In case of EMP

[Selahdoor]

You know, as I have been working on my "new" truck, and learning so much about these beautiful diesels...

It occurred to me one day that these old diesels, non powerstroke, without turbo... Would make ideal candidates for having running vehicles even if there were no batteries, or electronics.

A manual transmission would give you the capability of starting without a starter/battery.

You could use an old fashioned choke cable... Run that out to the IP. Drill a very small hole in the top of the IP. Remove the fuel solenoid. Run the choke cable in, and make it operate the fuel shutoff manually.

Worse case scenario, as well... Everyone else has already siphoned all the fuel from all the rest of those other vehicles sitting around... You can go around and drain the oil and trans fluid and use those as fuel...



Do something to warm the oil up. (Build a fire under the engine? I laugh, but it's been done...)

Pull the choke lever/button to open the fuel shutoff.

Put 'er in gear, and let it roll downhill.


I know it's probably not as simple as that, but it's an idea.

Anyone else have ideas on how to make these a very simple apocalypse-proof vehicle?

 

[Thewespaul]

Just replace the top hat of the pump with one already setup for a manual shutoff, plenty of ag use db2s and dm2s that were setup this way

 

[Selahdoor]

Just replace the top hat of the pump with one already setup for a manual shutoff, plenty of ag use db2s and dm2s that were setup this way

Cool! I didn't realize this was already a thing.

Glad to see my thinkerer isn't too out of whack!

 

[nelstomlinson]

Just replace the top hat of the pump with one already setup for a manual shutoff, plenty of ag use db2s and dm2s that were setup this way

I have a couple of those old John Deere pumps in my shop attic. I'll do that when I freshen up a truck with a manual transmission. I really like the idea of being able to keep running after the alternator falls apart 200 miles from home.

 

[FordGuy100]

Air starter would be nice. You could figure out a way to rig up a large flywheel, kind of like what the Germans used in WW2 on some of their tanks.

xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_media

 

[Macrobb]

Also, there are a couple of other ways to do a manual shut off. One of which being just kill it by dropping the clutch in high gear. Idle = little fuel = engine dies. I've done it before without issues.

Secondly, if you back down the idle screw, the throttle lever will go far enough down to actually kill the engine. You'd just need a removable "minimum limit"/idle piece.


Also, realistically, even with a massive EMP... I'd expect exactly nothing to happen. You might kill the alternator's regulator, but just about everything else is heavy duty enough that an EMP won't affect it. EMPs cause problems because wires become antennas, creating voltage across the wire. On a chip, the voltage can easily go above the threshold voltage of a transistor and arc internally, destroying things. With something more... basic, like a starter? At worst, you might create some heat as all that voltage is dissipated in the coils.

The alternator regulator is about the weakest part, though it is shielded(on the 1Gs at least). You also have this nice shield in the hood and fenders of the truck, acting like a partial farady cage. I think the likelyhood of one of these trucks even knowing that there *was* an EMP is... low, at best. Not so much for your nice new 2020 F-350 6.7 with precise commonrail fueling.

 

[Selahdoor]

Also, there are a couple of other ways to do a manual shut off. One of which being just kill it by dropping the clutch in high gear. Idle = little fuel = engine dies. I've done it before without issues.

Secondly, if you back down the idle screw, the throttle lever will go far enough down to actually kill the engine. You'd just need a removable "minimum limit"/idle piece.


Also, realistically, even with a massive EMP... I'd expect exactly nothing to happen. You might kill the alternator's regulator, but just about everything else is heavy duty enough that an EMP won't affect it. EMPs cause problems because wires become antennas, creating voltage across the wire. On a chip, the voltage can easily go above the threshold voltage of a transistor and arc internally, destroying things. With something more... basic, like a starter? At worst, you might create some heat as all that voltage is dissipated in the coils.

The alternator regulator is about the weakest part, though it is shielded(on the 1Gs at least). You also have this nice shield in the hood and fenders of the truck, acting like a partial farady cage. I think the likelyhood of one of these trucks even knowing that there *was* an EMP is... low, at best. Not so much for your nice new 2020 F-350 6.7 with precise commonrail fueling.

Not going to argue with any of that at all. It's absolutely true. And I can see where it looked like that might be what I was talking about.

Now, people who are completely unprepared, but prepared enough to hold you at gunpoint and steal your fuel and your batteries... Everything that they understand that THEY need to run their vehicles... THEY will know what an EMP is.

