S2E28 We test the Kubota diesel powered Saturn and find out MPG plus top speed fuel consumption
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ต.ค. 2024
- Season 2 Episode 28. Jimbo puts the finishing touches on the Kubota powered Saturn. A series of road tests are conducted to evaluate performance.. How fast will the Saturn go?.... what is the MPG? ... tune in and check it out.
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Other TH-camrs are making 1000hp engines yet I'm rooting for the Kubota Saturn to hit 70mph :)
I'm rooting for it to hit 70mph AND 70mpg at 50mph.
@@adamt195 To all the ROBOT CANTINA family of viewers, It's been a pleasure getting to know you this year. May the holiday season bless you and your loved ones with joy and happiness. In this loveliest of seasons may you find many reasons for happiness. 😊😊😊😊
A guy named Crazy Jerry has a TH-cam channel and did just that. His car does 70. Gets 200 MPG and uses a D 850.
I always like the kis motto. Keep it simple.
4cyl turbo would be all you need
As a former Saturn owner that had to replace an engine in it a 50k and then had to scrap the car due to the frame holding the plastic body panels in place completely decomposing from rust, I think you are putting way more effort into this than GM did in the first place. These are fun to watch. Thank you for making them.
I bought a used Saturn maybe 12 years ago. Had around 70,000 miles now its around 580,000 miles. Besides tires brakes belts and hoses, I have had zero problems. My ex wife has a Saturn convertible. She bought it new 20 years ago or so. I think she has 300,000 miles problem free. I also gave a 2003 ford f250 with a 6.0 diesel. According to "everyone" they blow up the moment you start them. I have a little over 1,000,000 miles with no real problems. A new water pump and leaking valve cover seals. I have found that how people drive and treat and maintain cars (or anything else) has a lot to do with how long they last
I had a Saturn Ion Sport with the LE5 engine. It was a turd that cost me a lot of money to deal with. My engine would shoot to max RPMs whenever I put my foot on the clutch. I still wondered what the cause was. I sold it to a salvage mechanic for what I owed and he replaced the engine and transmission with a LSJ and made it his daily.
@@americansmark made 400k km with a similar chevy cobalt, had 7 of them the real issue those cars have if you maintain them correctly is the clutch, its not strong enough, ouside of that its only users fault
@@americansmark btw you cant swap a gen 3 engine(lsj) in a car with a gen 4 engine (le5), the only way is to install the sc on the 2.4 or swap the entire car
@@retrocompaq5212 le5 isn't a gen 4. It's a Gen 2. It was about in 06. Afaik, there are no Gen 4 ecotecs. As for swaps, I've seen guys swap LNFs into their LSJ cars. I don't see how the 2.4 would be any different. Still the Delta platform with the exact same engine and transmission mounts.
Before the turbo it would be interesting to see the benefits and improvements from giving it more fuel with better timing. I think going to a local Kubota dealer for someone who knows these engines well would help with getting the optimal setup, plus the look on the face of the service manager and tech, would be worth it on its own.
I want to see that video!
To be honest most people coming from the dealers won't really know the performance side of tuning and timing, just the repair side. But that's just from my experience in kubota mechanics.
@@averagesouthtexan5269 how do they time these? Shims on the pump? I have no idea what you would do to change fuel dose either. I'm guessing different pintle springs or shims but I could be off on that. I've had injectors apart but never modified or crack pressure tested them.
@Julio Gonzo for the rtvs I'm not sure, it's probably timing gears like the v3800 td in the m110s and other style tractors and skidsteers. But most of the engines are common rail and done on kpad with a dsti.
@@averagesouthtexan5269 I haven't looked too hard at Kubota engines in equipment I've hauled but think they are just an inline pump with the little 3/4 cylinder ones. Brand new who knows with the quest for emmisions compliance might be common rail now
Impressive power and economy. This is fascinating. These are the kinds of builds TH-cam was naked for. Not the commercial product placements we get today.
To all the ROBOT CANTINA family of viewers, It's been a pleasure getting to know you this year. May the holiday season bless you and your loved ones with joy and happiness. In this loveliest of seasons may you find many reasons for happiness. 😊😊😊😊
I'm naked for all my builds, and I could not agree with you more 👍🏼
@@ScarletKnightmare If a turtle doesn't have a shell, is he homeless or naked?
I am never naked in my garage, I always have the radio on😜😜😜!!
Fun experiment! I have been doing budget endurance road racing with a Saturn for over 10 years. I have some suggestions: 1) You can take a lot of weight off that car by removing most of the interior. Test car should not need inside trim panels, carpet, rear seat, seat belts, speakers in the doors and rear deck. The sawtooth aluminum wheels are the lightest at about 14.5 lbs each they are from the mid 90's. If you want to go into the dash, the remainder of the A/C and a lot of extra wiring can be removed since you are eliminating radio, A/C. My guess is you can save a lot of weight with a smaller exhaust pipe, and you can remove the heat shields from the bottom of the car since not nearly as much heat will be generated. You can eliminate the hinging mechanism for the trunk and use a couple hood pins and the stock trunk latch to hold it in place (assuming they didnt change it after 96) 2) Aero: drop the passenger mirror and get a convex Longacre mirror inside - save a lot of wind drag. In the racecar we run a small round mirror on the A pillar but the driver side mirror is a lot easier - if you want to try this you can drop the driver side mirror as well. You might also consider smoothing the outside surface with a polish/wax - at the power range you are in it should make a difference. Might be more /some edits after I watch the rest of the videos.
