Project 80: Codename Grey Ghost

[SamW]

That looks bad I must check mine do all 80s have that heater thing

 

[Gary820]

We de coke quite a few oil burners, horrid black stuff. Have you got egr valves fitted?

 

[Towpack]

Open up any diesel with an EGR setup and you'll see this. Just the result off the oil vapour/mist from the crankcase breather and possibly even the turbo oil seals if they're worn and the soot particles from the exhaust combining to form a black slunge which sticks like STAAB. Getting rid of or disabling the EGR will prevent it and reason enough to do it IMO!

 

[SamW]

I don't have an erg so mine shouldn't be as bad then

 

[Chris]

EGRs disabled a long time ago. I do wonder about the turbo seals. Odd thing is that the part of the pipe near the heater end was clean. it was only the part near the manifold that was caked.

No Sam, 12v 80's don't have a heater like this. It's a 24v thing

 

[SamW]

Ah right no need to worry then

 

[Towpack]

If you look at the air cross over pipe you'll see how the EGR gases are introduced into the incoming air from the turbo downstream of the heater unit. I reckon the deposits build up readily toward the inlet manifold as the airflow gets disrupted here and the tacky oil/soot mix sticks more readily to the surfaces.

 

[Chris]

I'd buy that. Good point TP, feel stupid now not realising that. Brain still fuzzy from Christmas.

I should really have taken the inlet off too and cleaned that properly, but you know what? I looked at that and thought **** it.

 

[Gary820]

Manifold off sounds like a job for warmer times.

 

[Chris]

Actually Gary, I did it in a Tee short. It was very strangely warm today. Really odd. But I needed the truck so I didn't want to get into all that. I scraped some out and some probably fell into the manifold, I think the engine probably munched it when I started it up. Maybe another time. Looks like a pig of a job.

 

[Towpack]

I've weighed that job up numerous times and thought the same thing. It's the logical next step after cleaning out the air crossover pipe but not nearly as quick and easy.

 

[Chris]

I'll pop over, watch you do yours then feel relieved that we didn't do mine first, eh?

Have you removed all the heater element stuff from inside the spacer too? I'm keen to see if it makes any difference to the mpg. Not obsessed with MPG just interested.

 

[Gary820]

It's what we use the walnut blaster for, cleans it from the intake ports and valves.
The sludge in the manifold comes off with a good jet wash, if it's a bad one gets an over night soak in the parts wash.

 

[Towpack]

I'm one of the rare 80 owners who actually still uses the heater on cold starts so I'm leaving it in for now. I'm not 100% convinced about the heater element restricting airflow enough to affect performance on a standard engine though. It obviously will cause some restriction as gas flow rate and volume increases so If you're tuning the motor with more boost, open exhaust, headwork etc then maybe. JMO

 

[AndycruiserguyLomas]

I'm one of the rare 80 owners who actually still uses the heater on cold starts so I'm leaving it in for now. I'm not 100% convinced about the heater element restricting airflow enough to affect performance on a standard engine though. It obviously will cause some restriction as gas flow rate and volume increases so If you're tuning the motor with more boost, open exhaust, headwork etc then maybe. JMO

I had mine out when the tappets were done and the crossover pipe was removed.Its in a different place in mine (24v import) just before the inlet manifold. I concluded too that it wouldn't restrict air flow enough so I didn't take mine out. That said the majority (but not all) of the 24V imports don't have the EGR valves so the inlet manifold on mine was like brand new inside. It may be an idea as an alternative to blanking the EGR valves to source a S/H import manifold , crossover pipe and the associated bits of vac pipework to keep the inlet manifold clean.
I wonder though after the length of time these have been operating what the inlet ports of the head would look like restriction wise ( with EGR valves that is).

 

[Towpack]

On a 24v engine without the EGR setup it makes sense to put the heating element closer to the inlet manifold for efficiency as the air will lose less heat getting into the head. With EGR it has to be sited upstream of the point where the EGR gases are mixed with the intake as the heater matrix would probably get clogged very quickly.

 

[AndycruiserguyLomas]

On a 24v engine without the EGR setup it makes sense to put the heating element closer to the inlet manifold for efficiency as the air will lose less heat getting into the head. With EGR it has to be sited upstream of the point where the EGR gases are mixed with the intake as the heater matrix would probably get clogged very quickly.

This is very true.

 

[Chris]

Can't change the fact that it's utterly different to drive now. But I can't separate the effect of cleaning out the gunk and removing the matrix as I did them at the same time.

 

[chapel gate]

I would guess its because of the gunk removal. Cant you put the element back in in the interest of science?

As tp says, in standard form it probable makes little difference. If your chasing hp it would surely go.

 

[chapel gate]

I had mine out when the tappets were done and the crossover pipe was removed.Its in a different place in mine (24v import) just before the inlet manifold. I concluded too that it wouldn't restrict air flow enough so I didn't take mine out. That said the majority (but not all) of the 24V imports don't have the EGR valves so the inlet manifold on mine was like brand new inside. It may be an idea as an alternative to blanking the EGR valves to source a S/H import manifold , crossover pipe and the associated bits of vac pipework to keep the inlet manifold clean.
I wonder though after the length of time these have been operating what the inlet ports of the head would look like restriction wise ( with EGR valves that is).

Ive often thought about changing the cross over pipe for a cleaner egr removal look. Now that you tell me the inlet manifold will need changing ive lost a little interest.. the cost will have gone up considerable too.