Light weight diesel auto conversion

[osprey220]

Greetings,

I am interested in doing a 120 - 160 hp diesel auto conversion. I am looking fo a good, light, and turbocharged diesel engine to begin with. Any suggestions?

Cheers,
Owen

 

[sming]

Gaz'Aile project use 8 valve Ford-PSA DV6C. With mecanical injection, it produce around 100HP for 107Kg with psru.
In the GM LE2 thread someone mentioned a 1.6L biturbo 160HP from GM you can find in opel astra here in europe. He says it weights around 125kg. Toss the bi-turbo out for one big turbo, you might save some weight...

 

[cheapracer]

'Low weight", really? It's a diesel, they are heavy, some are just not as heavy, but still heavy.

You might try to get to a car wreckers and find out how much the Honda N series actually weighs, Honda boast it's 20% lighter, but don't say lighter than what, nor offer the actual weight

Honda N engine - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Mad MAC]

One might find a candidate engine in one of the diesel ATVs or similar recreational vehicles.

 

[pictsidhe]

Lightest car diesels I can think of are the Mercedes SMART. Under 100hp, though.

 

[Geraldc]

Dv6 for Gazaile is 108 kg with redrive, oil ,intercooler and hoses for 105 hp.
Dv6 is known as HDI and is sold in Peugeot Citroen Ford Toyota and others.

 

[rv7charlie]

Try researching the Subaru EE20. Early versions apparently had crank breakage issues; supposedly fixed. Haven't heard much about them lately, though. Never sold in USA, but I think there is an importer.

Charlie

 

[norm_parm]

Here is the Facebook page: Security Check Required

 

[osprey220]

Dv6 for Gazaile is 108 kg with redrive, oil ,intercooler and hoses for 105 hp.
Dv6 is known as HDI and is sold in Peugeot Citroen Ford Toyota and others.

Geraldc - Thanks for the pointer the the DV6! Thanks exactly what I'm looking for. Cheers!

 

[osprey220]

The DV6 looks really promising (Thanks Sming and Geraldc). I was also checking out the Honda N (cheapracer).
These are both right in the power/weight range I was looking for.

Any others?

 

[Michael Silvius]

Charlie Kenny in NZ converted a Peugeot for his home built Jodel.
A couple links to his conversion here:

Read news | Aviation News

Alternative Energies

Diesel engines, anyone? How about biofuel? More builders are turning to such alternatives in the name of fuel economy, while the industry awaits fuel cells and better batteries. By Dean Sigler.

www.kitplanes.com

His youtube channel

flyeurodiesel

Have scratch built two Jodels and repaired others. The last was built to fly the Peugeot diesel engine. Safe affordable flight.

www.youtube.com

 

[Geraldc]

Maybe Air Trikes who posts here could supply a gearbox for you.
Fitting a mechanical pump and injectors is not that hard either.

 

[B52]

BMW N47 or the newer B47, 4 cylinder all aluminium block turbo diesel 204 HP runs well on Jet-A + 1% Pennzoil. Once you strip all the pollution gear gets you to about 130Kg . Need less power go for the B37 3 cylinder turbo diesel but this harder to get.

BMW B47 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Astro diesel used in Diamond DA42 Twin Star use Mercedes-Benz OM640 automotive engines also all aluminium block with metal sleeves.

Austro Engine E4 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Keep away from VW/Audi TDI or VM Motori (Jeep Cherokee/Chrysler) they are a heavy iron block + to reduce vibration they have an additional balance shaft .. all weigh too much.

 

[rbarnes]

Astro diesel used in Diamond DA42 Twin Star use Mercedes-Benz OM640 automotive engines also all aluminium block with metal sleeves.

The Austro engines are factory iron blocks. It's why they are rebuildable... and weigh 450lbs. The Theilert (now Continental) used the Mercedes OM640 with an aluminum block and is why they are non-rebuildable.

 

[lelievre12]

The Thielert CD155 tips the scale at around 150KG. There are still some floating around the aftermarket after Thielert stopped trading until purchased by Continental. Many Diamond's changed them out for Austro or avgas engines. They are still out there.

As others have noted the CD155 is based on the OM640 but with a custom aluminium block. The earlier CD135 is based on the OM668 engine which I think was available from Mercedes in an aluminium version on their A Series cars.

As far as I know there are not many auto-diesels with a lightweight block. The Subaru does have an aluminium block but the boxer engine is much heavier for some reason. I think >200KG. And not much power either as stroke is limited in the boxer design.

Given that the Theilert engines are circulating, it doesn't make much sense to make a homebrew PSRU from an converted auto. It really requires serious engineering. Better to buy an ex-certified. Those engines have well engineered gearboxes and have managed to cope with the stronger torque pulses of the diesel engine without falling to pieces. One major improvement which helps this is the inclusion of the dual mass flywheels on later Technify/Austro engines. Torque pulses are damped considerably. However there are many many other features needed to make the Diesel work in a plane as well. EG a custom ECU which keeps engine operating at altitude. It is impossible to start a Diesel at altitude if it dies as thin air and compression ignition do not work together. They also solved the issue with Jet-A destroying HP pumps by case hardening.

 

[rv6ejguy]

The early Thielert stuff had many issues with the gearbox/ clutch requiring replacement every 300 hours as well as ring land issues leading to high oil consumption. I wouldn't be looking for one of these... Diamond was glad to get Austros in their planes.

 

[cheapracer]

they are a heavy iron block + to reduce vibration they have an additional balance shaft .. all weigh too much.

Just another reminder, have mentioned it before, the weight is the weight, don't be fooled what it's made from, weigh it yourselves, that is the only reliable source.