1972 IH Ward Conversion - Page 5

Demonknight · 12-09-2005, 04:02 PM

Years ago some power company went all over Co looking for the windyest(SP?) places... Sterling was in the top ten *S* bummer we didn't get together when you were here (I'm in Sterling)

busone · 12-10-2005, 12:02 AM

I am sure we will be going through again. We have some family in Sidney. I also like to spend a few hours in Cabelas drooling. Probably sometime after Christmas we will go visit them again. I will let you know when we do.

Demonknight · 12-10-2005, 09:14 PM

*LOL* A few hours?..I can spend that just in front of the fish tanks *grin* I loved taking my 4 year old in there this spring and letting him see all the animals/fish..he would have stayed there for days looking at them. I can't help but think about what all I could get there that would work in the bus, good place for ideas, but need a deaper pocket book than I have.

busone · 12-12-2005, 12:19 AM

Maybe if I win the lottery I can get a few things there

. My 17 month old also loved looking at all the displays as well. That is the one store the whole family enjoys.

bdavis441 · 03-19-2006, 08:29 PM

Hi Steve,
A couple of questions for you.
Do you know how much of a mileage increase eliminating the engine driven fan produced?
Is the exhaust on your bus 3 in. and what were you charged to run it.
Thanks,
Brad

Steve · 04-07-2006, 12:33 PM

I ended up leaving the mechanical fan on the bus for security and the electric only kicks on when it gets hot.

There have been a lot of bad storms lately and I have been working on other cars and a house lately so I haven't had time to do much. The wind in the storms last week started to rip some things off the bus so I am going to have to do something soon.

Next up I am going to carpet the bedroom floor and finish the outside of the bus with sheetmetal. I need to check my fresh water tank also because I think it may have broke over the frozen winter.

phillbus914 · 04-07-2006, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve

I ended up leaving the mechanical fan on the bus for security and the electric only kicks on when it gets hot.

I need to rig something like that up on my bus too. At low driving speeds, bumper-to-bumper stop & go traffic my bus gets hot. When we were on the beach it got up to 240* then I opened my hood & found that my fan was just coasting but not locking up. I can run the heaters to dissipate the heat but I'd rather get one that comes on automatically.

I'm thinking of putting an electric fan on the front pushing air through my intercooler/radiator. Is that what you did? Do you have any photos?

lapeer20m · 04-07-2006, 02:18 PM

I've found that electric radiator fans can be had at the junk yard for cheap....like 10 bucks or so.

Not only are they good for the radiator, but you can also use one inside the bus to cool the passengers when parked. They use suprisingly little current. I used to run one inside the old bus to help push the steam out, and i only had telephone wire feeding it.

I've had three of them that i've played with, and all of them would spin backwards when polarity was reversed, this gives you different mounting options.

bdavis441 · 04-09-2006, 09:30 AM

I am seriously considering eliminating the engine driven fan and using electric fans only. The engine driven fan is a huge parasitic drag. If I try this, I'll probably use two fans on thermostats at staggered temps. I will keep the stock fan and tools to change it on hand just in case. This may make a noticeable difference in mileage. We'll see!

Steve · 04-10-2006, 12:08 PM

I will probably do the same thing when I finally get around to replacing my radiator that I have patched like 8 times. There is actually a huge hole in the middle (that I accidentaly put there when I was putting on the electric fan) that is patched only with JB Weld, but it has held in my trips to Minnesota and Nebraska so far.

-- So be careful putting the anchors through your radiator or you will put a big leaking hole in it like I did --

the_experience03 · 04-10-2006, 12:49 PM

Ya know....I'm not here to argue that electric fans free up some extra mileage because I know they do. I have seen it myself. But here's what I don't get....in all my engineering schooling I have seen equation after equation after equation for various energies. Basically the equations are used to make any process follow the Conservation of Energy such that there is no energy unaccounted for on either side of the equation. Long story short, they show where the loses are.

