Thermostart / Flamethrower fuel supply for Perkins 4.108 / 4.107 NICCOP pipe bending and cutting.
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- Опубликовано: 20 авг 2024
- This video instructs on one way to pipe your intake heater (thermostart) with diesel fuel supplied from the injector return rail. This is my first time doing this but I didn't see anything on RUclips describing how to do it. Most thermostart / flamethrower videos just explain what it is. Apologies in advance for any errors and please feel free to comment on better options or techniques for other viewers. Thanks. Enjoy.
Tools included:
Wostore 180 Degree Tubing Bender for 1/4 5/16 3/8 inch Tubing from Amazon
Small tubing cutter
3/16" Copper Nickle tubing from auto parts store
Dorman 3/16" compression fittings, 3/16" Brake T fitting, 3/16" compression sleeves from auto parts store.
Things I would have done differently:
1. Primarily I would have played around with the tubing bender and a bit of scrap tubing if I had some ahead of time so I felt more comfortable and could get my bends exactly where I intended.
2. Just for uniformity, I would have used the same fittings on all six junctions but would have had to source the materials elsewhere. Essentially I used what I had available.
3. I would have determined ahead of time if each of the fitting types recommend the use of thread tape or not so that I could have provided that information during the video.
On Marty T channel he fitted a Thermostart on a Hough30B loader to replace the broken one that no one had replaced in the last X years...(they had just used spray start fluid instead!)
Anyway the fuel tank on the Hough is a belly tank and thus requires a strong suction fuel pump.
To ease this situation the PO installed one of those Facet style cheap inline 12VDC "tap tap tap" fuel pumps...so it sucks fuel up through both filters and then pumps it into the OEM pump and from there into the injector pump.
This simplifies priming new fuel filters as it draws all the air in the new filters out...displaced by the incoming fuel.
Marty branched a fuel hose (high pressure fuel resistant EFI hose) to the Thermostart after the Facet pump...
thus supplying 5 psi fuel directly to the Thermostart at all times the ignition is on.
The Thermostart has no problem coping with this....
it shuts off the fuel flow as soon as the 12VDC supply to the thermostart itself is switched off.....
In your situation perhaps installing that three way reservoir just after the return fuel starts falling downhill might be the way to go...it will fill that reservoir first then send excess down the return line to the main fuel tank?
Show us the result
I suspect this doesn’t really work… The only time there is flow back from the injectors on that line you replaced is when there is any fuel that leaks back past the poppet valve in the injector. Since the idea is to inject the fuel into the engine, there shouldn’t be any significant amount of fuel in that line. It will probably pass more air if any makes it into the injector lines… That top port on the fuel filter boss is intended for bleeding air off the filter. That rubber hose returns to the fuel tank. I suspect there is a restricted orifice in that port or the banjo bolt fitting, so you are not pumping a significant amount of fuel back to the tank. If it did the engine might starve for fuel at higher power settings… At any rate, with that rubber hose back to the tank most likely being the path of least resistance, I doubt it will push much fuel, if any, toward the hot start, and then only while cranking…
The dedicated relay for the hot start heating coil is a good idea, but Here is how I would plumb one of these. Replace the original hard line from the injectors to the banjo fitting. Put a hose barb fitting on the end of the hot-start inlet port. Re-install the small 3 port header tank above the hot-start with a hose from the bottom port to the hot-start so it will gravity feed the hot-start. Disconnect the hose from the top port on the fuel filter and run a new hose from there to one of the top ports on that tank. Connect the line that was on the filter and returns to the tank, to that third port on the little header tank. The little bit of fuel that returns from the injectors, and the bit that comes from that fuel filter air bleed will keep the header tank full while running, so that fuel is always available for the hot-start.
Those hot starts take 8-10 seconds to ignite typically? I would use this with a pushbutton and activate it and give it enough time to ignite before you start cranking. This delivers heat down into the cylinders immediately and saves on crank battery trying to start a cold engine in a cold boat…
I didn’t hear you emphasize that if you fabricate hardline they MUST be steel or the Nickel-Copper you used. You cannot use plain copper, as it will work harden with vibration and can fracture…
Thank you for all of your input and expertise. I have not yet reinstalled the engine or even bled the new lines as yet but chose this method because many have stated in various forum that their themostart is currently installed by being fed by the injector return rail. I will make an effort to bleed the lines in the next few weeks on this project engine and see what (if any) fuel is provided whilst cranking. It only needs to be a few drops but agree that you are most likely correct in that the return to the filter is apt to get most (and probably all) of the return fuel as it is as you have described, the path of least resistance. Thanks again for your time and input. I'll probably need to redesign.
The CAV pump also likely ties into the fuel return. The important thing to know is that the fuel taps off of the filter are going to be at the lift pump pressure. For return flow, the return pressure has to exceed the lift pressure.
This means that you will have lift pressure feeding the thermostat. My Massey Ferguson has the fuel return plumbed into the fuel tank, and the thermostart is fed from the fuel filter tap.
All this to say that you should be just fine.