460 swap into a 78 Bronco

How about nuclear! I always fantasize the future where a truck is ran by a tiny nuclear reactor with fuel forever. I am overlooking the very obvious safety concerns from going nuclear, I can always dream, can't I

How much does your starter draw on a cold morning?...

Nukes would be fine, if they could get built on time and budget....
Westinghouse got bought by Toshiba, and then promptly went under.
GE only seems to care about milking $$$ from wind turbines..

My buddy Bill lived literally a mile from the third commercial PWR in the United States.
Yankee Rowe came after Dresden and Shippingport.
They've erased all traces of the containment sphere and the turbine halls.
https://youtu.be/HPpEwlE-vs0?si=W84h4oKBSIyQcUwR

I wanted to visit, but security is ridiculous.
They still have DU on site because, unlike the French, we refuse to have breeder reactors .

I'm somewhat close to Indian Point which was on the Hudson River in Buchanan.
They shut that down 20 years early because knee jerk idiots form NYC don't like clean, reliable power....

I have a clamping meter, but that feature doesn't work well.

I need help from Mrs. on a cold morning to see how much current it draws  but wait I could just jump the solenoid, right, Lol. I find that.

Are you saying if the draw isn't too bad, I can use a fuse between starter solenoid and battery ?

I don't know any of those names except GE maybe but I really hope research in tiny nuclear power plants happens. I saw a documentary of how much wind turbines cost to maintain and how much their carcass is a pain to handle after EOL.

SMR are a real non starter.
The Russians have a barge full of reactors somewhere up in Siberia.

We had the NV Savannah way back in the '60's , but even though it was used as a powerplant, it was compromised.., as a demonstrator by having to handle cargo, (just as CONNEX boxes were taking hold) and hosting a nuclear crew as well as an 'ambassador' type cheerleading crew....

Nuclear doesn't scale down. Or rather, it looses any reason for being when its stupid small, like a handful of megawatts.

viven44 wrote

I saw a documentary of how much wind turbines cost to maintain and how much their carcass is a pain to handle after EOL.

Link???

I watch a few channels out of the area I spoke of, and all the actual operators and tower tech's seem incredibly happy with resilience and lifetime.

The North Sea is a brutal environment.
I used to know some platform workers and divers.
Even if the windmills were falling over, at least they can never cause an environmental disaster.  🤷‍♂️

I tried to find the long documentary, it's been a while, may have been on Netflix or somewhere. Even talked about their low duty cycles in many regions of the country due to wind trajectory, lack of wind, etc... I'll keep looking.

I know it's one of the best sources of renewable energy. Just hope nuclear power is more prevalent, if we don't get a portable reactor that's fine but we have to use nuclear to make power like some of the natural resource and population challenged Asian countries like China, India.
 

I'm not being critical of nuclear energy.

Just that compact reactors (submarines, aircraft carriers, etc..) are a very different animal than what is seen as acceptable risk for the general public.

The military gets away with (deems normal) missiles, machine guns, depleted uranium AP, and ordinance that you could never get away with, off base.

Fusion, if it EVER happens, is pretty much the Grail..... and would solve the nuclear "waste" issue in decades rather than a half million years.

It will happen one day soon, and we will have so much power at our hands we wouldn't know what to do! Knowing history of humanity, at the dawn of a new capability, we've always found new worlds!

Electricity too cheap to meter has been around the corner since the 50's.

I'd like to see it happen (and computer simulations get better every year)
but I doubt any of us will see it in our lifetime's

Perhaps you should look at the Weatherguard lightning tech podcast, or some of Dr Rosie Barnes very early videos when she was a tower tech in Denmark....
https://youtu.be/J_JPBRnPFpc?si=TfrKrT6d93m9YfZz

Rosie not only got a degree in airfoils, she has returned to Australia, had a son and started a consultancy (Pardalote??)
It's a bird I'm not familiar with....

Anyway, you don't get a degree in fluid dynamics being an idiot......
Designing blades for Vestas is pretty much the pinnacle.
And yet, she went from repelling towers to designing those blades, to starting a family and creating her own business consulting in renewables.

There are a bunch of other channels with some CRAZY offshore work in the north sea if you want to have a look.
I DO have actual links and documentation....

