HotCarl Posted May 18, 2006 Report Share Posted May 18, 2006 i own a 1984 VW rabbit diesel. Bought it for 250$ about a year and a half ago, since then i have sold my DSM and bought a reliable daily driver. Now this thing just sit's in front of my place. I've been pondering selling it or adding a greasecar kit to it for a little diesel sipper to drive to and from work. The kit is sold compete with everything you need from http://www.greasecar.com They sell alot of different kits for a plethora of different diesel vehicle's. Has anyone had any experience with them, or their products or diesel cars/trucks running on recylced vegetable oil in general? The kit cost's approx. 750$, so all together i'd have a 1000$ car that would get 50 mi/gal and run (mostly) on reused veggie oil? sounds interesting at least. discuss... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
l36tols1 Posted May 18, 2006 Report Share Posted May 18, 2006 I've never heard of it before.. you can't go wrong with 50 miles per gallon. If you got the cash I say go for it :thumbup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lustalbert Posted May 18, 2006 Report Share Posted May 18, 2006 Great in the summer. In the winter, depending on wich fuel variant you use, it can set up in the lines and then you cant drive it till it warms up out. If you go for a dual tank system, and run it on regular diesel till the bio fuel warms up (in tank heater) then you should have better driveability in the winter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twistedfocus1647545489 Posted May 18, 2006 Report Share Posted May 18, 2006 IIRC, MythBusters did a test on BioDiesel conversions. In their case the mileage was reduced a small amount, so for them the savings was the fact they can get the fuel source for free (or near free) instead of $3/gallon. They used an older diesel Benz for their test, and I am sure results will vary with application. Seems like an interesting concept as long as we can continue to get the fuel for cheap/free - which I assume wil not be forever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaSSon Posted May 18, 2006 Report Share Posted May 18, 2006 Where do you get free vegatable oil? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HotCarl Posted May 18, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2006 Where do you get free vegatable oil? Used from any fast food joint. i have heard that it's best to try to get it from chinese food restaurant's first b/c of the specific type they use. Which is good news b/c i live right behind a chinese food restaurant. The way i understand it is that if you use straight vegetable oil you have to filter it and warm it up, and you cannot start nor stop your engine while Veg. oil is in the lines, think of it as having to purge your fuel lines of veg oil with reg. diesel before you shut down and start up. I have heard of another route in which you simply add the reg. used Veg. oil to a filtration system that not only filter's out the debris but also add's a specified amount of Lye. For some reason adding the Lye enables the veg. oil to be used as regular diesel fuel. jsut put it in the tank and go, no heating no purging needed. im still searching for the company who makes this system or somethign similar. i saw it on the show TRUCKS on Spike. something like FuelFreeAmerica.com or something. If anyone has any experience with this let me know. TIA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lustalbert Posted May 19, 2006 Report Share Posted May 19, 2006 The lye process is a little more comple than droping it in your tank with the oil and calling it done. Ill post up what I find, gimie a few minutes.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lustalbert Posted May 19, 2006 Report Share Posted May 19, 2006 http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_make.html reading material. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin R. Posted May 19, 2006 Report Share Posted May 19, 2006 Don't you think someone pays fast food restaurants, etc for their vegetable oil for this very reason? Why would they just give it to you? Correct me if I am wrong here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBussman1647545507 Posted May 19, 2006 Report Share Posted May 19, 2006 you don't need to do anything to your car, just run the oil though a screen before you burn it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitgeist57 Posted May 19, 2006 Report Share Posted May 19, 2006 http://freedomfuelamerica.com/ It's a biodiesel still, essentially. I've looked into converting Cleetus from a gas 305 V8 to a Cummins turbodiesel and running biodiesel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desperado Posted May 19, 2006 Report Share Posted May 19, 2006 I am wondering why no one has attempted to get a diesel to run off used motor oil or tranny fuild/hydraulic oil. A guy I know is in the used oil market, and does the shop oil furnaces on the side. THe things heat good (better than heating oil of the same oil consumption) I know that you would need to preheat the oil (same as the furnaces) to get it to burn, but people pay companies to pump the shit off and haul it away in many cases, or at least give it away for free. Before the feds started coloring ag diesel (non-taxed for farm use) red, alot of guys were using a quart of tranny fuild to as a fuel additive to clean the carbon buildup out of their trucks, or at least that's what I was told as I was watching them put it in their tank. They said that too much wasn't good for the engine. I don't know why that is, but if the engine could be modded to run the stuff, or oil for that matter, it would at least be cheap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lustalbert Posted May 19, 2006 Report Share Posted May 19, 2006 used oil would take alot of filtering to remove the contamination to prevent damage to a high pressure pump and injectors. The lower pressure wate oil pumps can handle a little sludge alot better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bgbdbn Posted May 19, 2006 Report Share Posted May 19, 2006 Don't you think someone pays fast food restaurants, etc for their vegetable oil for this very reason? Why would they just give it to you? Correct me if I am wrong here. Restraunts have to pay to have the used oil taken away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rally Pat Posted May 19, 2006 Report Share Posted May 19, 2006 there are a few things I know about this. If you go the Lye filtering process route, you dont have to heat up the fluid. If you go the straight vegetable oil route, you have to run some copper tubing through your fuel tank and to that you have to hook up your cooling system to heat up the oil and before that you have to have another diesel source until the engine heats up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HotCarl Posted May 19, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 19, 2006 there are a few things I know about this. If you go the Lye filtering process route, you dont have to heat up the fluid. If you go the straight vegetable oil route, you have to run some copper tubing through your fuel tank and to that you have to hook up your cooling system to heat up the oil and before that you have to have another diesel source until the engine heats up. Thats exactly how i thought it was suppose to work. i knew you couldnt simply add used veg. oil to a diesel car and run on it. I've found a few more interesting sites to check out: http://www.biodieselamerica.org http://www.biodiesel.org http://www.wnbiodiesel.com http://www.vegenergy.com http://www.veggievan.org I'm think either way i go i'll drop at least a few hundred so i might just opt for the greasecar.com kit to save me the hassle of actually having to process the oil first. upon a bit more research i actually found a turbo kit for my car. i guess a company called BAE mocked up a turbo kit for my VW diesel in the early 90's late 80's so im sure it's hard to find by now, it only push's like 7lbs but it would be interesting to see it on a 1500lb car. (it only has 50bhp) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bgbdbn Posted May 19, 2006 Report Share Posted May 19, 2006 This is another source for answers to questions about alternatives to diesel fuel. http://forums.thedieselstop.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php?Cat=0&Board=biodiesel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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