Alcohol Conversion

[zeusmorg]

ell, many of you know me, from my comments that I've made and my presence in the past year on the IRC channel.

 I figured it was about time that i got on with a project of my own.

 So i decided to convert my old '59 Austin-Healey MK1 "bugeye" to run on a renewable fuel.

 Since i have brewed alcohol in the past and this particular car is a real good candidate to convert, I decided to proceed.  

 The first steps was readying the fuel delivery system to handle alcohol.This entailed replacing all the sections of rubber fuel lines with more modern stuff, and replacing the old tick over diaphragm pump with a newer one. That handled the problems pretty easily as most everything on this old car is easily accessible (if you don't mind bending over a lot)

 The next step in the process was increasing the compression ratio. Fortunately this car already had a set of high compression pistons and racing rods installed several years ago. So i was already at 12:1 comp.ratio. To increase it further i took a spare head and had it milled down to increase this ratio further to 14:1.

Then since my first batch of alky wasn't ready i purchased some for testing purposes.

tuning this particular car to run best off alcohol is quite easy, It entails adjusting the movable needle to increase the fuel flow. (this car uses two side draft carbs), and setting the timing to the optimum advance. All this was done by "feel" as I've been playing around with old English sports cars for years.

 With straight gasoline this little 948cc engine was able to achieve upwards of 60 mpg, now to see what i could get using an alternative fuel.

 My first road test after run in and primary adjustments (I was also doing some tweaking while out) gained readings of 122 miles on 2.5 gallons. I did this by running the tank dry. Not bad! All in town and stop and go driving and my first run achieved 48 mpg!

 For now I'll call that a success!!

[tanner0441]

Hi

British Leyland A Series Engines.  I had an old Austin A40 many years ago I ran that on methanol, it produced 98 BHP at 6,800 RPM it didn't return anything like the economy your getting on you Sprite.  The biggest problem with those engines was the fact it only had a 3 bearing crank. Which usually involved the crank snapping on the web ajacent to the front main, this could be reduced by fitting the timing chain and front damper from the Mini Cooper or the later version of your car.

Another thing to watch is the piston crown on number 3 cylinder, but other than that the acceleration was unbelievable from an engine designed to produce 35 to 40 BHP at 4,700 RPM.

The best of luck with your project I hope it all goes well I have fond memories of those engines, I worked for several years for a repair shop that had a Leyland agency and spent many hours tuning the A and B Series engines.

Brian.

[dnix71]

How do you keep water out? I used to have a 2 liter 1972 Pinto. Had a rubber band instead of  a timing chain like the British Cortina 1.6 liter that was also used. It would run on 95% isopropyl (print press alcohol), but the next day wouldn't start because the carb bowl was vented and moisture condensed in it overnight.

The compression was only about 9.x, but that was still high enough to require 'high test' gas in the US.

[zeusmorg]

 Water from condensation can be a problem, it's one reason i start out with 180 proof ethanol. That will absorb the moisture from most normal situations, without imparing performance.

[tecker]

I would think  switching to Throtle body injectors would take care of all the water problems . If your stuck dealing with a carb .A dryer can be fashioned with out too much problem .

[ruddycrazy]

Suppose the best part of running a car on alcohol is if your invited to a party and the grog runs dry you'll always have a spare supply. Mind you if it came to that you'd be that sozzled you wouldn't taste the difference.

[Bruce S]

Have/had same problem when I take my Alky out of the freezer :-)

The quickest way is to add a little bit of dino fuel. The petroleum distillates keeps the Alky from condensensing water into it.

The funnest part is to take the Alky out of the freezer, and watch as the water around the outside attaches to the container.

The Alky being hydroscopic (<-sp?) is what causes it to suck in the water vapors.

The higher the proof the harder it is to keep it from happening.

Zeolite is good for keeping the water out until usage, but I've found that even a small amount, 1 gas to 20 Alky keep it from having problems.

I like zeolite, but don't have enough to keep more than one batch in it, so I've gone to mixing as little gas as possible.

Hope this helps

Bruce S

[Bruce S]

Very Nice conversion!!

I must say you took it as far as I ever would. 14:1 is about it for even those old iron engines without some serious extra work on the rest of the lower end, and some attention to the pistons and spark plugs.

Your numbers seem to be right inline with the general average when switching from dino to Alky.

If you're going to run only Alky, and stay with the carbs, you could even run it as low as 160P, but in the winter you may have problems with starting.