Thanks for the link. Do I have a recommendation for something better than a wind turbine ? No. I am sure if you look at the high level picture the figure of merit (watts/$ spent in maintenance) must look good, else there won't be so many turbines.

Per energy.gov "Commercial wind farms are typically built by wind energy developers using private sources of financing" since private funding is involved I'm sure the decision is based on value so I get it that its there.

Just overall perplexed on why there isn't more nuclear power generation. Use vacant military bases, Area 51 I don't care, US has so much land vs. the Asian countries so there must be more focus on that. Just think Wind, Coal, and Solar have more lobbying than anything else.

Military bases are remote for reasons...

You need a huge power transmission line and an abundance of clean water to even think about a nuke plant.

Any other route to produce power doesn't have the gordian knot of nuke regulations, and the insane decommissioning costs at EOL.

It doesn't make sense financially.
Both the upfront costs, the need for specially trained, security clearanced personnel, the literal military convoy to get the fuel to the power station or the secure storage for spent bundles because the U.S. won't reprocess it..

I'm not sure why this seems hard to grasp?

No its not hard to grasp and I'm sorry but military resources are better spent this way. Will keep us from doing "really stupid things". The military and area 51 reference was a Joke by the way  Just find some vast expanse

BTW, I don't generally like to come to conclusions this way. Remember my moto, "In God we trust, all other bring data". If I am really serious about something, I gather a lot of papers and journal articles, letters (from a professional organization for energy.. don't even know what that is.. in my line of work its IEEE) to glean conclusions, empirical data. Last time I was serious about something (10 years ago) I gathered about 400 references..

Edit: Reason i'm being a knob is because countries like China are investing heavily in Nuclear. And Jim, growing up in a 3rd world country, I definitely know what lack of clean water means. Just doesn't add up is all.

Got some choice parts for the Bullnose 460 from Dennis carpenter. These parts are not obtainable elsewhere (there are resellers that are selling these for 2-3x but not including them). None of the other retailers carry the grommet definitely.

All the parts worked wonderfully on the 460

PCV Grommet - C7AZ-6A892-A - This one I've been looking for a while. Says its for a 70s mustang but works perfectly on the 460.

Sticker on package said Dennis Carpenter "Made in India" and below it was another sticker that said Daniel Carpenter Mustang Restorations "Made in China" Which one is it ?

https://www.dennis-carpenter.com/cars/engine/pcv-crankcase/c7az-6a892-a-pvc-grommet-in-valve-cover

Spark plug wire seperator - B6A-12297-K This is the only one that I've found to be compatible with the 460's valve cover tabs.

https://www.dennis-carpenter.com/trucks/electrical/ignition/b6a-12297-k-dist-spark-plug-wire-separator

3 way Vacuum switch - D5ZZ-8A564-A - The one I had on the 460 was shot, it was not holding vacuum at all

https://www.dennis-carpenter.com/trucks/electrical/switches/d5zz-8a564-a-temp-control-coolant-vaccum-sw

Slow day. Still waiting on exhaust parts.

Replaced the fuel line with new 3/8 stainless line. Used 3/8 rubber fuel line as a "wrap" in areas where the stainless line had potential to rub the frame.

The 3/8 line will be supporting the low pressure fuel pump.

Dropped the gas tank. I had assumed the sending unit would be good as the Bronco ran as recently as 2020. Boy was I wrong that sending unit has seen better days. But I was surprised to see the Dentside has a seperate breather tube. Seems more robust ?

Rollover valves existed before that Bronco was built, but evaporative emissions are a lot easier to deal with if they're all under the gas cap.

Thinking of getting all new 25 gallon kit in favor of the old 33 gallon tank and kit. This will give me sufficient capacity for city driving and also address the concern you brought up with the gravity fed fuel pump being too low to the ground.

https://shop.broncograveyard.com/1978-1979-Ford-Bronco-255-Gallon-Steel-Gas-Tank-Kit/productinfo/20205/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiArrCvBhCNARIsAOkAGcWOZ-TxJDZriTxbaT5nUnS3Ys7l-Z5afr5JFoR9zUBleUIhvGdDpq4aAhEDEALw_wcB

I'll sell the skid plate and the 33 gallon, i'm sure there is an off-roading enthusiast or someone who might want it.