Builds My LC 80 thread. (2 Viewers)

[Dave 2000]

The slower speed might be fine John, depends on your ambient temperatures? I did have the MK 8 come on at full speed for the AC, 40+ it was my preference, of course I had 2 x 75 amp relays in parallel, my usual belts and braces approach, also remember I have the 150 amp alternator.

If you have a near new unit then that is a result, mine was also second hand and run good for a couple of years, as I said earlier, if I could pick up a new one I would and then shelve the Mercedes unit.

Don't worry about air being drawn back through the rad, there is more chance of it being pulled around the edges of the condenser, air will flow easier without the obstruction.

Give it a go and see how you fair,

Regards

Dave

 

[kevsta]

Update. Am now ready for ITV round 2, tomorrow, probably. New BFG muds fitted

and it's been to the local garage this morning, who basically only put a tube of this into the fuel, and took it out for a good burn, and then it passed their smog test. He told me to make sure it's hot and it will be fine, lol, we'll see. (I note the little "Ideal Pre ITV" on the tube )

Also forgot to mention that we finally tracked down the cause of my periodic main beam problems, even before the ITV fail.

We basically had to cut out the (black) relay holder, and rewire the loops from the 2 burnt fuse holders and relay connections, then fed it all back through the (new) hole in the bottom of the fuseboard. I have to say, I was a bit worried about this procedure, but my pal has done a decent ITV-fix job. It should probably be re-done with thicker wire and soldered connections at some point.

The mechanic also confirmed our thoughts from investigation, ie no blowby, turbo appears fine, engine all healthy. ..So all ready for a new turbo then..

 

[Dave 2000]

Hi Kev, the headlamp relay and socket burn up particularly in countries like Spain is very common, most streets outside of bigger towns and pretty much every motorway and bypass here is unlit.

I see the seats are in and the roof rack gone, the emissions problem as I said is more about dirty injectors, go for that pass mate, good luck!

Regards

Dave

 

[kevsta]

haha yea you scared me with all your talk about rear seats a few years back, I have always put them back in for every test so far..

and the rack, yea not sure, it may or may not get through depending on who does the test that day, although I suspect the LED bar on it definitely won't, and its actually easier (apart from the weight) to remove the rack than the lights lol.

does your rack stay on and pass ok? does it have the required Euro stamp on it, I suppose is the question?

one of these days Im going to rock down there fully modded and unrepentant, for a laugh.. not this year though lol.

I am encouraged that it's gone through with basically a 40mm lift in place and no notice/mention though.. theyre too busy suddenly noticing towbar wiring and one window's faded covering that have been there for every test since Dave owned it

PS, did you see the new ITV and regs for 2018 yet? notice moving the Historico threshold from 25 to 30 years right as I'm trying to do it?
bastados! Reforma en la reglamentación de la ITV

 

[Dave 2000]

Hi Kev, not seen any regs yet, still buried under a mound of work. Don't get me wrong, I am happy to be working but the continuous flow of wrong parts arriving is very frustrating! It's the simple things like flexible brake pipes, you point out the car is a RHD and give them the chassis number, pointing out they should order via that and not the year.......you just know what is going to happen right?

So yours has passed eh? Well done mate, I will present mine in December but not hurried as I have bought another car to run around in. I have ordered a load of bits and pieces from Amamaya and unsure when they will arrive?

Re the roof rack, mine was built by a well known and respected company in IIRC the Netherlands?

I 'may' give it ago and present with rack depending on my workload and if I have the time to faff about up there, let you know.

Love the BFG's no chance on mine this year, may be year after next when the new tyres have done some work.........or I win the lottery to pay for the engineers report!

Take it easy mate,

Regards

Dave

 

[kevsta]

Hi Kev, not seen any regs yet, still buried under a mound of work. Don't get me wrong, I am happy to be working but the continuous flow of wrong parts arriving is very frustrating! It's the simple things like flexible brake pipes, you point out the car is a RHD and give them the chassis number, pointing out they should order via that and not the year.......you just know what is going to happen right?