Before you install the turbo, I would try to turn up the dose of fuel first. In the video below at 11:59 you can see which screw is for adjustment.
th-cam.com/video/GQwBWgfDXsE/w-d-xo.html
Turning up the fuel makes alot of difference on these engines
I assume at some point they will since tuning the fuel system is a pretty standard performance modification for any engine, but especially diesel engines.
@@jurriendw050 lol bruh, diesels are fuel activated, of course they are... no throttle..
@@comethiburs2326 someone spilled his coffee😂
Yea and the governors for fixed rpm operation and use automotive are different.
Really like how the skills you gained with mastering the street legal go-kart pays out while fiddling around with the Saturn ☺👌
May the holiday season end the present year on a cheerful note and make way for a fresh and bright New Year. Here's wishing you a Happy Holidays!
Drinking my coffee this morning on the couch waiting for this episode! Yay!
ME TOO 🤣
It's 4.00PM here in Finland, but I am at couch too.
@@juhomaki-petaja Sometimes I stay up so late that I have my morning coffee before I go to bed.🤓🤓
The powers of a man’s mind are directly proportional to the quantity of coffee he drank.👍
I've never been so excited to watch saturn videos.
me too!! yes to saturn!👍👍👍👍
@@ocdman202 To all the ROBOT CANTINA family of viewers, It's been a pleasure getting to know you this year. May the holiday season bless you and your loved ones with joy and happiness. In this loveliest of seasons may you find many reasons for happiness. 😊😊😊😊
@@kansasrose2909 To all the members of ROBOT CANTINA fan club, and I know there are so many of you, Wishing you peace, love, and joy this holiday season and throughout the NEW YEAR... can't wait to see what jimbo brings to the NEW YEAR and beyond👍👍👍👍
i love how everyone in these comments are bringing their own ideas on how to make it faster and for more tests to run. one of the best communities on yt fr
To all the ROBOT CANTINA family of viewers, It's been a pleasure getting to know you this year. May the holiday season bless you and your loved ones with joy and happiness. In this loveliest of seasons may you find many reasons for happiness. 😊😊😊😊
I'm impressed on the mpg of that little engine working as hard as it was getting that milage. I was expecting 35-40mpg with it like it is currently. Looking forward to the turbo wake it up little bit more. Can't wait for the next video!!!
Engine do run more efficiently the more throttle u give it but I didn’t think it would be THAT efficient
@@rokuplayz464 that's for gasoline engines, because they have intake restrictions (throttle plate) and it increases pumping losses. In diesel engines consumption is proportional to load, which depends on the load the engine is driving and internal friction of the engine. Internal friction of the engine increases with engine displacement and maximum power potential, because the parts have to be built bigger to accomodate larger loads.
No throttle here as its a Diesel.
Why would you be inpressed though? It's a small Diesel engine driven at high load in an efficiently shaped car at low speed. Conditions are pretty much optimal, I don't find the result great at all since a proper economy eurobox with a small Diesel will run in the high 80s at 60 mph...
@@AsekiBekovy Yep... that's certanly true. At 55mph equivalent i hit 75MPG in my 3er diesel with 10 times the power of this kubota.
So a turbskie, fuel and timing adjustment on the pump so it has enough power for 5th gear and even this project can start going deep into 60s, maybe even 70 is possible. Just needs more torque/power.
Brilliant stuff. I love the amount of effort you're putting into fabrication on this project!
To all the ROBOT CANTINA family of viewers, It's been a pleasure getting to know you this year. May the holiday season bless you and your loved ones with joy and happiness. In this loveliest of seasons may you find many reasons for happiness. 😊😊😊😊
A rule of thumb for alternators is that for every 25 amps being drawn it consumes 1 horsepower, so a 100 amp one draws 4 horsepower when the alternator is fully loaded down and 100 amps of power is being consumed by the vehicle. You can install a switch along the field wire to switch the alternator on and off, but you can only turn it off when the engine is off since its self-energizing, so you could do a top speed run with the alternator off and regain an extra pony and with a voltmeter inside telling you the battery is getting a bit low after the run you switch the alternator on and it consumes its full current draw to recharge it. With the Saturn it should be fine to shut the alternator off since you're not drawing much current like a modern vehicle does. A fun fact I just learned looking this stuff up on the fly, the Buick Grand National could be fitted with a volt booster that tricked the alternator into opening the regulator up to produce a couple more volts to provide more fuel pressure and more spark voltage to make more power at full turbo boost pressure.
Bad information. Fuel pressure is regulated by intake manifold pressure on that vintage injection. The ways to change fuel on them are adjustable regulator, programming or higher volume injectors. The O2 sensor has a say in mixture so programming is the right way to get it done with the right combo of boost, fuel and timing.
higher boost = higher fuel demand.
higher fuel demand = higher load on the fuel pump
higher load on the fuel pump = more amps
more amps through a thin wire = more voltage drop
more voltage drop = less fuel pressure
the fix is to run higher voltage or a thicker wire to the pump. I choose to run a thicker wire and let the original wire trigger the relay. some people might choose to run higher voltage
@@aleks138 To all the ROBOT CANTINA family of viewers, It's been a pleasure getting to know you this year. May the holiday season bless you and your loved ones with joy and happiness. In this loveliest of seasons may you find many reasons for happiness. 😊😊😊😊
Valuable information 👍
Alternators draw power from the engine ONLY when generating power - no power draw = minimal load.