I think there is an understanding that within 3 weeks of an EMP/grid down/ disaster of that sort, something like 70% of the US population would be dead from starvation, disease, or "murder/steal/destroy".

Anyone who can outlast that, and would understand what we understand about this engine and truck, would stand a chance of getting their rig going again, even though the rats had stolen everything they understood to be batteries and fuel before they died at each other's hands.

The EMP wouldn't kill your truck, as you point out. It would just set into motion what would eventually lead to you having to drain the trans and engine of other vehicles to get yours back on the road.

This would work at least for a while. And if you know of anyone with a clue about how to get vegetable oil and alcohol out of plants, you could work toward running vegetable oil...

Point is, whatever the disaster, most are going to die. And they are going to steal/waste most of the easily available resources before they die. Those who survive will have something to start building with again, if they know these things.

 

[Christian9112]

You can put a faraday cage on the sensitive elctronics like the transmission controller on e40d.
Emp doesnt really affect relays and all that we have to start the engine.
I dont think you will survive with our engine for the first 3 weeks tho. It sure will fire up after sitting for 10 years.
A completely mechanical vehicle is also protected against cosmic ray. Compared to an EMP, it is very scary. I was listening to the episode of a podcast radiolab (https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/bit-flip) where they talked about 3 planes crashing because a cosmic ray hit the computers. they now have 3 of the same electrical components for everything just to compensate.

 

[BeastMaster]

All that E40D controller does anyway is control what gear ( shift solenoids 1 and 2 ), coast clutch, and torque converter lockup. You can do the same thing with toggle switches. You want some sort of interlock so you don't engage coast clutch while in overdrive.

Remember gears R, 1, and 2 are still manual on your gear lever.

I ran for some time with no PCM when I had PSOM problems that rendered the PCM useless.

 

[nelstomlinson]

Also, realistically, even with a massive EMP... I'd expect exactly nothing to happen. .

All true,BUT I had a first generation alternator fall apart 200 miles from home, halfway between Glen Allen and Delta. It was late fall, and I was driving in the dark with the headlights off trying to make the battery last on my old F150 gasser. This was long before cell phones, and I almost didn't make it home that night. I really relish the idea that I could just drive on, even after the batteries were completely dead.

 

[BeastMaster]

OK... One fear I have on a SHTF situation is that my van is simply stolen or confiscated by some badgehat.

So, I have changed its wiring and planted a few boobytraps. Such as killing power to the electric fuel pump, and deliberately grounding parts of the electrical system to cause it to blow fuses at inappropriate times... Like turn on the lights and the fuse to the IP fuel solenoid blows.

All I have to do is flip one toggle switch to cause the van to do five really odd malfunctions... All fuses and relays.

Whoever took it gets the fun of finding what I did. Oh yes. I used old wire from another donor wiring harness.

They will have to reverse what I did, replace the fuses, and find what blew them, or it will happen again. The taps are in the harness. It will have all the fun of finding an intermittent short in the harness without a wiring diagram.

 

[Christian9112]

deliberately grounding parts of the electrical system

That is extra lol. Thats cool tho. I just have 3 key switches to operate my van. 1 on ignition. 1 on fss. 1 on fuel pump. 1 key switch is hidden. have you accidentally blown some fuses?

 

[Macrobb]

Whoever took it gets the fun of finding what I did. Oh yes. I used old wire from another donor wiring harness.

Fortunately, I'm not the type who you are worried about, because I did(and have) just bypassed the entire system. Jumper to FSS, screwdriver to solenoid, some Ether and off we go! Normal people... would not figure anything out.

All true,BUT I had a first generation alternator fall apart 200 miles from home, halfway between Glen Allen and Delta. It was late fall, and I was driving in the dark with the headlights off trying to make the battery last on my old F150 gasser. This was long before cell phones, and I almost didn't make it home that night. I really relish the idea that I could just drive on, even after the batteries were completely dead.

This is not a bad thing; I also like the idea of a cable shutoff, like a tractor.

 

[Christian9112]

Jumper to FSS, screwdriver to solenoid, some Ether and off we go

are you the guy behind ziptiesbiasplies?

 

[Macrobb]

are you the guy behind ziptiesbiasplies?

No, but I have watched some of his videos. He's a bit more nasty to his IDIs than I am.