So yours has passed eh? Well done mate, I will present mine in December but not hurried as I have bought another car to run around in. I have ordered a load of bits and pieces from Amamaya and unsure when they will arrive?

Re the roof rack, mine was built by a well known and respected company in IIRC the Netherlands?

I 'may' give it ago and present with rack depending on my workload and if I have the time to faff about up there, let you know.

Love the BFG's no chance on mine this year, may be year after next when the new tyres have done some work.........or I win the lottery to pay for the engineers report!

Take it easy mate,

Regards

Dave

Yo. Just back. And technically no it still failed, but the guy gave me a break it would seem.. I showed him the "receipt" they gave me (without Garage name on it) but it does say it passed their test (46 euros) and he seemingly took pity on me as it's Favorable with only scruffy bodywork advisories.

edit swapped for slightly clearer pic

 

[Dave 2000]

FFS what does he want from a 29 year old motor!! Every couple of months run a bottle of injector cleaner for diesels into half a tank of diesel.

That figure appears to be at idle after a rev to at least 2,500 rpm right?

At least your clear for another year Kev, I reckon the tin worm will give me grief this year?

We will see,

Regards

Dave

 

[kevsta]

FFS what does he want from a 29 year old motor!! Every couple of months run a bottle of injector cleaner for diesels into half a tank of diesel.

That figure appears to be at idle after a rev to at least 2,500 rpm right?

At least your clear for another year Kev, I reckon the tin worm will give me grief this year?

We will see,

Regards

Dave

the new test has a 10sec countdown at idle, and when the bar reaches the end of the screen you have to floor it until they say stop. it then analyses the engine under deceleration too and then gives an overall score for the run. be interesting to see where yours sits. start with the injector cleaner now though.. good luck..

 

[Dave 2000]

Hmmm different setup to here, probe in exhaust, floor throttle, release....job done.

Right seats out and get your storage back in there, go and have fun!

Regards

Dave

 

[kevsta]

Hmmm different setup to here, probe in exhaust, floor throttle, release....job done.

Right seats out and get your storage back in there, go and have fun!

Regards

Dave

yea, every time up until this time was with the exhaust probe. now they have a big hose on an extractor for diesels, petrol still same as before.

and storage, yes, done lol. it needed a little beefing up in places, but im pleased with my design overall, it comes apart and out leaving the battery / invertor / compressor all usable and allows for quite flexible configuration, if required which I have used exactly zero times.. (different config not electrical stuff, I use that daily) it takes about 30 mins to get it all in or out, should it ever be required other than ITV stripdowns.

I need to gather 2 more strong guys together this weekend to get the rack back on though..

 

[Dave 2000]

Never timed my transformation from ITV ready to expedition mode, probably about three hours? Re having guys lifting the rack, fit pulleys and have it hanging from the garage ceiling, mine sits up there ready loaded including RTT.

Take it easy mate,

Regards

Dave

 

[Dave 2000]

Hi Dave. PMed

But I think I only actually have a single red light in there. cant see any sign of second LED / or bulb anywhere

Sorry mate getting ahead of myself, the single red turbo LED will come on for overboost, i.e.a stuck wastegate for example, unsure if it will get triggered with the higher boost you have planned?

My Samsung S8 phone automatically sets video at a seriously high res so forgot to reset, a few seconds of dashboard recording pushed way past Outlooks 25mb limit, I will see if I can edit it.

Regards

Dave

 

[Dave 2000]

@kevsta you have mail.

Regards

Dave

 

[Dave 2000]

Eventually found the picture of the Mercedes fan, its hard to believe it is the same height as the 80 radiator core, and a little over an inch short of the core width.

The controller can be seen mounted next to the fan, there is a heat sink just behind the blades, this controller interprets the PWM signal, I placed the order for the PWM yesterday (Friday), all being well it should be here before Christmas, I will have some time to work on it.

