Hi everyone!
I'm a small farmer and run a variety of old equipment. I have as many diesels as I can but unfortunately wound up with some gassers in the bunch.
The carbs on these are a neverending task getting everything running for the upcoming season. This week I am working on my old MF36 swather, a good solid belt drive machine from the 70s. Everything on the machine works great and is very maintainable - except the carb, whose float has sunk AGAIN. It's tempting to convert machines like this to fuel injection.
This guy would be a great first candidate as it has a little 4 cylinder sitting up top with lots of access all over and around the block to work on it. Also it only works a couple weeks of the year, giving lots of time to wrench on it!
I was wondering if there are real gains to be had that will help me in the field and make the conversion worth it. It obviously has no components that will be of any use - it is a classic engine of the 70s. I would need to scrape up everything at the junkyard.
Will I save significant fuel or get a useful HP boost that will let me get more work done with less fuel/time on the machine? This is no race car, it's a 50HP machine that has a top speed of 10MPH. And it is governed, so more top end is no use to me - what I really need is more torque to run the knives and table so I can cut faster without bogging down. Or - the same performance with better fuel economy and less exhaust (open cab)
Also wondering if there are true governor features in Megasquirt or only rev-limiting. The current belt-driven mechanical governor modulates the throttle. If I could do away with it and set the governed speed with a potentiometer then the conversion would be well worth not having to maintain that pesky thing as well...
Considering MS on old farm equipment. Worth it?
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Read the manual to see if your question is answered there before posting. Many users will not reply if the answer is already available in the manual.
If your question is about troubleshooting, configuration, or tuning, you MUST include your processor type (MS-I or MS-II) and code version in your post. If your question is about PCB assembly or modifications, you must also include the main board version number (1.01, 2.2 or 3.0).
If you have questions about MS1/Extra or MS2/Extra code configuration or tuning, please post them at www.msextra.com Such questions posted here will be moved to: a temporary MSextra sub-forum, where they will be removed after 7 days
The full forum rules are here: Forum Rules, be sure to read them all regularly.
-
Matt Cramer
- Super Squirter
- Posts: 2951
- Joined: Sat Jul 03, 2004 11:35 am
Re: Considering MS on old farm equipment. Worth it?
Its main benefit is likely to be that it will start better and not have the same sort of carb issues. Not sure there's going to be a cost effective power gain.
Usually on older engines, there's two ways you can handle the fuel delivery side of things.
1. Adapt a TBI unit in place of the carb. Less work, but the fuel distribution won't be as good as port injection.
2. Weld or epoxy injector mounting bungs to the intake. A better system, but more difficult.
Current MegaSquirts do not have a governor function. This may show up on future products.
Usually on older engines, there's two ways you can handle the fuel delivery side of things.
1. Adapt a TBI unit in place of the carb. Less work, but the fuel distribution won't be as good as port injection.
2. Weld or epoxy injector mounting bungs to the intake. A better system, but more difficult.
Current MegaSquirts do not have a governor function. This may show up on future products.