Where am I going with this? Well in every equation I have seen there is SOME loss of energy to an unwanted form when it is converted from one form to another. In fact, our engines rely on this. Without some of that loss, the second law of thermodynamics wouldn't really work and neither would combustion engines. Anyway....how is it that electric fans save energy if we're converting from mechanical to electrical to mechanical instead of just mechanical to mechanical? Obviously it has to do with the fan always spinning, but it's always been my reasoning that a properly operating fan clutch should minimize this effect. Just some food for thought.....

bdavis441 · 04-10-2006, 03:43 PM

I've wondered about this before. I don't have a good answer, but I'd probably say you are correct in that it has to do with the fan always spinning......then there's the fan clutch, a properly operating clutch should take care of this. Maybe clutch fans haven't evolved as far as they could have due to cars going to electric fans. Is there a modern, efficient fan clutch available? Food for thought, yes. But we all know that things don't always work in the real world like they do on paper. Example: the underdrive pulley setup on my pickup shouldn't have eliminated enough parasitic drag to drop the 1/4 mi. time by 4 tenths, but it did. I think I smell smoke.....yes, it's coming out of my ears.

Steve · 04-10-2006, 04:00 PM

You are correct the loss come due to the mechanical fan will run at a higher RPM than the electrical which also when run only when needed. The other advantage is that the fan slows the responsivness of the engine (have an Austin Healey Sprite and without the fan the difference is night and day).

Take my bus for example that has no fan clutch and it was designed with 1960's aerodynamics. If I'm pushing 3K on the highway I'm losing a ton of power that could be used for climbing hills.

You may say well your alternator is going to run to keep the battery charged and converting mechanical to electrical to mechanical is a waste but the battery bank on my bus and probably a lot of yours is so big that I could run the fan all day it would not drop the voltage of my batteries. So when I get where I am going I just plug it in and it gives me back that potential energy instead of using it up when driving.

wmah · 04-10-2006, 09:53 PM

Fan clutches did come a little more modern. I have seen at least one with an electric fan clutch. This was on a 99 bluebird transhuttle/tc1000 with a 5.9 cummins. Most of the time the fan would never turn until the engine hit a certin temperature. I did have the belt break once and after replaceing the belt the fan didn't kick in after that. The belt had broke the wiring to the clutch. Now most of the time this won't be a big issue, the problem comes when it is in stop and go driving. going down the highway it never needed to run unless the temp outside is hot enough. The set up works the same basic way as a ac compressor on a car.

the_experience03 · 04-10-2006, 11:41 PM

I'm still convinced my bus wouldn't warm up without a radiator, let alone just taking the fan off

I don't think I'll mess with mine and put an electric fan on it. The mechanical fan just works too well for the time being and I don't know that anything is going to help that 6.6 feel especially strong. I may add a remote tranny cooler with an electric fan though as my intercooler and radiator are pretty tight against the front of the grill.

As for your 1960's aerodynamics, Steve.....your bus looks like it might be MORE aerodynamic than my 1989 Ford/Wayne. I don't think aerodynamics have evolved much one school buses. They're built strong like a brick $hithouse with about the same aerodynamic profile.

Steve · 04-11-2006, 10:10 AM

I meant the blades of my mechanical fan where designed with 60's aerodynamics, I bet I could get a flex fan and make a big difference.

As for the body I love the roundedness of my bus.

Steve · 08-15-2006, 12:35 PM

I bought a house a couple months ago so most of my time with the bus has been spent cleaning it out and moving the stuff I had been storing on the bus into the house.

I HATE MICE! From now on anything that is remotely edible I am going to be storing in hard plastic containers when on the bus. They will eat anything that is made of soft plastic, rubber, foam, or fabric. Luckily I don't think there are any mice living on the bus at the moment as I have not seen traces of them for months but in preperation of their winter return I will be changing some things.

I am also gearing up for paint touchups as I dont think my repaint will be happening this year. I am spending all my painting time painting my garage walls.

Firearm · 08-15-2006, 10:48 PM

I have heard that cotton balls with peppermint oil on them works to keep mice away. I was going to try it this winter since I store my bus in the country.

Steve · 09-04-2006, 09:34 PM

Finally I am installing some solar systems into my bus. Here I have the solar charge controller mounted to the right of the inverter controls.

Steve · 09-05-2006, 10:06 PM

Got the panel mounted on the roof and everything wired up. I am impressed at how little sun is required for it to be working.

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