The real question is.... has anyone actually made an electric fan work on these diesels? I haven't seen one to date.
Yeh, It takes two. There are fan and shroud kits for the newer ones. Flexalite is the brand. They are "S" blade fans. They will work but if you plow snow be careful.
I've heard that you can squeeze out a couple more MPG by replacing the ATF and Differential fluid with synthetic oils. The thought is less friction, more MPG.
I've also been told the if you have 4WD replacing the fluids in the transfer case can improve mileage.
Has anyone tried this and had success?
No personal experience with synthetics, but I might try it in the differential since the change interval is so long. I noticed that the differential does get warm during normal use. Heating up all that steel means lost enregy, but how much we can get back is another story.
Catfish, you are right. Those fans are not cheap!!
I wonder if its possible to get the fans seperate and make the hardware myself. Sheet metal that thin is like play dough for me. They claim improvement in power and torque, but is there really a change in fuel economy???
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1986 F250HD Ex cab Fresh built up 6.9L diesel, Lariat AC leather seats power everything w/full cluster, sterling rear 3.08LS gears, E4OD trans, ram intake ATS 088 turbo
1986 F150 Ex cab Lariat rollercam 5.0L on LPG AOD trans 3.55 gears 390 000Ks
I've toyed with the electric fan idea- I built a frame and shroud for my Thunderbird (the frame is 1/2" x 1/8" steel bar, the shroud is sheet aluminum, I have pics on my Thunderbird's cardomain) and it was actually fairly easy to do.
Wouldn't mind trying that on my truck, if I could find a couple 3000-ish CFM fans that didn't cost a small fortune...
__________________ 1994 F250 XLT-Reg cab, 4x4, 5 speed, 7.3 IDI Turbo, manual hubs. 4" intake tube, ATS upgrade, 4" exhaust w/ Walker 21172, boost & pyro on pillar, Autodim mirror, 16x8 MB Razor wheels w/285/75R16 "MT-R's" 1987 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe-Lots of fun stuff to make it go fast & take corners 2008 V-Star 1100 Midnight Custom-Just Cobra slip-on drag pipes for now
I got the fans separate. They are supposed to be 2500 CFM each.
Together they fill up a rad on one of these trucks.
You would have to have a boost in fuel economy to some degree. Every bit of power you take off the engine that is more available power to the wheels which would make it more efficient during normal driving when you only needed "X" amount of power to do what you are doing you could get it with less fuel.
Another thing you can do is to put an electric vacuum pump off of a late model Ford. Eliminate the engine driven pump.
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79/83/86/95 F-??? 6.9 4speed
94 350 4x4 SRW 7.3 factory turbo
1930 Model A Original
My wife has three of her own.
By the way- what model number is this "Holley Red" electric pump that everyone talks about?
Is it just an electric fuel pump for carbed vehicles (low pressure)? I might look into switching to one of those. It'd make it a lot easier to purge air from the system if I needed to, as a side benefit.
__________________ 1994 F250 XLT-Reg cab, 4x4, 5 speed, 7.3 IDI Turbo, manual hubs. 4" intake tube, ATS upgrade, 4" exhaust w/ Walker 21172, boost & pyro on pillar, Autodim mirror, 16x8 MB Razor wheels w/285/75R16 "MT-R's" 1987 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe-Lots of fun stuff to make it go fast & take corners 2008 V-Star 1100 Midnight Custom-Just Cobra slip-on drag pipes for now
I got the fans separate. They are supposed to be 2500 CFM each.
Together they fill up a rad on one of these trucks.
You would have to have a boost in fuel economy to some degree. Every bit of power you take off the engine that is more available power to the wheels which would make it more efficient during normal driving when you only needed "X" amount of power to do what you are doing you could get it with less fuel.
Another thing you can do is to put an electric vacuum pump off of a late model Ford. Eliminate the engine driven pump.
What fords had the electric vacuum pump? It would be good to know for another discussion/project I'm involved with. Any idea what they cost used?
Now that we're on the topic of eliminating belt driven accessories. I just realized that since these trucks don't even have an ignition system once you start up the engine, there isn't any real need for the alternator unless you are driving at night. I've heard that simply disconnecting the alternator can be good for up to 10% efficiency gain. Would be interesting to try. Maybe swap the batteries for deep cycles. I noticed that my truck will start up even with a single battery even if not as well as with two.
I might even have access to a LiFePo4 battery in the future that I could try this on. I could go to 80% DOD without any problems.
You would still have to charge the batteries eventually, but its much cheaper to charge them off the house instead.
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1986 F250HD Ex cab Fresh built up 6.9L diesel, Lariat AC leather seats power everything w/full cluster, sterling rear 3.08LS gears, E4OD trans, ram intake ATS 088 turbo
1986 F150 Ex cab Lariat rollercam 5.0L on LPG AOD trans 3.55 gears 390 000Ks
By the way- what model number is this "Holley Red" electric pump that everyone talks about?
