non electronic engine

[Jay Pritchard]

The engine in my van is a little tired. I was wondering if it is possible to build a 5.3 without all the electronics and still get good mpg?

There are multiple intakes available to run aa carborator on a 5.3 the bigger issue would be the ignition system. There is no place on the block to put a distributor. You would have to either use a flying magnet type stand alone ignition system, or I have seen a cog belt driven distributor mounted to the front of the motor before. As for the transmition, a 1980-90 700r4 rebuilt with the upgrade to make it stronger, and an adapter kit. Would work pretty well. You would have to have a switch working the lock up on the torque converter. But hotrodders have been doing that for years.

 

[Kevin L]

What's the fear? EMP?

Because a few things there....

1.) The tests that lead to so many false ideas about it were highly flawed (and years ago).

2.) Parking it under a metal roof or even metal garage door, is likely to be enough protection from an air-sourced EMP

3.) If you read the actual tests done in the EMP report, very few vehicles failed even at high exposure, and even those that had issues, were typically more of a minor electrical nature.

This may be true about artificial EMPs created by nuclear weapons, but the sun can create a long-lasting EMP.

Look up the Carrington Event of the 1800s.

Telegraph operators were electrocuted just by touching a metal surface that wasn't even hooked up to a power source.

It lasted maybe a year.

 

[Jay Pritchard]

Ok, what a about making a faraday cage out of a shipping container. It would be large enough to hold most vehicles, if you get a 40ft. It would give you extra room for other conveniences as well.

 

[Kevin L]

Ok, what a about making a faraday cage out of a shipping container. It would be large enough to hold most vehicles, if you get a 40ft. It would give you extra room for other conveniences as well.

Yes. An aluminum foil faraday cage would pretect against solar EMP.

My point is that a nuclear weapon triggered EMP lasts the smallest reasonable fraction of a second.

A solar EMP can persist for days, weeks, perhaps even a month in some cases (although--as a well-rounded amatuer astronomer--I must say that weeks and/or months is possible, but highly, highly, unlikely. I can't give you odds, but I can say that the risk of an alien invasion is probably much more likely than weeks or months of a constant solar flare).

The concern ist that people will remove electronic devices from protection before the solar EMP subsides.....perhaps because they'll think of EMP only in a nuclear weapon context.

There are ways to test if an EMP even is still in progress.

I would take hundreds of cheap, pocket, battery-powered calculators in Faraday insulated foil envelopes.

Every six hours, I remove a calculator and try to use it to see if it's getting electronically fried.

P.S. If you're interested in EMP, look up project Starfish in the early 60s. It will make your skin crawl if you carefully think through all of the ramifications.

 

[pengyou]

Thanks for the discussion. I have considered the jeep type vehicles but want a 4x4 that I can haul a lot of stuff in and even sleep in for a while in the event I have to BO. I am open to other suggestions for 4x4s with this capability. The only one I have found is the Suburban. I have always been fond of the Chevy Astro AWD. I am not interested in boonie crashing - just looking for something that can handle forest service/fire/dirt/gravel roads in rain or snow while pulling a 10', low profile trailer. If I were to "de-electronic" this I would have to replace the transmission (already thinking about putting a 700R4 in it), replace the intake manifold and TBI (could get an aftermarket carbureator or early generation TBI), replace the distributor and the transfer case (a real 4x4 transfer case is already on the drawing board). I think if I did those things I could toss the van's computer system out the window. Would I need to do anything else? Smog devices? I know this is not a Chevy forum but the sheeples that populate those forums would not understand the reasoning for my questions.

 

[Jay Pritchard]

As for the distributor, good luck finding a point type or magneto type for the 4.3 they put in the astro. Don't even think about injection. If you are trying to protect it against emp. As for the 700r4, make sure it is an OLDER NON COMPUTER model, then you will just have to hotwire the lock up on the torque converter.

 

[pengyou]

"As for the distributor, good luck finding a point type or magneto type for the 4.3 they put in the astro. Don't even think about injection. If you are trying to protect it against emp. As for the 700r4, make sure it is an OLDER NON COMPUTER model, then you will just have to hotwire the lock up on the torque converter."

Good points....pun intended Some things may be harder to find - I am willing to make some compromises and securely store some spare parts - maybe a couple of electronic ignition modules - for the sake of having this awd van. If I can dump the computer that controls everything, I will feel considerably relieved, not only for emp sake but just for repairing in general. It seems that the 700r4 can be built up to take more hp and torque. I will not be increasing much but I have always thought that more capacity mean more longevity. I just wish I could change the gear ratio a bit - I wish I could lower second gear a bit to be able to avoid the big spread between 1 and 2. I like the 3.06 first gear so am not willing to change that.

 

[DrHenley]

Yes. An aluminum foil faraday cage would pretect against solar EMP.

My point is that a nuclear weapon triggered EMP lasts the smallest reasonable fraction of a second.

The E3 pulse can last several minutes. The atmospheric effects last much longer.

This is from the Wikipedia page about Starfish Prime:

While some of the energetic beta particles followed the Earth's magnetic field and illuminated the sky, other high-energy electrons became trapped and formed radiation belts around the Earth. There was much uncertainty and debate about the composition, magnitude and potential adverse effects from this trapped radiation after the detonation. The weaponeers became quite worried when three satellites in low Earth orbit were disabled. These included TRAAC and Transit 4B. The half-life of the energetic electrons was only a few days. At the time it was not known that solar and cosmic particle fluxes varied by a factor 10, and energies could exceed 1 MeV. In the months that followed these man-made radiation belts eventually caused six or more satellites to fail, as radiation damaged their solar arrays or electronics, including the first commercial relay communication satellite, Telstar, as well as the United Kingdom's first satellite, Ariel 1.

Detectors on Telstar, TRAAC, *****, and Ariel 1 were used to measure distribution of the radiation produced by the tests.
In 1963, it was reported that Starfish Prime had created a belt of MeV electrons. In 1968, it was reported that some Starfish electrons had remained for 5 years.​