How's the peppy-ness of it? shouild scream with the higher 14:1 and a cold running fuel.

Have Fun!!

Bruce S

[zeusmorg]

 In regards to the strength of the engine, I really have no major worries there. The "peppy-ness" has improved over the standard gasoline responses. I didn't do any 0-60 testing, but this has always been quite a fun car to drive!

 The crankshaft is not stock, btw that was replaced with a stronger version years ago.

There is the fact it is only a 3 main crankshaft, still but I'm not racing this thing so hopefully it will stand up to the additional stresses.

 I've worked with sports cars for years and have rebuilt literally 100's of the A series Morris engines. If this was the 1295 variant i would be much more worried at running so high a compression ratio on it.

 I am still hoping for more fuel economy and I may play around with electronic ignition to see if that helps. At least changing the timing curve would be more stable! I am also considering using a re-configured camshaft to tweak the performance # a bit more.

 I will be adding 1 or 2 % gasoline to this fuel, primarily to denature it so i can stay legal in this implementation.

 As far as adding any form of injection first the costs would be up there and I like the looks and the tinkering required by the original dual carb setup!

 One thing about this setup, it will be easy to convert it back to gasoline in the future if i so choose to do so, I'd just have to replace the head with the one i just removed.

[tanner0441]

Hi

In the UK they came out of the factory with HS2 SU Carbs with AN needles. Removing the springs and filling the dashpots with brake fluid gave a faster throttle response.  

Later we started fitting Nicky Carbs, they had a glass pannel in the float chamber.

Webber Carbs were very prone to freezing so on alchohol I think they would be a none starter. I have never seen throttle body injection on any A Series engine but I think you can get a retro fit multi-point.

The strongest A Series Engine was the 1071 Cooper engine, it had solid little ends and offset big ends, but before I get told off for going off topic I will shut up and again wish good luck with the project.

Brian

[Ungrounded Lightning Rod]

Nice.

I'd watch the gaskets:  I understand gasket sealing compounds (such as permatex) are dissolved by ethanol.

Are the vents on your carbs accessible?  The vent is about having atmospheric pressure at the surface of the fuel so the right amount is sucked into the venturi, not about passing air or vapor in and out.

I'd be tempted to hook up a few inches of alcohol-proof tubing with a screened end, to retard the diffusion of moisture-laden air into the bowl when shut down (without affecting the pressure or minor back-and-forth air flow when operating).  Something like what you sometimes see on a utility gas pressure regulator when it's indoors (to sample the air pressure outdoors and keep any gas that gets through a failing diaphragm from causing the house to explode).  I'd turn the end down to avoid dirt and dripping condensation entering the tube, but keep it essentially level so it wouldn't form a siphon and suck fuel out of the bowl and dump it somewhere if the bowl level gets too high.

[frackers]

That indeed takes me back - a Mk3 Sprite (1098cc) engine with the 12G295 Mk2 Cooper head ported according to the David Vizard instructions with a 211 cam, Mangoletsi long centre branch exhaust and a 45DCOE Weber carb. All running in a Morris 1000 Traveller 'Woody' of 1959 vintage. Had to scrap it when they stopped selling 101 octane fuel in the UK :-(

I found that to get the advance curve correct with the higher compression ratio I had to fit a Mk2 Cooper distributor body (the one without the vacuum advance) to get the right spring rates and bob-weights.

Dyno'ed at 75 BHP at the flywheel but now we're getting even further OT!!

Proper job!!

[zeusmorg]

 Actually years ago i built a fuel injection setup for my MG midget SCCA racer, i cast my own intake and used bosch components for the system. After tuning that was a very efficient setup! I added an oxygen sensor to the exhaust, and used a knock sensor type electronic ignition.

 The bugeye has the h1 carbs (1 1/4) so there are no springs on the piston to start with. I am quite pleased with the performance of them, of course I did re-build and re-bush them about 2 years ago.

[zeusmorg]

 Well, due to the many projects I've taken on,, and the fact that someone offered me WAY too much money for her last weekend when I was driving around, It's time to say goodbye to an old friend.

 It was hard making the decision to sell her as we've lived together for a long time.

 I do hope her new home becomes a place where she's given TLC and the restoration she needs.

 As with all my other sports cars I've sold over the years we plan on spending one last weekend cruising around and saying goodbye to each other.