The mechanical load of a 20Amp alternator and 100Amp alternator is near enough to exactly the same at the same electrical load, the 20Amp alternator just weighs much less. You could actually save more weight by changing the lead acid battery for a Lithium chemistry battery or even a NiCad.
It's so AWESOME that you did the weight calculation! First time I've seen this on YT.
Wishing you a joyous holiday season and a prosperous New Year.
Filling in the space where the fog lights would be, as well as the bottom access for the radiator would help with aerodynamics. The biggest help would be putting a flat plate under the entire car, it's the dirtiest part for aero. The back bumper is typically just a small plastic parachute.
Love it. Looks like I’m not the only person on the planet thinking of sticking a tractor diesel in a car.
Somebody did it in a Crown Vic a couple years back as well.
@@drewzero1 TO to community of viewers of our favorite you=tube car channel... ROBOT CANTINA May your eggnog be spiked with plenty of rum to get you through this holiday season. Season's greetings and a Happy New Year! WE LOVE YOU JIMBO!🔧🔧🔧🔧🧙♂🧙♂🧙♂🧙♂
These are great. Love the series. Can't wait for further ones. So far season 2 is as entertaining as season 1 was. Thanks for the entertainment.
May the holiday season end the present year on a cheerful note and make way for a fresh and bright New Year. Here's wishing you a Happy Holidays!
I'm very curious what some aerodynamic mods would do for your N/A top speed and efficiency. A radiator/grille block, a belly pan, and an air dam up front, maybe even lowering the suspension would all help a little and be interesting data. Love the vids! thanks for sharing.
Skinnier tire's too, inflated to 60psi
@@darrenfloen2693 Skinnier tires for sure, 60psi would barely help though, keep it at rated pressure +10%
i would do the tape mod use tape to block most the grille and use clear over the lights to smooth everything off.
Probably just closing the window would help a lot as well. I thought i read somewhere that an open window robs around 3-5 hp at 60mph, so thats a 25% decrease in power haha
Sense overheating isn’t an issue I’d definitely block off the grille opening with 100mph tape. I’d bet the air is getting trapped under the hood. Love the channel.
I took a nap while you were accelerating. Now I'm ready to watch the rest.
This is the most chill mad man TH-cam channel.
TO to community of viewers of our favorite you=tube car channel... ROBOT CANTINA May your eggnog be spiked with plenty of rum to get you through this holiday season. Season's greetings and a Happy New Year! WE LOVE YOU JIMBO!🔧🔧🔧🔧🧙♂🧙♂🧙♂🧙♂
I've become converted to this diesel conversion, slow as molasses but economical. So much work that you've put into it and so entertaining. Waiting for the next episode. Merry Christmas Jimbo! I hope Santa gives you a gigantic turbo!
Thanks so much for doing these!!! Makes every Sunday brighter!! I really do look forward to them. Means so much for you to continue with the hearing issues and all. Hope that you are finding some relief there. Take care!
To all the members of ROBOT CANTINA fan club, and I know there are so many of you, Wishing you peace, love, and joy this holiday season and throughout the NEW YEAR... can't wait to see what jimbo brings to the NEW YEAR and beyond👍👍👍👍
I knew turning up the governor would help. And 56 mpg? That's way more than I expected, too!! 😳 One thing to note, you're probably going to have to upgrade the fuel pump to meet the fuel demand when you add the turbo. Nice work my friend!! 👌
LoL no upgrade the fuel pump will not help in case Danny due the way a diesel work but adding a Turbo will help with HP and Torq figures up much as 40/50% over stock which should in the neighborhood of 30hp/43Torq tops the real trick is going to be modify the stock injectors to allowing more Fuel CC to be passed on to combustion chamber
@@SHSPVR Uh... all little bit to generalised, adding a more powerful fuel pump certainly will help a lot of diesel engines to give more power..
56mpg is more or less as expected. Even small diesels arent as terrible for efficiency as small gas engines are. If you do 55 mph and use about 20hp to do it, you can pretty much gaurantee the fuel consumption will be something along those lines, for a small diesel.
@@GoldenCroc I hate to tell you this but it does not work that way it is called an injection pump which need be modified to directly increase the fuel flow rate stay open longer think of it like gas engine cam there's a reason because there are many parts to this a lift pump and a high 15/20k pressure pump but the other key ingredient in making more power is also at the bigger injector and your higher turbo boost pressure and few things.
@@SHSPVR Uh, I think you must have misread my post, because surely you arent arguing that every diesel engine arent dependent on the fuel pump for how many horsepower you want in any way?
Btw, I have done some diesel tuning.. and just fitting a larger fuel pump + accompanying software taking advantage of that will indeed increase power.. as is proven by the dyno and simple physics...
So I am really not sure what you are arguing here... Again, can only assume you misread my post, I was replying to the fact that SOME diesel engine will indeed be able to make more power with a fuel pump of more capacity. So "due to the way a diesel work" isnt really correct, its too generalised ("a diesel" means "all diesels" the way you have written it).
your commitment to these fabulous (silly) experiments is inspiring and a bit troubling...keep chooching on!
Thank you! Will do!
@@robotcantina8957 ROBOT CANTINA== does your workshop have any elves in it?🧙♂🧙♂🧙♂🧙♂🧙♂The end of the year is a time of year for remembrance. We take stock of where we came from, and have a moment to think about where we are going, as we pursue the future with hope. May your new year be all that you hope for, and may it be sprinkled with love and friendship. Happy Holidays!
