ford escort mk3 bio diesel fitted with hho generator

[cyrix01]

Love that Hella light grill. That stuff is just plain neat. Too bad it's all but gone nowadays.

[mk3stargazer]

@cyrix01 There is only a few Mk3 Escorts left on the Island where i live, and I own two of them!

eBay is good for keeping them going,Always find a bargain on there when needed!

[cyrix01]

@mk3stargazer They look good. Yeah, eBay is a great resource.

[brian93ist]

@mk3stargazer neat can 

[christy2drag]

Where do you feed the brown gas from the HHO generator to the engine? Through the air intake?

[mk3stargazer]

Yes i drilled and tapped a hole and screwed a union in the inlet manifold.

[christy2drag]

And what kind of mileage do you get with HHO?

I used to own a MK3 Diesel and it used to average 5l/100 KM. I used to shift gears by ear(it had a clock instead of a tachometer on the dashboard), but i knew other people who had a tach and managed to get about 3.5l/100km by shifting at ~2100 RPM.

[mk3stargazer]

Working it out in KM i get 4.5L/93KM and i used to have a clock in it but now have a standard van speedo unit fitted so it shows fuel and temp where the clock used to be

[christy2drag]

And what's the fuel consumption when the generator is on?

[mk3stargazer]

I recently fitted a newer engine and proper Diesel gearbox and it averages on our small island around 58mpg,and slightly more on a Mainland/motorway run.

I put it through the MOT and the emissions were amazingly low!

[2550osiosterdalen]

It was that military car, yes? Nice bargain :-) Good luck. Do you think I could mix 50/50 as well in a wolksvagen? with 10%white spirit in theWVO? It seems that WVO can be hard on the VW engine... But that was 100% WVO then, perhaps poorly filtered. It might be necessary to ass HHO as well to get all the WVO burned in the engine...

[2550osiosterdalen]

Hi again mk3! I just wonder if you still are driving on WVO? And if you have had any problems with the engine because of that? I am very close to try it myself, when I have got my hands on a 3 way ball valve and other stuff.

How much white spirit did you use in % to the oil? Thanks for posting :-)

[mk3stargazer]

Hi again!my head gasket went,not due to veg oil tho,so i done that,but as i was tightening the head bolts,i heard a loud crack & the front of the block split open!i run it for a long while like it as i searched for a new engine,in the meantime Lucas closed down,they were the only people i know who repaired fuelpumps,so not wanting to be stuck without a car i am running the new engine on a 50/50 mix of diesel & veg incase the new pump leaks!

i use 10% white spirit in veg oil.

regards

mk3

[2550osiosterdalen]

Sorry to hear about that. I have actually cracked a block myself once, tightening headbolts. It was a 1,6 VW TD -89. I believe that it was some OIL left in the bolt hole, so when I tightened the bolt, the oilpressure rised so much that the cast iron finally cracked!!! Thanks for answering :-)

[mk3stargazer]

Thats what i think happened,its called hydraulic lock.

But i found a good engine,112,000 miles and full service history so i am happy its back on the road!

[2550osiosterdalen]

I made a heatexchanger to preheat my regular diesel, but it warmed the fuel too much. The car stopped! It was appr.80 degrees because i used the return of the coolant to the levelcontainer. It was two coppertubes, almost completely flattened and solderd together. The diesel in one and collant fluid in the other. I might use that before my regular fuelfilter, because it will cool a bit until it reaches the engine. Perhaps..

[2550osiosterdalen]

So you are running on biodiesel and HHO? Have you made that biodiesel yourself or bought it? What are the mpg without the HHO cell? And is it regular diesel or turbodiesel engine?

[mk3stargazer]

hho cell is still on trial, trying different types of waters and amounts of baking soda & baking powder & bicarb of soda. i am running hho into the inlet manifold permantly, currently i"m using waste veg oil mixed with 5% white spirit on a twin tank system to purge at night. mpg not sure before hho as fitted a different gearbox the same time as the hho, on the old engine&box i was getting 54mpg but that was a petrol gearbox & quite high rev-ving. engine is non turbo but will fit turbo again

[2550osiosterdalen]

Perhaps it's easier for the engine to run on veg oil with additional HHO? How have you cleaned the oil before using it? Just filtering through a cloth or more advanced? I have more than 200 liter veg oil I have collected the last year for a GEET project, but I tried with HHO first in my VW tdi. When I didn't succeed after a whole year of trying and spending a lot of money, I lost my energy for the GEET project as well. But I'm still interested and are looking for others who is still trying.

[mk3stargazer]

i ran the old engine on waste veg oil and white spirit for around 38,ooo miles with no problem, i filter my waste oil using a kitchen cleaning cloth called a J cloth. i always leave the oil to settle for a week before filtering and never use the white fatty part that collects near the bottom as this clogs the fuel filter.

[2550osiosterdalen]

Thanks!

[2550osiosterdalen]

I assume you put in the whitespirit before you filter the oil for making it easier to filter? And does the engine start as easy on the oilmix as the diesel, or do you start on diesel and change to the oil mix after the engine is warm? And how have you solved that practically?

[mk3stargazer]

no i add white spirit afterwards as i dont want the white fatty parts getting thinned out and being used, i use a twin tank system with a 3 way ball valve on the floor connecting the two tanks, i run it on pure diesel for 2 minutes at night,then it starts 1st time in the morning and immedialetly switch over to veg. when warm it starts fine on veg.

[2550osiosterdalen]

Ok. Thanks. Is it used cooking oil you use? I have some at home, but it become stiff below 15-20 degrees celsius. How cold can it be outside before your mix gets stiff?

[mk3stargazer]

i use used cooking oil and new, Living in the south of England it doesnt really get warm til summer! and i have had no problems and that is another reason i use white spirit to keep it runny, and in the winter i use a heated fuel filter made by Purflex which uses the engines coolant to warm the fuel.

[2550osiosterdalen]

Thanks again, you are really helpful!

I cannot find a similar fuelfilter on norwegan sites, but It could be possible to use an old oilcooler or something similar before the fuelfilter, perhaps.

[mk3stargazer]

hi,thats ok! ive seen somewhere on the internet a heated fuel line,it sits inside an engine heater pipe in a double skin,warming the fuel as the engine water circulates.Also on Ford Escorts & Mondeos dating from 1991 onwards they had an optional fuel heater,its a flattish rectangular box with an electrical element inside & two fuel unions at the top & it bolts to the bracket on the head that holds the fuel filter. may be worth you checking scrapyards/car salvage?or do Tractors use them?

[tpvalley]

I want that steering wheel.

RS turbo?

[mk3stargazer]

RS1600i! £23 off ebay which included the boss and centre cap!