Forum for air cooled diesel engines and clones

[90cummins]

Having spare filters on hand is always a good idea, but the oil filter is a suction screen and can be cleaned with solvent and compressed air & reused.
Particles are easy to see; sometimes a particle will be stuck in the mesh but it can be dislodged with an awl or other pointed tool.
I would reuse it unless there is a hole or any other damage.

 

[Volp]

I forgot to say that I replaced the small battery in my generator with an ordinary car battery. It is to big for the enclosure so it is placed outside the generator. I had to replace the battery cables with longer and heavier. There is now also a disconnect switch at the battery. The decreased mobility is no problem as the generator is placed in a dedicated shed. There are also extra cooling by two fans, one blowing in and the other blowing out. Both powered by the generator. The shed significantly reduces the noise.

 

[PILOON]

AS TO NOISE REDUCTION
Lining the inside of the generator shed with old carpeting will do wonders.
Simply staple it to the inside walls and it will muffle the sound to an unbelievable low level.
However it will also retain heat so consider ventilation also.

 

[TimberXX]

Thats a good idea. I want to do that for my gas genset. It's too loud.

Any response on an air cooled diesel forum?

 

[Volp]

If you have extra cooling fans in the generator shed it is important that you don't mount the fan in a straight hole in the wall. If you do that most of the noise will come out. Both the incoming and outgoing air stream should go through an air duct that changes the direction of the air stream. That will muffle the noise significantly.

 

[gbrecke]

I'd like to chime in here as a student of the Chinese Yanmar clone. No doubt the original has proven itself. My frustration with Mainland Chinese made engines is they can be very good, not so good, or junk. I have a few CF186 engines bought several years back that were build by a larger and well known Chinese Company, there have been zero issues with these engines so far, but in the type of service it's been hard to rack up the hours that would impress anyone here. One is in a small utility vehicle, it runs excellent, and makes good usable power for maybe four years. One thing I learned is the fuel line and and paint has little appreciation for bio diesel, but that took almost a year to create a hole in the rubber fuel line. I might know of 5 engines that have more than 150 hours on them with zero issues, all from the same batch.

As I research, I find youtube posts where people tell of finding lose head bolts, and other things that just plain tell of very poor QC on the assembly line. I'm not sure there is a way to know what is a quality effort and what isn't. How many assembly lines in China have access to these parts and build Yanmar clones, and who among them builds a good engine. I guess the frustration is the reality of knowing that just because you find one that is being built right today, doesn't mean they値l build it right tomorrow.

I found it interesting what 90cummins reports on the oil system having no pressure relief. I think we saw a whopping 325 pounds in a Chinese horizontal that was started cold with a single weight oil. If I remember correctly, the assembler just chose to leave out the pressure relief ball and spring to save a few cents per engine in that case. Hard to believe there are no provisions in the Yanmar clone for the pressure relief. I'd bet at least a nickel there are some equipped with pressure reliefs.

Perhaps we only need know who builds these engines for the Chinese Military, they may have already shot or hung the person(s) on the production line doing less than the full job.

Thanks for starting this forum, there's so little information about these engines, and it's good to hear that there's a person interested in supplying parts. As for a lot of Indian and Chinese stuff, many find that parts in the box, are often superior to those found in the engine. thanks again for startign this forum.

 

[California]

...My frustration with Mainland Chinese made engines is they can be very good, not so good, or junk.

It sounds like the level of quality is similar to the stuff from Harbor Freight - mostly well designed, often a clone of a quality brand. But it is definitely up to the buyer to inspect, disassemble if necessary, and perform the final Quality Assurance review that one would expect was done at the factory. HF has great policies about taking things back for a refund or exchange, they understand how random their stuff is. (And they expect you to understand this too.)

Maybe this business model is more accepted where these items come from or maybe the dregs are diverted for export - I don't know.


I would like to hear more about those biofuel-burning little utility vehicles. Got any photos and/or a link?

 

[gbrecke]

California, good analogy, many of us might see a business op for a KIT engine with QCd parts in the box.

Following are some links of a cushman identical to mine, and a repowered chevy metro with a Yanmar clone As for Bio Fuels, making them is a lot like baking a cake, there can be a lot of differences from batch to batch, and there's problems where you find them. There is no doubt, the exhaust from bio diesel is far more pleasant to be around.

Cushman Diesel
http://www.utterpower.com/10hp_chevy.htm
DieselBike.net - Diesel Motorcycles using Yanmar parts.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4LlH1arq2E]Cushman Truckster - YouTube[/ame]

 

[California]

... links of a Cushman identical to mine, and a repowered chevy metro with a Yanmar clone
As for Bio Fuels, making them is a lot like baking a cake, there can be a lot of differences from batch to batch, and there's problems where you find them. There is no doubt, the exhaust from bio diesel is far more pleasant to be around.

That's a great vid of the Cushman. I love it! That thing is a Yanmar (clone) all right, it has that rod-knock Yanmar clank at maximum torque starting out. I didn't realize those things would turn 3600 rpm. That makes it a lot easier to use them as replacements. (My 2-cylinder Yanmar sounds more and more like it's going to grenade as rpms exceed 1800. 2600 is allowed for roading it but I couldn't bear to listen to that.)

I bought 20 gallons of commercially-brewed B100 a few years ago and it gave me fits. First running it full strength in warm weather then B50, B30 later as the tractor became harder to start. (still in warm weather). I finally replaced the injectors to restore reliable starting - and haven't tried biodiesel again. I would like it to work - but for me it was a detour into unacceptable hard starting even in nice weather. There seems to be huge variability in quality between batches. This stuff smelled exactly like the nasty oil-accumulation tank behind a restaurant. I'll run biodiesel again if I ever find a quality source.

Yes biodiesel exhaust is less unpleasant. My biodiesel experiment was because I was spending hours stationary running the backhoe. But I though it made up in particulate irritation to my throat, what it subtracted in noxious gasses.

In summary we're still watching biodiesel evolve and it hasn't become uniform quality yet.

 

[gbrecke]

A great place to study biofuels is to read the research papers at the universities. Plant oils can vary in Lipids according to how much sun they got that year according to some Researchers. One experience I had was watching B20 at the pump perform well in the COLD midwest and vehicles here in the NW ended up with clogged filters running the same species of plant oil at temps in the 30s F. Go figure. Just because it meets some spec doesn't mean you won't have a problem. Everything can change, but too many variables for me.. I run B5 wihtout hesitation thinking the added lubricity might be good.. but I am the student, certainly no teacher