Really enjoying this series so far. Since you've mentioned aerodynamic drag a couple of times, and you're blocking off the bottom half of the rad anyway, why not cover the front airdam and make it completely smooth - I bet that would make a big difference.
To all the ROBOT CANTINA family of viewers, It's been a pleasure getting to know you this year. May the holiday season bless you and your loved ones with joy and happiness. In this loveliest of seasons may you find many reasons for happiness. 😊😊😊😊
@@kansasrose2909 Wish the YOU stopped spamming this message, it's really unnecessary.
@@Cmdrbzrd no need to be a scrooge about it..💖💖💖
@@mommapanda5736 I would rather be a scrooge than a grinch.. It is completely unnecessary to spread any
love at all, just keep it all to yourself. But at this time of year, I just can't help myself!💖💖💖💖
@@kansasrose2909 What the world needs now,
Is love, sweet love,
It's the only thing that there's just too little of.
What the world needs now,
Is love, sweet love,
No, not just for some but for everyone.☺☺☺
Years ago, Popular Mechanics magazine, did a project called Project Centurian. They took a Triumph Spitfire chassis, built a fiberglass/foam composite body for it, and powered it with a Kubota engine, about the same size that you are using. They were able to get mileage of about 65mpg at 65 mph. At 35 mph, the mileage was around 125 mpg...if memory serves me correctly. It's good to see someone tinkering with these types of combinations, still. I look forward to seeing how things progress when you install the turbo. Thanks, and keep up the good work.
project centurian was created by robert q. riley, he used to have a website and sold plans for all of his interesting designs. sadly, he passed away last year and his website has been taken down, and apparently nobody is continuing his business..
Pappytron, yeah I remember that project also.
I absolutely love these kind of "because why not" experiments.
I’m on the SAE clean snowmobile team at uw platteville and we run a kubota d902 and turbocharged it along with some injector pump work, it’s pushing roughy 65hp thank you for noting the mark on the balancer, I’m currently on my way to the shop right now to check and see if I aligned it right haha I thought it was kind of odd it wasn’t splined so it could only go on one way. Also with our D902 we removed a couple governor balls so now I think it spins at around 4500rpm, these little kubotas are tanks. They can take a lot. I love the videos, take care!
May the holiday season end the present year on a cheerful note and make way for a fresh and bright New Year. Here's wishing you a Happy Holidays!
These videos about wringing the most performance out of the smallest engines are oddly appealing and go completely in the opposite direction of most car TH-cam channels. Nice job on carving out a niche for yourself!
The end of the year is a time of year for remembrance. We take stock of where we came from, and have a moment to think about where we are going, as we pursue the future with hope. May your new year be all that you hope for, and may it be sprinkled with love and friendship. Happy Holidays!
I converted a saturn SL2 to electric power years ago. The kilowatt meter I installed allowed me to directly measure the power needed to sustain various speeds. Although my car was heavier, at 3000lbs, it required about 20hp to hold 55mph. Just another datapoint that you might find useful.
Can't wait to see the turbocharger and MPG results!
did you run normal tire pressure? Ive read higher tire pressure will help alot especially lower cruising speeds
@@lucasvanhamburg4937 Yes, I did. Especially on the front tires, where most of the weight was. This also allowed better wear pattern.
@@lucasvanhamburg4937 His footprint with that weight increase would likely be similar to standard weight with standard pressure. Likely no gains to be had, just the avoidance of a blowout.
I knew a guy years ago that stuck a 3-cylinder diesel industrial engine in a Fiat X1-9 and got 88 MPG, and it could travel at highway speeds. But it had never-ending cooling problems and he finally gave up. But what a MACHINE!
Correction. There's NEVER enough JB Weld. It's just soooo gooood.
Awesome work, awesome video. Thank you, and Merry Christmas!
TO to community of viewers of our favorite you=tube car channel... ROBOT CANTINA May your eggnog be spiked with plenty of rum to get you through this holiday season. Season's greetings and a Happy New Year! WE LOVE YOU JIMBO!🔧🔧🔧🔧🧙♂🧙♂🧙♂🧙♂
yeah there is a TON more power left on the table, diesels have a ton of ways to add power, increasing the pop off pressure of the injectors, more fuel, timing, timing is a major helper in power and from the factory most diesels are set very conservatively for emissions reasons and therefore make more heat and make less power and waste more fuel. turbo size is also very important! maybe a subaru turbo from one of the jdm twin turbos would be good. egt guage would be pretty much mandatory but theres zero reason you cant get 75 mpg and cruise at 70! really interested in this build and would love to see this thing keep up with the gas verson
Man, this is so refreshing automotive youtube! Keep it up!
I wish everyone here, especially the Robot Cantina, a peaceful holiday season and a happy new year. 🎄🎁🍾🥂 Thanks for the new video and greetings from the Berliner ✌
Merry Christmas...
@@g.o.b.2558 ...Thank you
Ill always be sticking around. Great stuff!
May the holiday season end the present year on a cheerful note and make way for a fresh and bright New Year. Here's wishing you a Happy Holidays!
Think we're going to need to see a drag race between the Honda big block and the Saturn diesel when it's finished. Pretty surprised by those MPG numbers.
Yeah, so even small diesels arent as terrible for efficiency as small gas engines are. If you do 55 mph and use about 20hp to do it, you can pretty much gaurantee the fuel consumption will be something along those lines, for a small diesel.
I am flabbergasted. That engine actually moved a car! We have two pieces of equipment with that gutless engine in them and they struggle immensely to do their job.
Im pleased to see they can be worth something elsewhere that actually works.
