Fuel Injection

[AKar]

No, sorry, I misread your post you made while I was adding some bits on mobile.

I must check the device you linked. I don't quite read Deutsch too well, but Google Translate to my rescue!

-Esa

[Oracle427]

Ahh yes, automotive engines designed not to be worked on, but to be fit into a chassis...

Several years ago I owned a 99 Isuzu Rodeo. I ran from just 8 miles out of the dealer lot it until it reached ait 280,000 miles. The engine ran like brand new till the very end. It had a rebuilt transmission at around 180K miles, but at 280K multiple smaller items started to fall at once and collectively it just wasn't worth the repair cost.

The engine and other parts of the drivetrain were an absolute nightmare to work on. Changing one of the dialogs required removing the brake booster from the firewall!

Changing intake manifold gaskets required removing exhaust components, injectors and a couple of other accessories that should not have been affected.

Repacking the front axle hubs required disconnecting the suspension control arms from the steering knuckle housing the hub. Ball joints, brake lines, CV joints, etc. were all getting pulled out of place and may as well be serviced. I got very good at that job.

The transmission fill plug faced DOWN AT THE GROUND FOR GOD'S SAKE.

I would love to go back in time, like the Terminator movies, and have a "word" with the engineers that worked on that car.

Despite all that the car was wonderful to drive and quite tough when off road. It never stranded me anywhere despite deep running water, deep snow, mud. It did need mute than a few sensors replaced to keep it working, but none of the really critical ones ever failed unlike sone other cars I owned that had a crank position sensor go twice before 100K miles. *cough* Ford Contour *cough*

[AKar]

Ahh yes, automotive engines designed not to be worked on, but to be fit into a chassis...

Like in VW Caddies, where just about every common repair task in the engine compartment begins by removing the front mask and the radiator to gain access...

Several years ago I owned a 99 Isuzu Rodeo. I ran from just 8 miles out of the dealer lot it until it reached ait 280,000 miles. The engine ran like brand new till the very end. It had a rebuilt transmission at around 180K miles, but at 280K multiple smaller items started to fall at once and collectively it just wasn't worth the repair cost.

Yeah, one can say many things about modern cars, but one must agree that when speaking of engine longevity, the cars from later decades are from a different planet when compared to the older ones where engine overhauls were business as usual. Nowadays those are seldom performed, unless timing belt broke or something like that happened. That said, it appears that this trend has turned again: the very modern engines of very small displacement and high boost pressures are reportedly designed more like... consumables again.

It is a normal four stroke Otto engine, running on (high octane) gasoline. See here; unfortunately in German (but Google translate will do a good job.)

Ah, I know Kugelfischer by name, but nothing more about it really - as I'm not a car hobbyist that much, as a youngster I just have skipped the cars of that generation, and everything I've been involved with tends to have the name Bosch over it! Indeed, as you say, the idea behind this appears to be not too unlike to that of classic diesel injection pumps. Nothing like this has been commonly used in general aviation airplanes, at least to my knowledge. The common models are exclusively of continuous flow type, using either pressure carburetor kind of metering applying venturi effect to counteract the fuel pressure, or pre-adjusted mechanical control, sometimes assisted with various aneroid-type compensators. I don't know the specifics of the direct injection schemes from bygone days, but time permitting, it would be interesting to study those some.

-Esa

[FlipS]

Yes, you must love making black hands when you drive a car from the sixties. My wife has a new car. It seems to have an engine inside.

I've never done a study of German warbirds. I always assumed that the Kugelfischer pump was a slightly improved version of the injection pump of the German warbirds. The Germans clung to fuel injection during the war because they had to be thrifty with fuel. The Allies had plenty of fuel so they could continue to use the wasteful carburetor.
I do not know whether some European planes were built with mechanical fuel injection after the war. Kugelfischer only built injection pumps for cars.

[ClipperLuna]

. . . that is used in fuel-injected Lycomings, anymore (but it still uses a venturi to measure the airflow, and it can, and it does, have some icing issues around that area when the conditions are just right for it).

Several Continental engines use a fuel-injection system that does not have such an airflow meter at all, and thereby lack the venturi and somewhat leak-prone diaphragm mechanisms of the Bendix servo used in the Lycomings.

-Esa

Thank you for the info, Esa. You anticipated my next question.

Yes, all those little sensors on a modern car’s engine can be a real pain to get to. I understand it may make sense from a business perspective to assemble the engines the way they do, but it’s caused me several afternoons and hours of aggravation dealing with them. It gave me an idea for a new tax law I would love to implement on automakers. It goes like this:
1. The sensors have to be the last component installed on the car when it’s assembled
2. They must be installed by one person working by him/herself
3. The quantity of tax payed on the car will be a function of the time required to install them

[Oracle427]

ClipperLuna,

Haha, I love that idea!!