International v345 motor performance

Keen for any suggested mods for improving performance or efficiency of this motor

Guido it somewhat depends on what you are using it for and what you want to improve, but the short answer is that it takes time, patience and a a fair amount of many to get more than minor improvements in either power or economy. These are slow revving, low compression truck motors that were made to last, not to go fast, and were built at a time when fuel economy was not an issue.

The good news is that as these engines were fitted to International Scouts and the Scouts have a huge following in the US, then there is nothing you can think of that has already been tried by someone and written up on the internet somewhere. binderplanet.com is a good place to start if you are looking for some serious upgrades. If your engine is in a truck, then it might still have a points base ignition, upgrading to electronic will give you the most improvement (but still small) for the least $s. After that, LPG will save you $s on fuel, but trade of for a power loss. There is some dispute whether extractors make any difference, and a few people have spent money on modified cams and shaved heads, but the trade off is greater risk of mechanical failure for not much more power. If you want to spend serious money ($3k plus) you can get a fuel injection kit from the US. This is by all reports a great upgrade in terms of reliability, power and fuel economy. I have read, I think on Facebook recently, of an ACCO with 345 getting this upgrade, and there are also a couple of Scouts floating around Aus with this too. The best supplier of these fuel in section kits is Bill Hamilton hamiltonfuelinjection.com/ If you are interested it's worth the international call charges to give Bill a call. He is a mine of information and expertise on the subject.

The price of LPG now is no longer cost effective. You burn more gas than petrol for the same result. We ran a V6 Mitsubishi on LPG for a few years. In the beginning LPG was cheap but then the Government got in on the act and put higher tax on it and the fuel companies thought they were loosing fuel sales to the cheaper gas so they hiked up the price. So in my humble opinion LPG is no longer as good as it used to be. Maybe look at a diesel conversion.

LPG is useless,govt and high gas prices have killed it.......but IMHO ,the 345 is a weighty lump,I would estimate twice the weight of any car V8,or a 318 Dodge.......the late 318 with the Carter economy carb and ELB will get fuel mileage nearly as good as a Perkins,and a lot more power and performance...(and no smoke---a big issue now)

Don't write the LPG pricing off too soon, not so good perhaps for youse northerners, down in central Mexico 68 cents c will buy you a litre of LPG, and $1.38 for petrol. At those prices if you have not doubled your fuel consumption gas is still ok. But in Quinslund it seems to e much dearer.

As for the inter V8, if'n it gets ya there in reasonable speed n time.... ???

I have just finished talking to someone about this topic as I have also wondered the same thing

These are the answers I could gleen from a quick yarn with a person that does engine machining and builds high performance motors, both modern and vintage

There big and heavy as in you are spinning a huge amount of weight that a 350 chev doesn't have
They are at guess bigger in physical size than a big block chev
The crank weighs a huge amount and is steel.

The combustion chamber is a shocking design
The heads crack due to been such a poor design
They cant handle a lot of heat due to the fact the castings are so big and heavy they cant dissipate the heat efficiently
IH apparently were well aware of these issues, however they were building big slow reving lump when fuel economy wasnt overly important
I also spoke breifly about the Ford V8 petrol that was in the small Loui's and have read it had exactly the same problems

I would think fuel economy could be made a lot better in the 345 just by upping the compression ratio and fitting a throttle body fuel injection system that is a closed system, one that measures whats coming out the exhaust and adjusts to improve

Paul

I have owned two International Scouts with 345. One auto, one manual. Also two early Scouts with "half" a 345 4 cylinder engine. Absolutely loved the engine but the fuel consumption was pretty ordinary. This probably is not a good comparison with light vehicles when considering truck or agricultural applications flogging them to death.

I have had two F150 with gas. The first was a 1993 351 and the second was a 2001 with the small all-electronic V8. Both were automatic 4x4.

Both were dual fuel and both had seamless change from petrol to gas without so much as a cough as you switched over.

The 351 showed absolutely no difference in pulling power or response.

The new vehicle was under powered when pulling a trailer and you certainly got a bit more grunt up hill if you switched to petrol.

Fuel consumption was about 10% less efficient on gas than petrol.

If you buy a vehicle already fitted for gas anything more than 10% cheaper for LPG over petrol puts you in front. If you want to fit gas you will have to work out your expected ownership period and kilometres (bit like putting in solar panels). At the current price anything less than $1 for gas will have you well ahead of the game. At 60/70 cents it costs as much to run a V8 as your wife's car.

It certainly is not dead but getting harder to find as heavier vehicles have almost entirely gone to diesel and the market is dwindling.

lang

Two years ago I did a trip through NSW and southern Queensland in a dual-fuel truck. We found that few service stations advertised LPG. Some sold it but did not put it on their signboard and others had it on the sign but no longer sold it. A service station owner in a NSW country town said that demand had plummeted recently because virtually all taxis in NSW were going to petrol/electric and there was nowhere in the vehicle to put a gas tank. A Tradie customer in a small Qld town said most servo's still sell gas but do not advertise it because they are just selling off their last tankfull as there was not enough profit in it.

This is what I was told. Do not know how true it is but from then on, we just pulled into service stations and most of them still had gas.

I had several inters with 345s ,and they were thirsty ,but had plenty of get up and go where you need it in a truck motor.....I had a AB 180 pm,and a AccoF 1840 tipper with a big body......the motor in the tipper was worn out,massive blow by fumes,but it still did the job,was reliable ,and still had plenty of power......changed over to a Perk and it was just like the anchor was left out.but cut the fuel bill by more than half..Never had any trouble with heads,or anything else........but if you didnt change plugs and points at 5000 miles ,it would start to miss.