In my usual anal way I will be testing the sensor temperature sensitivity and the PWM's response and the subsequent response by the fan. As the PWM is programmable I will be trying different settings, as usual I will post up the test results.

Regards

Dave

 

[Dave 2000]

Small update.

First the engine cooling fan, as mentioned earlier I will be trying out a Mercedes unit, newer and available off the shelf, the only reason to change out the ageing MK VIII fitted for the last couple of years.

As I did not want to make part of my custom dashboard insert redundant, it was possible to insert a dashboard indicator LED which comes with the PWM however, it would only indicate if the fan was about to start or stop. I wanted the green LED to be illuminated when the fan was on due to demand from the engine, the amber LED to indicate when the fan was on due to demand from the AC.

I posted a request on an electronics forum about a circuit to convert a PWM signal to power the LED's in the manner more suited to how I planned them to work, i.e. in the same way as they did with the MK VIII fan installed. A forum member duly responded with a diagram which consisted of a few components that needed to be soldered to some strip board. So when the mixture of transistors, capacitors and resistors arrived I got to work, it's all finished but now just waiting for the PWM controller to arrive to test it all.

The CB that was hastily wedged in place inside the ashtray opening over a year ago has now been fixed more permanently with Araldite, wiring run to the new fuse box under the dashboard. The blank switch areas on the dashboard now house two USB sockets, this will save having cables running from the adaptor in the cigarette lighter across the dashboard to the mapping tablet and dashboard camera or phone. The sockets come with a 12v to 5v (3amps each socket) converter, plenty to run both devices simultaneously, again cabled to the aforementioned fuse box. There is also a 12v power socket as well to the right of the CB, this can be used to charge torches.........oh and of course power a 12v cup heater, gotta have me me cuppa T!

I did get shot of the normal cigarette lighter years back, then all of a sudden you find a need for it, so a new one has been fitted just under the front and rear difflock switch.

Picture below of CB and USB sockets.

Regards

Dave

 

[kevsta]

RE: Suitable electric fans, a friend of mine has a Nissan Patrol 2.8 that has finally died after several years of hard life here, the last 2 years "fixed" using Steelseal (worked for about another 5k miles, while often lugging up to 500kg around from the builder's yard most days) that is getting scrapped, I've had the intercooler and it's fan and bonnet scoop off, but it also has a decent looking electric (push) rad fan on it, as which Im also going to liberate. looks the right sort of size for the LC.
well as a viscous clutch one pulling aka the LC.

It's also got various other cooling rads and pipes on it, looks like aircon condensor (very small by comparison to the LC ) and a power-steering tubes-with-fins type cooler there too, all of which I'm rescuing, for just in case.. I've got pics on my phone but the battery died before I could upload.

my mechanic pal wants to pull the turbo too, to build a jet engine with. depends how easy it wants to come off really. vids will obviously follow

 

[Dave 2000]

Hi Kev, as the viscous coupling fan is not particularly efficient for use with the AC under certain conditions then an electric 'add on' fan is often added.
Given our spanish environment I assume you would not rely on a single pusher to keep your 80 cool when worked hard, it should be fine in traffic even in summer, the problem is when loaded to the hilt and climbing slow steep trails, loads of heat and poor airflow. Something else, you cannot simply reverse the fan blades to make it a puller. True, there are aftermarket setups that say you can swap the blades to have a puller or pusher however, the best results (airflow) comes from blades tuned for one direction.

Power steering cooler on our models is only just sufficient so an upgrade to a finned version might be a good idea?

An intercooler with capacity for a 2.8 engine as opposed to the 4.2 of our motors not so sure about that?

Mine is still in bits, and waiting on parts, ITV due end of December but I don't think it will be ready?

