caster angle

When carried to the extreme, today's emphasis on automobile mass reduction has significant implications for vehicle ride and suspension design. We therefore review traditional automobile suspension systems and offer comments on the special considerations of suspension systems of extremely low-mass passenger cars.

The ride and handling characteristics of an automobile center on the characteristics of the tires. Tires are the vehicle's reaction point with the roadway. They manage the input of forces and disturbances from the road, and they are the final link in the driver's chain of output commands. Tire characteristics are therefore a key factor in the effect the road has on the vehicle, and in the effectiveness of the output forces that control vehicle stability and cornering characteristics. The tire's basic characteristics are managed by the system of springs, dampers, and linkages that control the way in which tires move and react to disturbances and control inputs.

The bounce and steering movements of the wheels provide for a variety of simultaneous needs. They provide steering input for directional control, they compensate for (or utilize) body roll to improve cornering ability, and they move vertically in response to roadway irregularities in order to smooth out the ride and maintain adhesion. Wheels are connected to the sprung mass through linkages and are therefore affected by the rolling and pitching movements that occur about the suspensions system's reaction centers. The mechanical requirements for directional control, cornering forces, and ride comfort are continuously changing according to roadway and driving conditions. The suspension and steering linkages are designed to allow the wheels to move as needed to meet the dynamic requirements of various combinations of events. However, the designer is normally constrained by mechanical conflicts between structural members, the engine and drivetrain, and other components that also must fit into the vehicle. Consequently, errors in geometry are common, and the actual suspension system often falls short of the ideal in a variety of ways.

glow plugs/heater plugs

If you need to heat your tank as well, you could add a 2nd FPHE in series with the 1st FPHE and use that to reheat the oil in the veg oil return line before sending it back to the tank. Nice and simple, and it doesn't heat the oil too much; just warm enough to keep it nice and liquid to aid the flow and reduce problems associated with the oil's high melting point components clogging the lines and fittings.

While on the subject of heating the veg oil tank, I've seen some designs that extend the main coolant circuit all the way back to the veg oil tank where it heats the oil via a coil, before sending it back to the engine. This is not a particularly good idea for the following reasons:

• increased risk of rupturing the coolant and damaging your engine.
• if the heater coil is metal, particularly copper or aluminium [aluminum to our American friends ;) ], it will contribute to oxidation/polymerisation problems in the tank, because these metals are very good pro-oxidants.
• It could heat the oil too much, and again contribute to oxidation/polymerisation problems.

For a larger pdf version

injectors

Timo Janhunen has developed the Z combustion system with local ignition and air to fuel ratio control. The controlled high velocity swirl in the Z motor enables the use of the Z combustion. The combustion chamber is a circular groove in the piston. The combustion air flows in the combustion chamber at top dead center. The fuel is injected down stream to the highly turbulent air flow. The squish flow turns the swirl flow to screw type flow in the chamber (see the picture). This makes better mixing for its part.

The combustion time is shorter than in common diesel engines, because of the very high turbulence and better mixing. This makes a positive affect to the efficiency of the engine.

fuel pump

If the fuel pump is not delivering adequate fuel pressure and volume to the engine, the engine may not start or run properly. Low fuel pressure can cause hard starting, a rough idle, misfiring, hesitation and stalling. No fuel pressure will prevent the engine from starting, or will cause the engine to quit running if the fuel pump fails while driving.

Fuel injected engines are very sensitive to fuel pressure as well as fuel volume. Low pressure will cause starting and driveability problems. A pump that can deliver adequate pressure but not enough volume may allow the engine to start and idle normally, but it will starve the engine for fuel and cause a loss of power when the engine is under load, accelerating hard or cruising at highway speeds.

oil filter

An oil filter is a filter to remove contaminants from engine oil , transmission oil , lubricating oil , or hydraulic oil . Oil filters ..

cam shaft

The relationship between the rotation of the camshaft and the rotation of the crankshaft is of critical importance. Since the valves control the flow of air/fuel mixture intake and exhaust gases, they must be opened and closed at the appropriate time during the stroke of the piston. For this reason, the camshaft is connected to the crankshaft either directly, via a gear mechanism, or indirectly via a belt or chain called a timing belt or timing chain. In some designs the camshaft also drives the distributor and the oil and fuel pumps. Also on early fuel injection systems, cams on the camshaft would operate the fuel injectors.

In a two-stroke engine that uses a camshaft, each valve is opened once for each rotation of the crankshaft; in these engines, the camshaft rotates at the same rate as the crankshaft. In a four-stroke engine, the valves are opened only half as often; thus, two full rotations of the crankshaft occur for each rotation of the camshaft.

The timing of the camshaft can be advanced to produce better low end torque or it can be retarded to produce better high end torque.

crankshaft

The crankshaft, sometimes casually abbreviated to crank, is the part of an engine which translates reciprocating linear piston motion into rotation. To convert the reciprocating motion into rotation, the crankshaft has "crank throws" or "crankpins", additional bearing surfaces whose axis is offset from that of the crank, to which the "big ends" of the connecting rods from each cylinder attach.

It typically connects to a flywheel, to reduce the pulsation characteristic of the four-stroke cycle, and sometimes a torsional or vibrational damper at the opposite end, to reduce the torsion vibrations often caused along the length of the crankshaft by the cylinders farthest from the output end acting on the torsional elasticity of the metal.