Ranger Biodiesel Swap - Flywheel And Bellhousing Adapter Installation

With the bellhousing and crankshaft adapters finished, it was time to start assembling the backend of the engine. I received the bellhousing adapter from the machine shop, confirmed the hole alignment with my bellhousing, and then torqued it to the engine block.

 

Next, I installed the crankshaft adapter and crankshaft. Both pieces received brand-new hardware that were loctited and torqued to spec.

The original flywheel and pressure plate were in good condition, so I rebuilt both and installed a new clutch friction plate.

The final piece was the bellhousing, which required some mild clearancing to not interfere with the coolant adapter on the back of the cylinder head,

With everything painted and reassembled, it was time to work on the starter, clutch linkage, and transmission installations.

Ranger Biodiesel Swap - Automatic Transmission Control Wiring Bypass

In addition to the engine, I also planned to swap the original Ford 4R44E automatic transmission for a 4- or 5-speed manual, such as an M50D. Besides the better fuel economy, this would greatly simplify the conversion by eliminating the need for integrating the shift controls into the VW engine.

However, the automatic transmission cannot simply be unplugged without making additional modifications to the wiring harness. Otherwise, the truck's ECU would throw multiple OBD2 codes, and several crucial functions would be disabled. The common recommendations to avoid this are to simply convert a manual truck instead of an automatic, swap in a manual truck's wiring harness and ECU, or reprogram the ECU itself.

Instead, after studying the wiring diagrams, I designed a bypass box that tricks the original ECU into thinking that an automatic transmission is still installed, and that it is permanently locked into the Neutral position. I chose Neutral because:

1. The starter is normally enabled in both Neutral and Park.

2. The fewest internal shift solenoids are operated in Neutral.

3. The ECU won't compare the input and output rpm in Neutral, so I don't have to mimic those sensors.

Pages 29-3 through 29-5 of the Ford Wiring Diagram Manual provided most of the necessary information. The transmission is equipped with a "Digital Transmission Range (DTR) Sensor, which is a multiple-pole rotary switch attached to the gear selector lever. The diagram on page 29-3 shows the wiring connections that are engaged in each discrete gear position, and page 29-4 shows the wiring connections to each of the internal shift solenoids and sensors. Finally, page 29-5 presents a pinout diagram of the two harness connectors attached to the transmission, including wire color codes, pin numbers, and circuit functions.

By focusing on the connections specific to Neutral position, and determining which solenoids are actually called for in Neutral, I designed a jumper box in a waterproof case. Several wires are simply connected, whereas a few others are joined by resistors with specific OHM values. The large resistors imitate the presence of the internal shift solenoids, so the ECU self-check doesn't detect any faults and trigger a code.

 

Biodiesel Sportster Land Speed Racer - Ohio Mile 2016 Second Pass (Video Post)

After we discovered that the CVT was either slipping or not fully shifting, we moved the GoPro mount to the left side of the bike and pointed the camera towards the transmission. During the next run, we were able to document the CVT behavior.

 

It appears that the CVT simply does not shift all the way to top gear. We suspect that this is occurring because the diesel engine's redline is much lower than the redline of an equivalent gasoline engine. The CVT primary has three weighted rollers that are thrown outwards by centrifugal force and push the plate inwards, which changes the effective diameter of the pulley. If the engine rpm is too low, then they would not have enough force to completely shift. The solution is to either make custom heavyweight rollers, install weaker return springs, or some combination of the two. 

 

 

Adjusting the transmission alignment with shims. Unfortunately, this didn't help all that much.

Biodiesel Sportster Land Speed Racer - Part 13 - Odds and Ends

Here are all the various pieces that had to be fabricated. It's always those last details that drive you crazy and eat up your time!

K&N Round Filter Adapter

Made several grocery bags worth of chips....

 

CVT Cover

Hand-hammered from aluminum.

Rear Struts

Frame-Stiffening Bracket

Secondary Shaft Keyways

 

KZ400 Diesel - Rebuilding the Electrical System

The last major repair I wanted to make to my diesel bike, before putting it into winter storage, was rebuilding the wiring harness. I got the bike as a bare frame, so I had to make a harness from scratch. At the time, I had no experience building an electrical system, nor did I know what proper wiring practices were. I was a simple mechanical engineer, and all I knew was (shudder) electrical tape, zip ties, and hard plastic spade connectors.

Since I didn't originally intend to make the bike road legal, the first system was a crude total-loss setup to turn the headlight and taillight on. As the project progressed, I added new circuits and zip-tied them to the original wires. By the time I had finished the bike, I had added brake lights, a horn, and a charging circuit, and the harness looked like this:

Good luck tracing THAT out

Why on earth would I put the fuse THERE?!

Different angle, just as bad...

 Obviously, something needed to be done. I had used a mash up of different wire colors, none of which matched, and it was nearly impossible to find any shorts that occurred. To fix the problem, I bought 5 different wire spools, a box of Honda-style bullet connectors, a real crimping tool, and set to work.

This is a beautiful sight to me. That is why I'm a geek.

Much Better

There! Not bad for a mechie.

Loring Timing Association 2013

This past July we made our annual pilgrimage to northern Maine for the Loring Timing Association's Maine Event. It is held on the former SAC runway at the decommissioned Loring Airforce Base; 12,000 feet of smooth, flat asphalt. It is so flat that, because of the curvature of the earth, you cannot see end-to-end!

This year, we set records with both the diesel bike and the CB450/500T Frankenstein. The diesel managed to just break 60mph, and the 500 was limited to 92.3mph due to nearly overheating from an intake air leak. I'm posting some of the pictures here, and the rest can be found at my friend's smugmug page:

http://dfalk.smugmug.com/Photography/2013-Loring-Timing-Association

RIP Bill Warner

The Perewitz's and their monster.

Somewhere in there is a BSA Scrambler

A sample of the madness

Barbecue!