like coconut oil on a fat girl...

[rcflyn]

I just don't understand all the fuss over reactor placement.
If it's in a hot area, just attach one of Richards' 'cooling fans'!

WHY Do you think I requested 2-4 of those FANS you've got?????? If ONE does GOOD, then 2's gotta do GOODER... Right???? And, Since I'm getting me a "PARTS" car, Yall KNOW I've gotta Build me a Reactor for THAT Car too...
HHHMMMM..... Maybe the parts car will wind up being like Glennie's Basement...
MOST EFFICIENT BEEMER in the world????


BIO....
You've got me thinking now.... OH LORD, HELP US ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[BioFarmer93]

Hey Ben,
No apology necessary- I would try re-adjusting the ALDA first to see if that affects the shutoff, if for no other reason than the scientific method of changing only one variable at a time to accurately isolate the cause. Enough preaching..
25A huh? More plates, more KOH, or did you just decide to turn it up? I was looking at an alternator last night for our cars... OEM is only 65A!! and it's mounted down under everthing to boot! I can see research and machining in my future... Maybe you have already found this place, but it seems to be a goldmine of of hard to get parts for our old girls... https://mercedessource.com/taxonomy/term/22,46
Yesterday after work I went out and did round two on the under hood cleaning, I picked up an in-line soap dispenser for my pressure washer since I've never been able to figure out how to get the provided soap siphon pickup to work on the damn thing, started Mercy up and let her get warm a bit then went to war on the greasy dirtys... Have you ever used "Krud Kutter"? That stuff is unbelievable... It was also ubelievable how much crap and dirt and oil and crud the PO had let accumulate under the hood. When I got finished it almost looked like she just rolled out of the M-B factory. Well, except for all the hacked wiring and vacuum hoses... I'm going to HAVE to get a manual on this bad little Bavarian baby because I have NEVER seen SO much vacuum operated equipment on anything in my life before. Oh, and did you know we have an auxilary water pump that kicks in (hopefuly) at low rpm & high temp because the stock water pump doesn't move enough water when the rpm is low. I'm always impressed with German engineering, even when it's not working.

[myoldyourgold]

Some information on the Bens alternator. I being in a rural farm area found that some John Deer large tractors use Bosh alternators and many parts are interchangeable. I had the alternator Guy at the local John Deer dealer rebuild my alternator on his own time, and cost me $100. It is a 200 amp baby now. I on all my cars have drilled a 1/8" hole in the thermostat to increase flow, and in the Mercedes I have 2 holes drilled. Increased flow of the liquid has many effects that I can not explain but I can tell you that coupled with HHO it makes a difference and it has nothing to do with temperature. I have to cover the radiator in the winter in -20 to -60 weather anyway and plug her in so no warm up problems. In warmer climates there are no problems.

[myoldyourgold]

For those Bens 300 people I suggest after retarding the pump timing to do 2 things. One is increase the boost by at least a pound on the turbo and the other is to go to 2 LPM HHO. You can increase the boost anytime but if you want max gains with no loos in power you need to do both of these things together when retarding the pump timing. You will be very happy you did.