Is it just an electric fuel pump for carbed vehicles (low pressure)? I might look into switching to one of those. It'd make it a lot easier to purge air from the system if I needed to, as a side benefit.
It's a 12-801-1 , DON'T get the 802 as it is more expensive and has an uneeded pressure regulator.
The ceapest you will find them is just under $100 so don't even waste your time price shopping.
I have one ready to go on mine as soon as my engine-driven one goes out. The filters and lines are pre-set to bolt it in.
I asked about rumnning them together in an emergency or only the electric to purge air like your talking about and the possible problems are BAD.
The electric pump can blow the diaphram out of the factory pump and fill your engine with diesel.
I AM using a cheapo electric flow-thru pump on mine when I get air in the system to pump the air out with the motor off. I've been chasing an air-intrusion problem since I bouhgt the truck, I thought I had it fixed but about once or twice a week it comes back to haunt me. I watch the oil pressure gauge REAL good after using the elec. pump but it's not running with the motor so I don't think I'll have a problem.
I didn't run the fuel line through the Holley pump because it seemed like there was too much restriction to flow fuel through it freely. So it's ridding behind the seat with the backets I made for it and a block-off plate for the old pump. The cheapo is wired in on a switch and a relay with a circuit breaker all I have to do is plug and play with the Holley when the time comes. The crappy part is going to be putting the block-off plate on the engine.
There are always parts that use power, though. The tranny computer and all of the little solenoids and such, the locking torque converter if equipped, the gauges and their sensors/pickups, and, as previously mentioned, the IP solenoids. You'd probably find yourself charging the batteries often enough for it to not be worth the hassle.
You'd also need some kind of bypass pulley for the alternator, and a quick means to switch it back when you need to charge the system. Since the power steering and water pumps still have to be driven, you'd have to have some kind of setup to keep them operating while bypassing the alternator. I just think it wouldn't be worth it.
It'd be cool if there was a way though!
If there was a way to use and not-use the alternator like we do with electric fans I'd be interested.
Hey we can always dream.
I wonder if you could experiment with solar panels to run the necessary items?
Then we'd really have one-up on the new "electronic diesel" guys.
That might be worth more than the fuel savings!
Well, the ultimate "Hypermiler" would be an electric vehicle that is charged off the solar collector on your house, but I'm still a ways off on that one.
What I'm talking about for the alternator is not just inplugging it, but disconnecting the belt completely and strictly using the reserve of the battery to run the accessories. Two deep cycle batteries should do the job, and if I were to get two of the lithium phosphate batteries, than that would definately have enough reserve. Even one would probably be enough. As for the solenoids in the E4OD, the only one that normally activates once you are up to cruising speed is the TC lockup. The two shift solenoids are off when you are in 4th gear. The solenoid for the IP is very small and shouldn't take much energy.
I'm just thinkng that the alternator is something like 60% efficient at the shaft (much lower at idle) and then theres whats lost in the belt. Since diesel is getting so expencive the less things in the truck that run off of it the better.
There are also electric powersteering pumps that only run when you need the power assist (toyota). So again in my case at least, I don't really need the powersteering belt spinning all the time once I set the cruise control at 70 MPH on the freeway.
Same thing with the AC. I did use the AC sometimes even when I got over 20 MPG,but for the times I'm not using it, that belt is still using up some energy.
Maybe I'll mount a sterling engine on the exhaust line to recover the lost heat and use that to run the alternator HAHA. Ok so I'm going a little off the deep end.....
Truth be told if there was a way to recover the lost head of our engines instead of just radiating it to the environment around the vehicle, there would be a significant improvement in efficiency. Most of the loss is in heat after all. Maybe a micro steam turbine under the bed of the truck
Oh well maybe a little too much thinking out loud.....
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1986 F250HD Ex cab Fresh built up 6.9L diesel, Lariat AC leather seats power everything w/full cluster, sterling rear 3.08LS gears, E4OD trans, ram intake ATS 088 turbo
1986 F150 Ex cab Lariat rollercam 5.0L on LPG AOD trans 3.55 gears 390 000Ks
I asked about rumnning them together in an emergency or only the electric to purge air like your talking about and the possible problems are BAD.
The electric pump can blow the diaphram out of the factory pump and fill your engine with diesel.
Well I know that- I wouldn't run them together, I'd block off the factory manual pump.
Speaking of which, will a big block fuel pump blockoff plate fit these engines or do you pretty much have to make one?
__________________ 1994 F250 XLT-Reg cab, 4x4, 5 speed, 7.3 IDI Turbo, manual hubs. 4" intake tube, ATS upgrade, 4" exhaust w/ Walker 21172, boost & pyro on pillar, Autodim mirror, 16x8 MB Razor wheels w/285/75R16 "MT-R's" 1987 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe-Lots of fun stuff to make it go fast & take corners 2008 V-Star 1100 Midnight Custom-Just Cobra slip-on drag pipes for now
About the synthetics in the diffs.....Refer to my post on page three......I did it along with changing my muffler....it gained me about 1.5 avg overall....(but that includes the muffler replacement which probably had more to with it)
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