Choosing an engine and preparing it for improvement:

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Objective: Choose an engine to use; my thoughts from a beginners perspective:
under ongoing construction.
Decide:
 - for what purpose is the engine to be used?
 -Is it fixed throttle or variable throttle
- can the engine be easily adapted to add Exhaust Gas Recycling yes or no
- Can the inlet be easily adapted to add additional items such as Ioniser? yes or no
- can the spark timing be easily modified if required?

fixed throttle vs variable throttle:
My thoughts on this from previous experimenting with booster cells.

 With variable throttle use there is a choice of adding the hho to the manifold side of the butterfly meaning the cell is under constant vacuum at idle - reducing vacuum on the cell as the butterfly opens. Antique vehicles employed this mechanism for operating the windscreen wipers - they found that on a hill the wipers became effectively useless because more throttle was required.

 How this relates to hho cells - the application on the vacuum side encourages the use of the engine with as little throttle use as posssible so that as much hho produced by a booster cell is used at minimum throttle.: IT requires the operator to change patterns of use for fuel consumption minimisation - downside - throttle use is required for safety in hill climbing and overtaking / accelleration thus effective use of the additional hho fuel is reduced with greater throttle use imho. Also it requires the cell and its scrubbers and piping to be able to withstand the vacuum without collapse or stress cracking.

Variable throttle brings challenges for variable fuel supply esp with fuel injected engines surrounded by an ecu with preprogrammed maps, gearbox ecu, intake, spark timing, temperature and exhaust sensors.

ok enough rambling:
Decision: USe fixed throttle engine for development of the idea.
- for what purpose is the engine to be used? backup power supply
  -Is it fixed throttle or variable throttle: flywheel butterfly fixed rpm - inlet port can be added both sides of carburettor for measuring which is better to use.

 - can the engine be easily adapted to add Exhaust Gas Recycling yes or no: yes
 - Can the inlet be easily adapted to add additional items such as Ioniser? yes
 - can the spark timing be easily modified if required? is possible by making an adjustable bracket for the ignition coil


Source engine: 900w 230v generator, single cylinder petrol carburettor 2.5hp

Engine preparation:
Engine running and carburettor tuned for normal operation - yes complete.
Engine oil and fuel has boundary lubrication additive: yes

Boundary lubrication:
In my experience with both japanese and european engines in vehicles I have owned and used, there is a product I have used to reduce friction and improve performance - the product, formerly known as Powerup NNL690, is called EngineMaxx, its product details can be found at: http://www.maryngroup.com/product-lines/power-up/enginemaxx-nnl-690.html

Powerup nnl690 was added to the: engine oil, transmission fluid, powersteer fluid and fuel tank(for upper cylinder lubrication), according to the website is for the purpose of friction reduction within the boundary lubrication regime, where metal-to-metal contact causes component wear.

My experience with this product produced:
 - eliminated powersteer pump/valve/rack and pinion squeal
- lengthened the usable life of the transmission fluid
- at least doubled the service life of engine oil
- a noticable improvement with engine up and go and being more free running

What I have physically seen in demonstrations of friction between 2 surfaces underload being lubricated with off-the-shelf oils was that with powerup added the ability to reduce friction between the surfaces is greatly increased.

3% powerup by volume to engine oil was added to the engine oil, 0.5ml powerup added per litre of fuel for upper cylinder lubrication, the ratios for transmission and powersteer i dont remember - had to refer to the powerup lubrication manual. Noted is that the engine ran better with powerup added to the fuel.

On on my previous vehicle, by using a standard 15w40 oil, on average I was having to change engine oil every 5000km, by 6 to 7000km the engine was noticable in how it sounded - the oil came out thin like water, well and truly stuffed. After adding powerup, and changing to Total Rubia 7400TIR - i have extended oil changes out to 12000 to 14000km. The particular total oil is a diesel oil but has a SD(spark) rating and I was told by......someone who had friction tested it... that it was the highest friction barrier rated oil they had seen thus far. The engines I have used it in have had a noticable improvement in running smoother and freer especially on accelleration.....

Oil Dispersion test:
A method of telling when oil is ok or due for change is called an oil dispersion test. The below image shows a test I did several months ago on engine oil that had done just over 9000km.

Effect of water in oil:
We know oil floats on water. Any mechanic can tell you that water in engine oil ruins the oil and its ability to lubricate- often a leaking / blown head gasket indication is the oil gone white.

I have seen friction tests on oil that has powerup added to it that then had water added to it. The test showed to me that the water in the oil did not reduce the boundary lubrication ability of the oil.
Thus it is my opinion that on an engine being used to run on any hho / water would benefit by having powerup added.

In picture 2 added below, theres some new oil - one has powerup in it, both have water added and briefly shaken to mix together. Note the colour difference.

Upper Cylinder lubrication:
0.5ml of powerup per litre of fuel provides for an upper cylinder lubricant. A thought for those experimenting / using hho cells particularly when using catalysts is the effect of that fuel to the upper cylinder lubricaton.

My test engine is now ready for modification for using an alternative fuel.
- To do: develop a method of adding upper cylinder lubrication to hho setup, perhaps by separate injection into the air/fuel stream.
- To do: use 100ml fuel and measure how long it takes to use this amount with a 900w load - gives a baseline fuel consumption usage for comparison.

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Variable throttle brings challenges for variable fuel supply esp with fuel injected engines surrounded by an ecu with preprogrammed maps, gearbox ecu, intake, spark timing, temperature and exhaust sensors.

Hi!  Sounds like a great plan.  With the engine you have in mind, do you have to worry about a waste spark?  I think most lawn mower engines have waste sparks, so your engine might be in the same category?
 
In regards to a fuel injected engine, you could use something like an Apexi AFC to control fuel delivery.  IE....you can lean out gasoline injection to the engine with the AFC, and then just substitute in your HHO.
 
As you build a cell that can produce more and more HHO, you just lean out the gasoline more and more.  I haven't tried this, but it's something I will eventually do once I have a working cell.
 
Here's an example:
http://www.hhoforums.com/showthread.php?t=6885

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Also, in regards to the AFC, I'm not sure where you're located.  He does say this about it for EU cars:
 
"for the EU cars, if someone is thinking on getting a AFC they should get the AFC SELECT because the ADM and JDM MAF/MAP sensor is different on the EU type cars. and the MAF(Mass air flow sensor) is a MAP(manifold air pressure sensor). this is how the MAF acts as a MAP, the MAF reading goes into the computer and then based on the RPM and TP reading the computer can then calculate the pressure inside the intake manifold."