TURBO TURBO TURBO!!!
So stoked to watch that video cause I really like these ones.
As for the thermostat, its always surprising how small a leak keeps the engine from warming up. On my Mercedes, the thermostat had a barely visible, maybe 0,5mm gap when closed and the engine would stay at 60°C on the highway and take half an hour to even get to that temperature. I really didnt expect that small gap to be the problem, but a new thermostat fixed it.
May the holiday season end the present year on a cheerful note and make way for a fresh and bright New Year. Here's wishing you a Happy Holidays!
I strongly disagree. My Hyundai i 30 1600 cc with 116 horsepower to 1400 kg curb weight gets the same mileage on average on a straight road.
It's amazing how small of a leak can affect the temp either way. Leaking thermostat and it won't get up to temp. Leak somewhere else and it overheats.
I had a pinhole in a waterpump housing make a work truck overheat. Tiny pinhole would take day's to see noticeable loss of antifreeze. But it made the truck overheat.
Something to keep in mind, a gas muffler and a diesel muffler are different. Watch it close. The soot will stop up the muffler
Unless you're smoking like a coal train, it shouldn't be that bad.
In fact, diesel cars use the exact same mufflers, same part numbers and everything..
@@AlexanderBurgers my dad's all stock f250 diesel stopped the muffler up at 100k. My 80 diesel Vw all stock stopped it up at 75k. A true diesel muffler and a gas muffler are way different
@@WARD5KUSTOMZ yeah what year F-250
@@WARD5KUSTOMZ I drove all the way to 350k on my 90's AX Diesel and never once stopped up a muffler. True, there was some soot on the inside, but not nearly enough to plug it up.
@@WARD5KUSTOMZ i think your dad's f250 creates more soot in one crank rotation than that kubota will all it's life.
Ask a Kubota dealer how to get more power out of that lil motor. Moving that lil Saturn is easy for that thing compared to the heavy work it does in a tractor. It definitely isn't any harder on it. Love those lil Saturn's. Subscribed👍
For the algos, great content can’t wait to see that thing super turbo charged and maxed out. Happy holidays and thanks for the vid’s.
My first car was a 95 Saturn SL (single cam, 5 speed, very base + a/c). It bored me so I sold it my dad and bought an Eclipse which was more fun. He used it to chew up commute miles for many years (he retired it at 215K) and he always boasted that it averaged over 40mpg the entire time. Oil use went up over time but he had a trick for that as there was a local quick change place that offered free top offs so he would just stop in each few days for a level check. Its really neat to see all these experiments with the various Saturns!
I love your videos on this series, as I put a Kubota diesel in a Triumph Spitfire, as I mentioned in one of your previous videos. The injection timing on your engine is set somewhere around 18 degrees, for max rpm of 2800. If you want faster speed, you will have to adjust the timing to about 24 degrees for 3800 rpm operation. This will slow down the acceleration a bit, but that can be mitigated by adjusting the fuel torque screw on the front cover. You can search for Kubota Super Mini Workshop Manual and read the sections regarded injection timing and fuel torque screw adjustments.
I look forward to the next video in this series. Keep up the great work!
You should upload a video of your car sounds interesting.
Many diesel engines use a center tap on the alternators 3 ph stator winding as a frequency source to run a tach. If this isn't done, there is typically a place on the bell housing for a sensor that reads the flywheel ring gear teeth. Murphy makes lots of this stuff.
It sounds like you have a wheel alignment problem. I swear I can hear the front tires howling. With the lighter weight on the front end, it will give it a positive camber, which you can see, and it may have given it some toe in, or out, depending on how the suspension is setup, but I suspect in. Did you notice the steering is any faster responding or if it returns to center quicker or is just wonky? A laser level and tape measure alignment might help you pickup a few mph by educing the drag. Feel the tires all the way around and see if they are noticeably warmer on the inside or outside of the tread face. I suspect the outside will be a bit hotter. You can do this with a heat gun or thermal camera too. If it's patches of heat, it's a bad tire, rim, or out of balance tire. If it's consistent all the way around the tire, it's alignment.
I had a red 1999 SC2, owned it from about 2006 to 2019, and although I was an automotive wholeseller who had access to many cars, that was my "personal" and one of my favorite cars.
I love watching these tractor engine conversion videos. Especially well made ones like this. Thanks for posting!
*looks at Kubota tractor*.. *looks at sc* ... Back and forth a feww times... "Yep, thats what I'm gonna do"
Dude, my friend showed me this video and it's exactly what I love. Weird builds no one had ever even thought about for a second. Yet here we are.
I need to know where this idea came from!
Great content, great format, great explanations, great data, and entertaining narration. Thank you!
Seeing how your steering wheel is not straight, it could be that the front wheels arent pointing straight forwards.
It could be really hogging alot of power if they are off even a little bit..
Yes there should be some angle but thats only like +-1degree max
Since the radiator is for show anyway, maybe patching the giant hole in the bumper, and duck-taping the gapes between panels would reduce the drag enough to get it to 60 :D
The radiator is why there is heat inside the car.
@@herbiehusker1889 not really, the heater core makes the heat in the car. Since it's cold he could take out the radiator and use the heater core as the radiator, just increase the fan speed if the engine gets hot. After he puts on a turbo the radiator will be more useful though,
@@charlesakin1908 To all the ROBOT CANTINA family of viewers, It's been a pleasure getting to know you this year. May the holiday season bless you and your loved ones with joy and happiness. In this loveliest of seasons may you find many reasons for happiness. 😊😊😊😊
I find these videos much more interesting than people sticking LS engines in small cars. I have always dreamed of doing something similar to this but have never had the means. Good to see someone doing it.
