Checkmate

I have an 80's mitsubishi mt160 that needs more power. I was gonna just get a bigger tractor, but if this one had just a little more power I could deal with it and not have to spend alot more $$$$ which is getting scarce now days.

I'd like to throw on a small turbo, but not sure if easily done.

Anyway, anyone here know of any sites regarding such ?? I searched and came up with nothing much at all.

dieselfuelonly

Might want to check out www.tractorbynet.com. I don't know about a Mitsubishi, but theres a guy on there that turbocharged his little Yanmar SCUT.

Here is my Yanmar, I would love to see a turbo on this thing .

jesussaves

i wouldnt think it would be to hard. All you need is more fuel and make a turbo manifold

infidel

Most tractors are engineered as a unit.
When you jack the hp up then the drivetrain or hydraulics end up breaking.
You're money ahead in the long run buying a bigger tractor.

Raspy

Dennis,

I like your "box scraper". From the picture it seems to work very well.

Checkmate,

The easiest way for a turbo would be if the factory turboed those engines and you could just get the hardware. Probably not. So engineering the whole setup yourself and ending up with not only more power but reliabe power that didn't burn it up seems tricky. How much more do you need and for how long at a time? If that engine is a precombustion chamber design with 21 to 1 compression for instance and already has a lot of hours on it and you plan to run it wide open plowing, you may be disapointed when red hot parts come flying out the side of it associated with loud clanking sounds.

Maybe just turn up the pump till it has a nice brown haze at full throttle and see if that's enough.

Checkmate

Well guys, I think my lack of horsepower was due to the rings being worn. Over the past month this has been harder and herder to start. It would want to start and actually crank over at 500 rpm's for about 45 secondes before it would catch. It kept getting worse, now I think it's DONE. It definately seems to be getting fuel and air, so I'm thinking thats all thats left.
I pulled the valve cover and all LOOKS well there.

What's a good way to check ? My compression tester only goes up to 300psi and won't fit the glowplug hole.

wannadiesel

Harbor Freight sells a diesel compression tester kit pretty cheap, I bet it has an adapter you could use.

I would look at fuel supply issues (restriction, low pressure, or sucking air) before worrying about compression. That's a much more common cause of hard start/low power trouble on a diesel.

Checkmate

If it were fuel related, wouldn't it react to a shot of starting fluid ?
I tried this a few times and had no luck.

DevilzTower

I thought running starting fluid on a diesel was a big no-no since it'll cause the engine to detonate really bad? Since the starting fluid was primarily designed for gas engine assistance.

Checkmate

Just lettin a very fine mist into the air cleaner helps give it that extra kick. Look in the cab of an old diesel dump truck, you'll probably find a can of starting fluid. :-)

This engine will turn over and gradually build up to crankin over at 500 rpms, just won't start. The dang thing runs at 600 rpm. Grrrr.

Raspy

Hard starting can be caused by using starting fluid.

They almost always get way more than needed and the explosive force in the combustion chamber can and will damage the ring lands and stick the rings. This leads to a loss of compression and worsening of the problem over time. Finally it won't start without fluid but the fluid is killing it.

The most a diesel should ever get of starting fluid is just enough to smell it. Absolutely no liquid in the intake. I know old diesels usually have a can around, but a lot of them have been damaged by it. I've seen damaged and broken pistons and a broken crank from it. And I've even seen people spray it in a cold but running engine. What a terrible sound! I also saw a guy with an apparantly bad injection pump on a second gen Cummins. He would shut it off when hot and to re-start it he had to spray in starting fluid to get it up to speed where it would keep going. Poor thing.

gmctd

Hard starting is also bad starter bushings\brushes, bad cables, low battery - underpowered is jack it up, run a new one in under it.................