Turning a HUGE van into a hypermiling house!

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by iveco

But what happens when the value closes (say at 75c). and the water/glycol mixture in the loop is just sitting next to the 150c + exhaust?

Now I see, you consider using a recirculation heat-exchanging setup. In this case, either some other sort of heat-recovery system would be better or you would need a secondary heat-exchanger rejecting heat to the outside, and switch between both according to the demand. I was considering something more similar to a scaled-down version of a residential boiler, with a serpentine surrounding some portion of the exhaust pipe and recirculating the water between the tank and the serpentine (preferably covered with a muffler in order to retain more heat and protect it from damages caused by road debris).

[ptitviet]

Yeah! Another guy from Switzerland!

Nice project about it. For long trips, I would agree about lowering speeds and making efforts about the aerodynamics. But in a way, your aerodynamics are not that bad since you have a long version. Belly pan is good, of course smaller mirrors, maybe back wheel fairings?

I would also go for a total oil change of back box/diff oil as you get huge power losses from the very long transmission tunnel and these parts are often forgotten in servicing.

Otherwise I am not sure about the AC-alternator delete one should be sure that the final state will not be worse than the first one... Or maybe then go to a total hybrid system which indeed should give you better mpg on roads with unconstant speeds.

[iveco]

Originally Posted by ptitviet

Yeah! Another guy from Switzerland!

Nice project about it. For long trips, I would agree about lowering speeds and making efforts about the aerodynamics. But in a way, your aerodynamics are not that bad since you have a long version. Belly pan is good, of course smaller mirrors, maybe back wheel fairings?

I would also go for a total oil change of back box/diff oil as you get huge power losses from the very long transmission tunnel and these parts are often forgotten in servicing.

Otherwise I am not sure about the AC-alternator delete one should be sure that the final state will not be worse than the first one... Or maybe then go to a total hybrid system which indeed should give you better mpg on roads with unconstant speeds.

Swiss taking over Ecomodder!
Yea back wheel fairings is a good idea and super cheap and easy to do! I will probably try it!

I'll look into changing differential oil too and see if i can find a spec of how thin i can go! I'm interested to do some measurements of power draw when running before i remove the belt. if it's over 200 watts (closer to 300w after efficiency loss) it's probably worth doing.

I'd love total hybrid but it's too much of an expensive undertaking unfortunately! maybe one day i will electrify...

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by iveco

I'd love total hybrid but it's too much of an expensive undertaking unfortunately! maybe one day i will electrify...

I'd still rather try a hybrid setup than electrify. On a sidenote, considering some folks in South Africa have already adapted Lexus V8 engines into older models of the Iveco Daily, I must confess I'd be quite curious to see how the HSD of a hybrid Lexus LS could fare in a van like yours (even though integrating the electronic controls with a Diesel engine instead of the stock one from the Lexus might be quite labor-intensive).

[iveco]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

I'd still rather try a hybrid setup than electrify. On a sidenote, considering some folks in South Africa have already adapted Lexus V8 engines into older models of the Iveco Daily, I must confess I'd be quite curious to see how the HSD of a hybrid Lexus LS could fare in a van like yours (even though integrating the electronic controls with a Diesel engine instead of the stock one from the Lexus might be quite labor-intensive).

It would be a dream project!!

Unfortunately, honestly, i can't ever imagine having enough spare money to undertake a project of this expense. The 20 year old van on it's own it the single largest purchase i have ever made by a long way!

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by iveco

Unfortunately, honestly, i can't ever imagine having enough spare money to undertake a project of this expense. The 20 year old van on it's own it the single largest purchase i have ever made by a long way!

Who knows what might happen in the next years, if you eventually stick with the van for long enough to justify an entire overhaul of its mechanics once the time comes, and the future availability of the electrical systems for hybrids on junkyards increasing accordingly.