I've got a 2 cylinder 1.2L diesel that I bought for a project like this. You're motivating me to make it happen!
To all the members of ROBOT CANTINA fan club, and I know there are so many of you, Wishing you peace, love, and joy this holiday season and throughout the NEW YEAR... can't wait to see what jimbo brings to the NEW YEAR and beyond👍👍👍👍
I read in a car magazine back in the day that Ford had to go back to using cast iron blocks to keep their tiny 3-cylinder engines hot enough.
The end of the year is a time of year for remembrance. We take stock of where we came from, and have a moment to think about where we are going, as we pursue the future with hope. May your new year be all that you hope for, and may it be sprinkled with love and friendship. Happy Holidays!
I think the inability to build speed is more a case of the gear ratios being totally wrong for use with an engine with not only lower output but lower output at lower rpm. The kubota lump simply isn’t turning fast enough to turn that transmission imho, cool project though and im really glad I found your channel.
Now really impress us and drop a five nine cummins in it 😅
May the holiday season end the present year on a cheerful note and make way for a fresh and bright New Year. Here's wishing you a Happy Holidays!
the energy rob from alternator is pretty hard to calculate as it depends also on how much power you're using or not using from it, it's not like it takes 90 amps x 14.4v x efficiency all the time
remove the battery and use an inline amp-meter on the alternator positive cable.
@@bigiron4018 Also possible to use an inductive DC ammeter. No worries about a needing a shunt, or fires.
I think the alternator used is a shunt type, that alternator will be putting out 20 amps continuously regardless of battery needs. Any current not needed by the battery is shunted to ground resulting in heat. Probably not as efficient as a small auto field controlled alternator
@@mickonanisland4281 I think the same, but I think its worth testing if it is in fact spinning fast enough to make those 20A at idle speed.. 20A should be plenty for this application given no electric fuel pump, coils, injectors, or radio. main consumption sources would be blower motor and lights I bet
The alternator is a 3 phase permanent magnet unit. The magnets are in the interior diameter of the stamped out rotating shell. It has to spin up pretty fast to get decent output. There is an external regulator that turns it from 3 wire to 2 wire DC output at14.6 volts.
I have a GX50 Honda engine turning one with direct drive and it put out full load 20 amps at wide open throttle. Not much power loss is caused by this little alternator. I think the little Honda engine is rated 1.5 horsepower. With full battery, the fuel pump and instruments draw very little current from the alternator.
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I can't wait to see what kind of N/A power increases you can make.
I love the fact that you also display in metric. 👍🏻 Less than 4.2/100 km is quite impressive. Love your videos!
Honestly in the winter it doesn't even look like you will need a radiator, you might be able to block the grill and reduce your drag. Better yet just go full aerocivic with a tail and wheel covers.
Like a Tesla?
Thank you for considering my comment with connecting the heater :)
TO to community of viewers of our favorite you=tube car channel... ROBOT CANTINA May your eggnog be spiked with plenty of rum to get you through this holiday season. Season's greetings and a Happy New Year! WE LOVE YOU JIMBO!🔧🔧🔧🔧🧙♂🧙♂🧙♂🧙♂
Man, first video of yours I've seen and I gotta subscribe since there's a possibility that I could get a very similar engine to do a project with. When you mentioned a possible turbo, I got a little excited 😊 I love tests like this, and I was impressed by the fuel economy. Keep up the awesome work and can't wait to see the next one.
Not only the possitive wire from the regulator but the ground too should go directly to the battery, or at least to a good grounding point. Because it is a circuit (from positive to negative), the 20 amps pass through the black wire too. A bad grounding point could be the cause of the slow charging.
Good video. I can imagine with something like the D905 kubota (26hp) it would do even better. Just FYI I would keep the engine under 4000rpms if you want any sort of life out of it especially since they don’t make any power past that. 2800-3800 is kind of the sweet spot for them unless you are running something wild. A RHB-31 or GT12 turbocharger will make a huge improvement in fuel economy and power once the fuel is adjusted. I can see close to 70mpg in the Saturns future with a usable 5th gear and turbo. Just keep those EGTs and rpms down lol. Love the channel.
To all the members of ROBOT CANTINA fan club, and I know there are so many of you, Wishing you peace, love, and joy this holiday season and throughout the NEW YEAR... can't wait to see what jimbo brings to the NEW YEAR and beyond👍👍👍👍
To all the members of ROBOT CANTINA fan club, and I know there are so many of you, Wishing you peace, love, and joy this holiday season and throughout the NEW YEAR... can't wait to see what jimbo brings to the NEW YEAR and beyond👍👍👍👍
Hope you...have a Merry Christmas!😊👍
That's some high quality entertainment as usual. I have to say, I kind of miss the intro that your older videos had. I'll get over it though.
The 1700cc diesel vw rabbits of the 70's and 80's had 52 hp if memory serves me. They typically topped out just north of 70mph. Love the vid.
The German ones had 44. Air conditioning was not an option.
I'd probably give a light boost of 10psi max for its sake... Not sure how long it can handle boost either regardless of it being a high compression diesel application. It simply wasn't designed for this kind of work. Definitely keep fire safety and spill clean up equipment in the back if it goes boom on the road after a mild turbski install hahaha!!!
Ah, memories !
