Mer-Chevy Project: Biofuel 40mpg Pickup

[bennelson]

I am still interested in the project.

I have been busy with other things as well.

So far this spring, I have been working on a greywater toilet system for my house. (Now saving me about $270 a year!)

I have also been trying to get my Electro-Metro to the point that I can use it as a little longer range transportation. I have had some problems with my used batteries and charger. I need to have something else to get around in before I make my truck un-drivable for an unknown amount of time!

The Mercedes hub caps are the wrong size for the truck, although just playing around with that did lead me to create some flat aluminum covers for it.

I also need to rebuild my garage this summer, SO, it's going to be a busy one!

[DonR]

Chevy made some P-30 (I think) bread delivery trucks that used a 4cyl. Cummins 4BT turbo diesel. They mated it to a standard Chevy trans (700R4). Guys mate them to an Aisin AX-15 5 speed tranny's for their Jeeps as well.

Don't know if it fits into S-10's. You would probably need to run the smallest gears possible in your rear end & probably bigger tires to maximize Fuel Economy.

Don

[my first gmc]

Like this? Well, it's a full size, but same swap.
4BT Cummins Turbo Diesel in an 05 Silverado (with pictures!) - FSC Forum

[HaroldinCR]

Just so happens, I have an Isuzu Diesel out of a Chevy Luv sitting under my carport. It has the clutch style flywheel, also. Paid $800.00 for it, to put on my band sawmill I am building, slowly

[bennelson]

Today was a big day on the Diesel S10 project!

I FINALLY had a Sunday to myself! (Way too busy at work lately, and other projects..)

So, last night I called up my buddy Rich, and e-mailed a few other folks to see if anyone else could come out for the engine pull.

This morning Rich, and Tim (who you may remember welded the Electro-Metro from INSIDE the engine compartment..) came over so we could pull the 4-cylinder diesel engine from the Mercedes 240D.

These guys are animals of car destruction. The showed up at 9am and we had the engine out before noon. I had done hardly any prep work on the car before they got there!



Rich brought his fine selection of tools, including the engine hoist and car ramps.

Here, Tim stands next to the freshly pulled 2.4L diesel engine (with attached automatic transmission)


Since we made quick work of the first engine, we then took a lunch break. Tim let me drive his Prius to drive into town for lunch. It was a little weird. It's a nice car, but I typically don't have an engine, just an electric motor, when I make that trip! (Please see the Electro-Metro build thread...)

Back from lunch, we went to work on removing the 2.2L 4-cylinder gas engine from the S10. It was a little more work in that we couldn't just cut cables at random, and I wanted to keep useful things like steering, coolant and washer resevoirs, etc.

We ended up having to remove the driveshaft, pull the engine part way out, remove the engine mounts, then pull the engine the rest of the way out.

We did remove the transmission from the diesel engine, but it was getting dark by the time the gas engine was out, so that one still has the tranny on it.

One good thing I did find out about the diesel transmission is that it already has an "adapter plate" of sorts between the engine and transmission. Apparently, this is something they did to make their various engines and transmissions a little more interchangable. For me, it means I have a head-start on a way to connect the Mercedes diesel engine with the Chevy manual transmission.

What's next?
It's time to remove the manual tranny from the S10 gas engine, and then start figuring out and adapter plate design.

After pulling both engines, the diesel DOES look pretty monsterous compared to the gas engine. I measured, and it should fit fine, but it will be a bit of work making everything line up!

Also, the diesel has a really low oil pan on the far FRONT of the engine, and the steering went BEHIND that. On the truck, the oil pan is in the BACK of the engine and the steering goes in FRONT of it. Figuring how all that is going to work will be fun!

Again, the goal of this project is to have a utility vehicle capable of going long distances with one or two people, getting very good fuel economy, while sometimes carrying a heavy/bulky load or towing, and be able to run on biofuels.

A small-engine bio-diesel pickup truck meets that bill nicely!



(Chevy 2.2L gasoline engine, with Tim for scale.)

[bennelson]

I also realized that I have videos on YouTube related to this project that I never posted in this thread!

Here they are!

New Years video resolution - 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVeVFurUtzM

January 21, 2009
Found a Diesel Donor!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7-aiTLGLTU

Also, on the "Getting off Gasoline" subject, I purchased a G.E. Electrak battery-powered electric riding lawn mower this summer. It still needs more work, but I mower my lawn several times with it and would like to hook up a snowblower on it for the winter.

[Christ]

I've got a 4 speed that goes to that engine, Ben. I'm way too far from you, though.

If you check on PeachParts - Mercedes Parts & Tech Info (I have the same UN there), you'll likely find someone close that not only has the manual transmission you need, or can tell you a slough of other transmissions that can be used (such as the gearbox from early BMW 5 and 7 series) for your project, but also someone that might be interested in buying parts from your MB donor car, setting you ahead a bit further.

If you're going to be in this area (NEPA) ever, shoot me a PM and we can talk about the 4 speed that goes to that engine. I have the same 62HP OM616 engine sitting in my barn right now, waiting for Cara to come off the road. (Potentially.)

[Frank Lee]

Donor MB didn't look too awful bad... maybe stick that engine back in there, get the sawzall out, and make a homemade ute?

[Christ]

That's almost cool.

[Frank Lee]

I like utes.