Take it easy mate,

Regards

Dave

 

[kevsta]

I havent had any cooling issues and my aircon is defunct, so havent really thought about extra fannage much.. until I saw it

the intercooler was actually an idea I found from a Spanish forum a while back, (cant find today though lol) where several of them had done it and it was working ok. seems to be similar size intake pipes, (2.5 in?) it would need the bonnet scoop though which would be my issue as any intercooler set up would have to easily switch out back to the manifold for our gloriously fascist motor inspections, but would they ever let me cut my bonnet ? doubt it. I've been wondering about maybe trying to scoop it up from the front with under-bonnet flat ducting. not sure, needs further research.

here's my donor pieces, its a shame all the fuses and relays are different sizes than the LC. what else might I want from it, any ideas? its got a nice looking brake (vacuum?) reservoir on it, should I maybe fit that?

scrapyard challenge

good luck with the ITV, hopefully you'll be ready in time. what are you waiting on?

 

[Dave 2000]

Hi Kev, proper scrap yard challenge there mate, I was thinking about the capacity of air needed for a 4.2 versus a 2.8, is there enough capacity for full throttle situations? Re cutting the bonnet, I would blue tack the scoop in place and ask if it was acceptable as it did not impinge on your view, you can only ask mate.

Re my ITV, not in a hurry, rad out for flushing, batteries and trays for steering adjustments, various other bits and pieces being changed as PM, pipes that carry coolant to the turbo, that kind of gear from Amamaya, new engine mounts while I have space to get at them. Other odds and ends, probably be ready mid January for ITV?

BTW, the new RTT cover does not fit, f*cking FIVE months and it is useless!

Take it easy,

Regards

Dave

 

[Dave 2000]

Play time with the cooling fan PWM Or Pulse Width Modulation controller.

So the new toy arrived yesterday, those following know I am trialling a newer style of fan, this one uses PWM to control the speeds.

So I rigged it up in the kitchen (as you do) and it works great!

First impressions? Well the fan really does crack the whip, the default setting of the controller is maximum speed in the event of a fault, for example the temperature switch becoming disconnected, or not having been programmed (as it is delivered), I was quite taken aback when this behemoth started spooling up. I had supported the shroud with a couple of pieces of wood half inch thick, this would allow air to be drawn in as opposed to trying to suck the pattern out of the work top. What I had not done was cleared the area around the fan......I mean it can't be that powerful right. ....wrong!

Pretty much anything within a foot got drawn towards the fan, I even made the mistake of lifting the shroud slightly to move a cable that had been pulled under, as I did and the weight was lifted from the support pieces they also got pulled under, this really is a powerful fan.

I was not ready for the noise the fan made at full tilt, and guess this would rarely be a problem for a Mercedes owner if the PWM does its job, even the speed for AC is only 50% of its potential maximum, noise wise that is tolerable and gives an indication of the fans potential to pull some serious air if called upon.

Earlier I stated the controller was waterproof, this was wrong, earlier versions were, but not this latest offering, fortunately there is plenty of cable so the controller can be installed in the cabin if need be, I guess you could go around the seams with silicone, I plan to install inside.

The controller has various 'modes', you can use any temperature transmitter, and regardless of whatever that sensor is it can be fitted anywhere in the cooling system such is the flexibility of the programming available.

I ordered the GM sensor that was recommended, this allows a preset number of pre programmed temperature settings, whether I use this in the final install Idon't know, but it was good to use for testing.

As I already have a tube in the bottom hose that houses the present fan switches I may install a variable temperature switch in there, or drill and tap one of the water inlet or outlet housings, regardless it matters not where the sensor is installed.

I can if need be fit a timer relay to allow the fan to run after the motor is shut down, I can also disable for water crossing and force it to run regardless of temperature, this allows drying out of the fan motor after wading, something I did not have on the previous fan.

Complication thus far is the conflict with the output for the controller status LED, and my own custom dash insert, IIRC I mentioned an add-on circuit?

I made up the LED driver board and it did not work, I am guessing my ham fisted attempts at soldering are to blame for this? The test bed in the kitchen can stay for awhile until I get the electronics right.

That's all for now,

Regards

Dave