I had that same 3 Cylinder Kubota 750cc engine in my B1600 Tractor 🚜.
Great, super reliable but the HP a bit modest to move a 1 ton vehicle.
I'm impressed it made 59 mph.
My Mom had the "other slowest car ever sold" a 1982 Isuzu I-Mark Diesel, powered by Isuzu's great but anemic 1.8 liter NON-Turbo Diesel.
We used to joke you needed a calendar to measure its acceleration.
Then again, this sturdy but ungainly heavy & homely wart of a car weighed another 500# MORE than your Saturn, and was propelled by its modest 48 horsepower.
It DID however, routinely return /52 mpg,, making MPG it's Forte.
We had a custom 50 gallon tank made & would in the mid-80s fuel up in Tijuana at 28 cents / gallon, being a whopping $14 to fill.
We'd make quarterly trips to Tijuana, as the tank made it's range 2,600 miles per tank !
It's a pity, now to think of it, we could have driven from San Diego (my hometown) to New York, and had plenty of fuel left.
Crazy stuff, huh ?
Mom paid $8,000 for it - sounds cheap in 2023, but that was HIGH in 1982 - the exact car with a gas engine was fully $2200 less, if memory serves.
Anyhow, I hope you read this because truly your experiment is NOT out of line with our fuel sipping but underpowered reliable Isuzu.
I think full out she'd hit 75 but not on a grade.
It was 5 speed manual & any hill required 4th.
Cheers - David in Texas
So cool to see this channel grow. Awesome content as always 👌
To all the ROBOT CANTINA family of viewers, It's been a pleasure getting to know you this year. May the holiday season bless you and your loved ones with joy and happiness. In this loveliest of seasons may you find many reasons for happiness. 😊😊😊😊
@@kansasrose2909 God bless you. Merry Christmas!!!
Also another thing I did was put the alternator on a switch for extra power during takeoff lol, these videos are making me want to work on my little diesel sonoma
Thats awesome, ive always wanted to get a antique car, something of 20s or 30s vintage and put in one of these small diesel engines to make it more reliable
Thanks for the video. I Would really like to see the Kubota on the dyno bench, without modification, after mod and after turbo
To all the ROBOT CANTINA family of viewers, It's been a pleasure getting to know you this year. May the holiday season bless you and your loved ones with joy and happiness. In this loveliest of seasons may you find many reasons for happiness. 😊😊😊😊
I agree with your JB Weld assessment. The quick is good for some stuff like adhesive work for window tabs, mirrors, etc. but when it comes to strength the old slow JB Weld seems much more durable.
To all the ROBOT CANTINA family of viewers, It's been a pleasure getting to know you this year. May the holiday season bless you and your loved ones with joy and happiness. In this loveliest of seasons may you find many reasons for happiness. 😊😊😊😊
I'm sure you're aware that non turbo diesels have real trouble making power at high rpm due to the ever shorter timing. I expect the turbo will make a big difference to the top speed if you can get enough pressure. Looking forward to it! 😁
ROBOT CANTINA== does your workshop have any elves in it?🧙♂🧙♂🧙♂🧙♂🧙♂The end of the year is a time of year for remembrance. We take stock of where we came from, and have a moment to think about where we are going, as we pursue the future with hope. May your new year be all that you hope for, and may it be sprinkled with love and friendship. Happy Holidays!
with a turbo you'll probably get to 70-80mph since you'll then give the engine 40-50hp
Thanks Jimbo! Can't wait to see the performance improvement from the turbo install. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you my friend!
Great video as always but the fact that you got the window wound down for some reason is triggering the aerodynamics guy in me...
Nice to see my estimation of the top speed from the last video for the power of the engine was bang on (60mph), it makes perfect sense really.
To all the members of ROBOT CANTINA fan club, and I know there are so many of you, Wishing you peace, love, and joy this holiday season and throughout the NEW YEAR... can't wait to see what jimbo brings to the NEW YEAR and beyond👍👍👍👍
Hey Jimbo, I'm sure you'll easily crack 60mph if you take the antenna off! I bet some of the power issues are just inherent to the engines cam grind and head design, since its built to pretty much run in a narrow RPM window. Possibly some porting work might get a little more air in and exhaust out of the engine and that would probably benefit it in NA form and have a bigger effect with the turbo later on. Cam grind though...probably not worth messing with since that's getting pretty expensive in terms of dollars and money.
Just changing the differential gear ratio would make this thing much quicker... And he would probably be able to use 5th gear if he went low enough of a ratio...
Fit smaller diameter wheels to lower the final drive and make 5th gear useable
Nahhh add a turbo
@@burnmproject7077 both
Random suggestion: replace the gear oil in the gearbox with 20W50 motorcycle oil? Theory being thinner oil will have a lot less parasitic power loss in transmission, and given how little power the engine is making I don't think it needs full spec gear oil.
I know you have plenty of ideas on how to improve it but if I was you I would try to reduce its weight even more. I would remove the back seat, spare tire, gut the interior, even replace the windows with lexan.
This series has been super fun and I look forward for new videos! Thanks for your hard work and dedication.
Weight savings wouldnt do all that much for a car mostly driven in a straight line, to be fair.
The turbo and a bit of tweaking of the pump will make a massive difference here. Great stuff as always
To all the ROBOT CANTINA family of viewers, It's been a pleasure getting to know you this year. May the holiday season bless you and your loved ones with joy and happiness. In this loveliest of seasons may you find many reasons for happiness. 😊😊😊😊
If it could hold 65-70mph with just a turbo swap, I think it would be a huge win. Most who swap Kubota diesel engines into vehicles tend to use the larger V2203 DI and IDI out of Carrier refrigerator trailers.
