Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Fuel/coolant systems complete

For the last couple weeks ive been working on both the fuel and electric systems of the trooper. now that the fuel tank is comeplete, were getting closer to putting things back on the trooper

We fed 2 rubber hose fuel lines (one coming in to fuel pump and one out). and followed a path along the frame under the vehicle, on the passenger side. we fed another rubber hose for the coolant and followed the same path.

Peter and I lifted the tank, and put it in place, along with connecting all the coorisponding hoses to their connection, clamping them in securley.

our main idea was to keep the coolant very warm, keeping the fuel thin, so to assist the coolant hose to maintain its heat, we ran an electrical heater strip along the hose, then electrical taped it tight, leading the pronged plug end to be under the hood. afterwards, we used 'noodle' foam type insulation to wrap around the 2 fuel lines + coolant line, to further prevent heatloss.

once all the lines from the tank to the hood were insulated and tie strapped securely to the vehicle, there needed to be some adjusment under the hood for the hoses. to run the fuel and coolant lines together as much as possible to keep in the heat, we traced the fuel lines and one of the coolant lines (red hose) behind the engine against the firewall.

the plastic connector that connects the coolant hose (running under the vehicle) and the hose running from the heater was in an awkawrd position ( facing down and too low) so after much specualtion, we used connected an extra hose to make it longer. this increases the chance of a coolant leak (with more connetions and all) but i guess thats what happens when things are overlooked in the early stages of installation. hey it happens.