Friday, January 11, 2008

Water system designing.

Had to get the bonnet back on to add some canes to get the exact height right for the header tank. I like my max header tank water level above the max level in the head.
You sexy beast!
Apollo has a good two inches with the banjo.

There is 2" to the rocker cover. This enables me to run a the stock VVC induction system and VVC actuator if needed (actuator sits where there is a plate saying "powered by pipercams"), I can, as it was designed so! Unlikely but good to account for these things.
Here is my new header tank, its the old catch tank. Will need some major adjustments, can be done at the same time as the apollo ones, my cousins a bit handy with a TIG.
Needs this boss welding on to take a Ford pressure cap...About 15psi I think, which is perfect cause much more stresses the viton seals on the headgasket, I was up 25psi on my old 1300!
I will pressure test the cap to check its blow off pressure later by sealing the boss to a piece of alloy sheet, screwing in a -3 line made up for the 0-15psi fuel pressure gauge to the sheet, adding the gauge to it, and a footpump :) Easy?
The two flanges pipes will be cut off and replaced with -4 and -5 or 6...Yet to consider the complete solution, weld on JIC or tapped bosses made by hand.
I will grind the old mount off the tank, then base mount it like the apollo with a brace to a new bracket platform I will make and weld to the shock tower.

Basic plumbing goes like this.
Firstly and most importantly, the tank acts as a siphon for the all the other pipes. It does this because from the base, a line goes to the before the EWP between the EWP and radiator, in the bottom hose, see. This line from before EWP tank is under hard suction, maximum suction and flow of the entire system due to the fact the connection is right before the EWP and the radiator causes drag, so sucks like a two dollar whore on the tank.
This dominates the other connections that are all basically running from behind the pump, after it, so under pressure, not suction, so helps the other lines flow into the tank. Worked perfectly on the last setup, so why not copy it. Actually NOTHING has changed in all honestly in the design.
The line out the top of the radiator this is an exception as its under suction too but not as great as the other line mentioned above. This radiator pipe goes to the base of the tank (important its under water level!). This area of the radiator will be under suction. This line is basically just there to bleed the system and fill the radiator when refilling the water system. Its usually used as the connection for an EXPANSION tank. In most systems...But with my system there are 2 other lines that also serve this function. In the rover and mgf the radiator doesn't use a top exit for the expansion tank.
So, so far we have two lines connected, both running out the tank. The level of water in the tank will always remain constant, cause the system only has so much water in it eh and evacuation dominates the flow into the tank, so level remains constant.
The line coming from the end of the inlet manifold going to the top the tank is the usual line going to the expansion tank on this engine. However in my system it also does this job, but its under pressure from inside the head and flowing into a tank that is being evacuated, so will flow out into the tank as a good rate, where on the normal engine its just a line with no flow going to a dead end (expansion tank) I believe. This line is there to bleed the engine in this rig and also this is at the very highest position of the heads water jacket, so its very useful for bleeding and purging air. It'll go into the top of the tank, into free air (no essential) to purge any bubbles and encourage flow.

You see a braided line coming from the swirl pot and shoved in one of the top flared pipes...This again is under pressure from the swirl pot and flows into the tank, this purges any air or bubbles, as a swirl pot is designed to do. Its designed to remove air, so flows into the air into the top of the tank...this is also the highest piece of pipework, so in the ideal location to bleed trapped air etc.

What can be done is to the tune the usual running temp by sizing these pipes to act as a bypass system through the header tank...So I may oversize them using -6 hose and experiment with restrictors to get the running temp pegged @ 80C without the thermostat using the EWP and controller, which is not a perfect system for temp control without being setup well (as it was before).

Bypass pipe sizing and temp effects is not something you can work out really.

Heater is pretty simple. The passenger side outlet will come off the water rail this is pressured (outward flow) not suction, so will flow into the heater from here and literally set you on fire when its cold :) The driver side outlet will run to another connection before the EWP...Or...I could run this driver side outlet to a valved booster pump and dump the water in the header tank...I will get another connection fitted welded to the tank to account for this idea and persue that later. I can adapt the special connection in the bottom hose used to suck water from the header tank to take a larger connection and split it...

I don't like the normal heater valve, i'd like an electronic one with a dash knob control, cutting off completely and max flow, or anywhere in between...

Heater not a priortiy atm, the main system should work perfectly...Its exactly what was there before!
The fat tube above will be remade from 1 piece and do a 180 to the engine inlet I made to replace the thermostat housing. So binning the silicon hose, which are new and I can sell, also lighter!
Blah.
Blah. Masking tape is good!

No comments: