For the love of a tractor engine: The life and times of the 18R-G

[RA40peter]

Thanks Owen,
I will

Peter

[The Witzl]

Hey Omegaman...

i was just looking through the diagrams for the 18R-GEU found here - http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/9128/pict00048fg.jpg

and i noticed the different oil pickup and sump.
Do you know if the oil pump is different as well? How much better is the sump? Better baffling?

Just keen to know these sorts of things... its very rare to find a complete, in-tact original 18R-GEU... they are usually a combination of parts.

I gotta try to get a sound sample of mine running at full noise. It's horn.

EDIT: woohoo - my new phone records pretty well, so i have sound grabs and a short mewvie. Just gotta convert the 3GP file and AMR files.

[RAd28]

what does the 18R-GR have that the 18R-GU doesn't? as far as i can tell GR = air injection, but i can't find anything else.

anyone know of someone who has a shorty webber manifold? or whether the solex and webber manifolds are interchangable?

[river]

Hi,

what does the 18R-GR have that the 18R-GU doesn't? as far as i can tell GR = air injection, but i can't find anything else.?

The GR has higher compression and the 210/230 head and cams. It was only about 5hp less than the 18R-G.

seeyuzz
river

[o_man_ra23]

Webbers and Solexes fit the same manifolds to my understanding.

Cheers, Owen

[Norbie]

you aint heard NOTHING until you hear an 18R-GE at full tilt. It will change your definitions of what is the better intake system for an 18R-G.

I agree with teh Witzl. An 18R-GEU with proper engine management and a pod filter in place of the old flapper meter sounds absolutely amazing at WOT with a few revs on board. I'm a big fan of sidedraught induction noise but you really need to hear a good EFI setup, it's horn!

I also tend to believe the 18R-GEU's reduced performance has everything to do with low compression and other anti-pollution measures introduced in the early 80's, and NOTHING to do with the omission of the sidedraughts. Throw a properly tuned EFI setup on an early high-compression 18R-G (ie my engine) and you'll have a real performer!

Stay tuned for what happens when you add a 400hp turbo to the mix.

[The Witzl]

Ok.... here's the video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeasRF5puds

*NB: was recorded on a private road, of course!

Here's just some sound grabs from the mobile phone:
http://www.18rg.com.au/RA28/18rge-audio-2.MP4
http://www.18rg.com.au/RA28/18rge-audio-1.MP4

[Omegaman]

Hey Witzl.

From what I can remember both of the sumps had the baffles, but one had the oil pick up sensor also. I think it was the geu with the sensor on it.

As far as the oil pick up was concerned, I have some info on the engines and they stated the geu had a higher flow. If I find it tonight I will scan it and put it on this thread.

I have the gu oil pump to see any details, such as part no.s maybe that might help.

My geu was complete when I got It, everything matched regarding info found on these engines so far.

I will get a better and longer recording when I get it back from the electricians.

let you know what I find out.

[Ren_RG28]

That's a pretty interesting sounding RG you've got there Witzl! Sounds different to any other 18R-G I've heard. Probably cos I've never heard one without sidedraught induction before.

Did you go with the EFI gear cos you weren't happy with your carbs, or just for an experiment?

[o_man_ra23]

Teh Witzl only does stuff for improved performance Ren. As already said, a good EFI setup will shit on carbies. Its just the early setups were very agricultural at best, and also as said the compression of the 18RGUE motors was low as.

Witzl, why only 6krpm?? why not take her to redline??

Cheers, Owen

[The Witzl]

Ren - notice in the video that im taking off from 2000rpm.... and the engine produces seamless flat torque from 2000rpm all the way up. That is the benefit of EFI.... plus they are effectively a set and forget affair in terms of tuning, plus they are more economical on fuel.

I went with EFI because of the drivability, economy, and the plan to turbocharge the engine. The stock 18R-GEU is poo because it had 8.3:1 pistons, and a very ancient computer system.

If you didnt alreay know... my engine uses the 9.7:1 pistons, 88253 head (same as the EFI head), 18R-GEU intake... but i run a Megasquirt-II programmable ECU, which i've tuned myself from scratch - controls both ignition timing and fuel.


Owen - yeah i know, i can rev past that, but havent been confident enough with my tune. My injector dutycycle is up around the 90% mark at 6400rpm, so i have a fear of leaning it out. Im sure its fine though, i think my injector settings are a little off and need some fiddling

[o_man_ra23]

More fuel pressure needed methinks!

Cheers, Owen

[river]

Hi,

I agree with teh Witzl. An 18R-GEU with proper engine management and a pod filter in place of the old flapper meter sounds absolutely amazing at WOT with a few revs on board. I'm a big fan of sidedraught induction noise but you really need to hear a good EFI setup, it's horn!

I'd like to hear that, 'cos after tonight and hearing Lambo's angry 18R-G I'd be most impressed if I hear an 18R-G sound better. It was an awesome sounding engine... absolutley superb.

seeyuzz
river

[The Witzl]

River... any 18RG with massive cams, 10.5:1 pistons and 47mm webers is going to sound beyond angry.

What Norbie and I are trying to say is that the EFI still sounds pretty horn, unlike most other EFI engines. Listen to the sound files i linked to above of my engine.

[Ren_RG28]

I've got to hear Lambo's angry 18RG! Where abouts did you hear it River?

I bet fuel economy must be awesome with EFI, for that I envy you!

From what I've gathered about some people's experience with carby 18R-G setups, either no one knows how to tune them or they must be in dire need of a rebuild! Having 1 barrel per cylinder with the solex's gives you ultimate tunability of the throttle. I tune the solex's myself thesedays.

After a little bit of time and patience, I've now got it running as good as it ever has.
Cold starts beautifully, no hesitations, just clean smooth power which imo feels a lot like EFI as far as driveability goes. Planting the foot at 40kph in 5th gear will give acceleration without a miss. Although, before I converted the dizzy to electronic from a 22R it used to miss under full throttle at low RPM. It used to feel very much like a 'carby' setup.

But when properly tuned with an efficient ignition system, I really do find it hard to understand why EFI is that much better