345 Info

Interbus,

My workshop manual for the AB series has the V-345 in it.

Firing order 1,8,4,3,6,5,7,2
Spark plug gap .025-.03"
Distributor gap .015"
Initial timing 9 degrees BTDC
Idle rpm 450-500rpm
max reccomended 3800rpm

Interesting Max torque is up at 2200/2400 rpm
Max hp is up at 4000rpm
At 3800rpm should be giving 150 hp

Hope this helps.

Re Butane vs Propane, I'm no expert, but I understand the two types of gas have different characteristics and 100% propane should be better for your purposes. Also, because of the different burning characterisitics of Butane, you would technically need a different air fuel ratio that with 100% propane, so which ever you chose to use you should tune specifically for that blend and use it consistently to get maximum power.

You can get 100% propane in the city. I understand that some of the smaller suppliers like Kleanheat and Supagas only supply 100% Propane.

There is a forum that deals specifically with cars running LPG fuelsforum.rasoenterprises.com that might have someone on there who is more of an expert than me.

really after the bigger carb/exhaust option ..if still not much better .. u would have to open the engine and add more compression and a mild cam ... prob not worth the hassle ... i think stock compression is only around 7.0:1 nothing flash

Kenny,

So close! My book indicates the V-345 compression ratio is 6.55:1!

cricky thats as low as a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sump plug .. then again i guess they were made to run on the cheapest grade of fuel back in the day ... with gas id feel comfortable around 10.0:1 ...

A lot of the weaknesses have already been highlighted. Low compression ratio and a slush box on the back doesn't help...

I've machined up quite a few 'go fast' bits for 345/392 engines. In many cases though, it just isn't worth doing the work. No one wants to start pulling the engine down or adding bits to an old truck/bus... The dollars start adding up real quick - even if you are doing the work yourself. You might just have to enjoy the slowness!


I machined up some bits for this Scout 345. Firstly, milling a 4 barrel manifold to suit fuel injectors. Luckily IH put some nice bits of iron just in the right spots above every inlet runner! This made it a lot easier. There are 4 different machine operations per injector hole.






The EFI consists of the Holden Delco style computer and programmable Kalmaker style ROM. It can be tuned with a laptop.


The engine was also to be fitted with an Eaton M90 supercharged and a water-to-air intercooler. There were a few different mounts used over the duration on the build. In the end, a later style blower was used and all the brackets had to be remade (including a tricky through mounting system)...

Here is the crank pulley made from steel with an alloy outer. This is a multirib style belt like on modern cars. Originally a toothed belt (Gilmer) was used but there were several issues with belt wrap, pulley diameters and pulley speeds that couldn't be overcome.

The outer alloy ring is shrunk on and keyed in place. It can be removed to change the ratio without me having to remake the whole thing again!





Here is a water pump and belt idler that I made for the water to air intercooler. This circulates water from the intercooler to the front mounted intercooler radiator. I used the impellor from an outboard motor inside it and all the rest is made from scratch.



Bracket for the supercharger and intercooler pump. The pump/bracket is spigoted and bolted.



I made a removable snout pulley for the supercharger. The factory ones use a single bolt and are a pretty tight fit (not really made to swap over regularly!) I made a 6 bolt hub and then different sized alloy pulleys to suit. These can be changed over in 5 minutes to change the boost.



Yes, I do have too much spare time here!


Here is a few other alloy brackets etc I made for the later version...



In the end, the owner decided to retain the EFI and fit a turbo instead (the supercharger produced too much noise)

JBlair, thanks for that, just what I needed, can't seem to find a Gregories for one of these! Cheers
KennyMopar, think you've hit the nail on the head; I think exhaust, 4 barrel, leccy ignition and turfing the fan is probably about as far as it's worth going, from then on the people behind me are just going to have to get used to it! We don't have so much a budget here as just 'whatever we can afford' at the time.
Interstater, wow that's cool
Thanks to all for the input, most appreciated

be careful about turfing the fan ! .. i tried that once and had two thermo fans on the radiator in its place ...it still wouldnt cool down enough ...me being arogent i didnt want to be defeated .. i went to a 2nd radiator fitted behind the cab and another thermo fan! ..still wouldnt cool it like the factory fan ... yes i will admit the factory fan would prob pinch around 10hp ..its a big heavy (usually steel) sucker that bolts onto the crank snout

Now I think about it you're probably right, it's not like I'll be moving fast enough to get much airflow without the fan and that motor will be working hard pretty much all the time. I've gotta keep reminding myself it's a petrol v8 sure, but it's not in a car, it's pulling 8 ton and doing it at a comparitively slow speed. I may just leave the fan alone...! Cheers

no arguement there
chocs