Spot on. They basically created a European diesel car from the 90s but with a slightly too small an engine. We did not get any Saturns here in the EU but there was an equivalent, sort off, namely the Opel Astra F with a normally-aspirated 1.7L diesel having 56 hp. I never drove one but I did the similar VW and Ford offerings; my 1992 Ford Escort CLX with the 1.8 atmospheric diesel could cruise all day at 70 MPH and returned 45 MPG. I have a feeling it was a bit heavier than the Saturn SC1 and less aerodynamic so let's see what results they get when they turbocharge the Kubota...
Love the project you can improve drag by duct tape evrything open in the front you dont need cooling air flow as you said and undertray if eazy
The baselines are set. I'm now ready for... THE MODS!
I had a friend while attending college in Minnesota (1981) who had put a Mitsubishi diesel engine from a tractor into his 1976 Dodge Aspen station wagon. I don't recall the horsepower, was a long time ago, but with it coupled to a 5-speed overdrive transmission, he had adapted from somewhere, it had a top speed around 100 mph. Had a long stroke, you should have seen the 8-in bulge he had to put in the hood. It had a lot of torque and got over 50 miles per gallon. He sure got around cheap. Diesel was cheap back then, especially for tractors. I enjoy your videos and the humor you put in. Thank you for keeping it mostly clean. Thank you for putting all the hard work into your videos.
For fun, I ran the specs of the car in a horsepower calculator. According to the calculator, you need about 14hp to run 60mph, and 20hp to run 70mph. Reducing the coefficient of drag by .02 (if possible) saves you 1hp at 60mph. Of course this doesn't account for the alternator or any other accessories but it sounds like 60mph is a very achievable goal. 70mph doesn't sound too far off with a turbo.
Love this project, can't wait for the next update!
70 is easy with the turbo...even 80 is if he does the turbo install a bit more thouroghly.
A turbo will definitely help out. Advance the Injection timing too
Agree. And, it will be interesting to see if he can make improvements by adding aerodynamic parts or even reducing weights
Is that possible on these engines?
@@yieldingfish4796 yes you can advance the injection timing by removing a shim/filler plate under the injection pump.
it should be the smallest turbocharger that he can find.
@@jurriendw050 removing all of the advances the timing up to 16 degree
You should try a propane injection kit first before the turbo
I'll bet you could get some help from "Bullydog" propane injection people.
I see twin baby turbos on it next🤣but I would turn the fule up on the injection pump and see how that helps it get up to speed.
Obligatory comment. Maybe a good illustration as to why truck drivers try to time traffic lights. Thanks again for all the work you do and Merry Christmas!!
ROBOT CANTINA== does your workshop have any elves in it?🧙♂🧙♂🧙♂🧙♂🧙♂The end of the year is a time of year for remembrance. We take stock of where we came from, and have a moment to think about where we are going, as we pursue the future with hope. May your new year be all that you hope for, and may it be sprinkled with love and friendship. Happy Holidays!
Good job, guys. I hope you'll finish the run and make this car useful for public roads.
This car have potential: plastic body parts, little diesel, mechanical transmission. This can be very good for using as "everyday car".
You could sell these vehicles- old cars with blown engines but clean bodies, swapped with small predator, diesel, or similar engines. Maybe even stick with a specific model or brand your most familiar with, whatever you could build the quickest. There are a ton of poor people simply looking for a reliable vehicle, regardless of speed. Like 2-4k depending on working options and features you decided to include.
Man these are entertaining, lots of off screen work. Also, I think it would be cool to see an “Aero special” where you try to improve the aero while keeping the same horsepower, like a salt flat top speed kind of deal.
To all the members of ROBOT CANTINA fan club, and I know there are so many of you, Wishing you peace, love, and joy this holiday season and throughout the NEW YEAR... can't wait to see what jimbo brings to the NEW YEAR and beyond👍👍👍👍
@@ocdman202 To all the ROBOT CANTINA family of viewers, It's been a pleasure getting to know you this year. May the holiday season bless you and your loved ones with joy and happiness. In this loveliest of seasons may you find many reasons for happiness. 😊😊😊😊
A new wheel bearing might help 😆 . Cool project! Keep it up 👍
😂, yeah....or go 3 wheel like a Pinewood Derby 😃
@@paulwoodman5131 To all the ROBOT CANTINA family of viewers, It's been a pleasure getting to know you this year. May the holiday season bless you and your loved ones with joy and happiness. In this loveliest of seasons may you find many reasons for happiness. 😊😊😊😊
When you connected the engine to the exhaust system I hope you removed the catalytic converter. The converter would slow the exhaust flow and soon clog up from diesel soot. Love the series!
I turbocharged and intercooled my 700cc Arctic Cat ATV. Maxed out fuel screw and advanced fuel injector timing. I feel the hp has about doubled, but top speed is governed by the 4300 rpm governor spring. Fuel economy is outstanding, however, about double of my 700cc gas Arctic Cat. I think you can about double the power by turbocharging with no mpg loss.
Love this project, Can't wait to see what's next! I guess you could tape off the front to try to improve aero but that's not really the point of the series unless you decide it is.
The end of the year is a time of year for remembrance. We take stock of where we came from, and have a moment to think about where we are going, as we pursue the future with hope. May your new year be all that you hope for, and may it be sprinkled with love and friendship. Happy Holidays!