Disposable propane bottle brake vacuum reservoir

[stovie]

Originally Posted by elhigh

Back in the day the engineers had to fight Ford (talking about Henry himself) on hydraulically actuated brakes. Henry was a rods-and-levers man, he didn't care for the hydraulic systems at all. I bet if any of them had suggested vacuum brake boosters to Henry, he'd've had them dragged out of the factory by their heels.

Talking about hydraulics, I'm planning on using oxygen tanks to make a hydraulic regent braking system for my s10. I'm wanting to have one tank hold pressure and the other hold vacuum after braking, so that way one pushes while the other pulls to try getting more power from a lower pressure. I'd like to be able to cut them open, put a piston inside then weld them back up.

[pete c]

I like the PVC idea. Strong, durable, dirt cheap. However, I am not sure how it would stand up under the hood to engine heat, so, my idea would be to put it underneath somewhere. Plenty of room on the S-10. Strap it to a frame rail. Of course, this introduces the possibility of something being kicked up and puncturing the PVC. The solution to this is a cab mounted cutoff switch that you could throw to isolate this spare vacuum quickly to get your brakes back.

[Hersbird]

I love that my 68 Barracuda had manual front disc, rear drums. I only wish it also had manual steering and a manual transmission. Driving it didn't seem any different than driving a car with power brakes. The 1976 Plymouth Feather Duster could be had as the ultimate hypermiling car in 1976. A bulletproof slant 6, with a lean burn tuned single barrel carb, lightweight body parts (2975 pounds curb weight), a 4 speed manual with overdrive and a 1.91 final drive. Manual brakes and steering. The free flowing exhaust of a V-8 to boot. The car was rated at 36 mpg which is pretty amazing for 1976. I'd love to see what a hypermiler could do with some pulse and glide, some modern LRR tires, and a few aero mods.

[pete c]

That feather duster is pretty cool. Never heard of such a high rear end. I think you have the number wrong. A few different sites say 2.94:1. Still a pretty tall rear end. That slant six was a great motor. Had one of the last ones, in an '85 D150.

[Hersbird]

Originally Posted by pete c

That feather duster is pretty cool. Never heard of such a high rear end. I think you have the number wrong. A few different sites say 2.94:1. Still a pretty tall rear end. That slant six was a great motor. Had one of the last ones, in an '85 D150.

I saw that number and thought it was wrong as well, maybe somebody was combining the ratio with the overdrive to give the effective ratio. 2.75 would normally be standard with the 6 and a 4 speed but there was a 2.42 available in other versions like a 318 auto that maybe they would allow with the special package.

[jray3]

Anyone run numbers on the payback for an oversize vacuum reservoir, perhaps even one that gets pumped down really low while plugged in, with a regulator to ensure that the booster sees normal vacuum levels? Basically the question is which is the better investment- a pound of reservoir, or a pound of battery?

Electric pumps make 21"+ of vacuum easy, though 14" is often enough for the brake booster.

Years ago I proved that for EVs, a hot water bladder delivers more heat per lb than a supplemental battery for winter heat, and am wondering if an upsized reservoir that gets pumped down while still plugged into the house could also be worthwhile...

[puddleglum]

Originally Posted by stovie

Talking about hydraulics, I'm planning on using oxygen tanks to make a hydraulic regent braking system for my s10. I'm wanting to have one tank hold pressure and the other hold vacuum after braking, so that way one pushes while the other pulls to try getting more power from a lower pressure. I'd like to be able to cut them open, put a piston inside then weld them back up.

I don't want to be a killjoy but it sounds like you are trying to make a simple mod really complicated. You said before, you couldn't use a bigger vacuum bottle because of lack of space, but now you are going to build a hydraulic accumulator with an oxygen tank and plumb it in? Even if you ignore the liability of changing the design of the actual braking system, you are going to use just as much space and spend way more money than adding a bigger vacuum reservoir. Why not just fit two or three smaller vacuum bottles and tie them all together in parallel. (I know you said you don't have room for one big bottle.) It's only one tee and a extra check valve going in to the brake system that way. This is, after all, a safety mod not a fuel saving mod, at least not directly.

[stovie]

Originally Posted by puddleglum

I don't want to be a killjoy but it sounds like you are trying to make a simple mod really complicated. You said before, you couldn't use a bigger vacuum bottle because of lack of space, but now you are going to build a hydraulic accumulator with an oxygen tank and plumb it in? Even if you ignore the liability of changing the design of the actual braking system, you are going to use just as much space and spend way more money than adding a bigger vacuum reservoir. Why not just fit two or three smaller vacuum bottles and tie them all together in parallel. (I know you said you don't have room for one big bottle.) It's only one tee and a extra check valve going in to the brake system that way. This is, after all, a safety mod not a fuel saving mod, at least not directly.

You seem to of misunderstood what I was saying and combined two different systems too!

First, I'm using disposable propane bottles because I have them, and got the fitting mostly because I wanted to refill them and using it as a vacuum reservoir was a good second reason to get it imho.

Second, the hydraulic reget system would be connected to the driveline on my s10 so that when the brake light comes on it activates while keeping my original braking.

Third, I also said I won't have room underneath the truck because I have some things I'm testing out that will require most of not all of the space underneath my truck! Hydraulic regen braking, self pressurized water injection tank, self pressurized fuel tank, etc

Fourth, I plan on switching my brakes to manual here in a few months as it would cost me over $300 to do, so I don't want to do it tell I need to replace something on the system so it will take a couple months to do it. Because I still have about half to 3/4 of my current brake pads, and I also only use my plasma money for truck mods 😋

[puddleglum]

Okay, I most certainly did misunderstand what this hydraulic regen. system is. Obviously, I have no idea what you're talking about or why you want to do it. None of it sounds to me like anything that will increase your mileage, except maybe the water injection, but that is debatable. When you were talking about pushing and pulling on the brakes and adding a piston into a cylinder, it sounded a lot like you were building an accumulator for the brakes, like the ones I see on heavy equipment. Probably good you aren't, since I doubt it would work properly in an automotive application anyway.
I wasn't saying you shouldn't use the propane bottle. I think it's a good idea. I was just suggesting, if used 2-3 in parallel, you might have all the extra brake capacity you need without all the extra work and expense. I thought you might be able to mount a few smaller ones easier than one big one. Did you check if you have space in front of the rad, between it and the grill. Anyway, it's your truck so go for it if you want. My intent was to be helpful, not critical, just in case it didn't come across that way.

[stovie]

Yea I'm definitely not going to modify the brakes������ this is a hydraulic regen braking system

http://energyeducation.ca/wiki/image.../Hydraulic.jpg

There's claims that it's around 60% efficient in reclaiming braking losses. And below I have a photo of a bladder accumulation tank and a piston type accumulation tank(I'm wanting to do the piston type)

http://www.whcp-oilgas.com/wp-conten...lator-view.gif

There was a claim that with hydraulic regen braking you could get better fuel economy in city driving over highway partly due to being able to kill the engine at stop lights and get to around 40mph before having to restart the engine.