Archive for November 2009
As i may have mentioned in a previous post, i am book smart and experience poor in the WVO arena. Couple that with my god-given skill to research a project to death until i have enough information to talk myself out of actually executing anything and you have a nightmare of a potential client (ask, pester, confer, ask more, inquire . . . disappear).
I have come to know that there are two types of communicators in this world and it boils down to ‘bullet points’ vs ’stories’. If you send an email and get back stories or visa-versa, prepare for communication problems. When i sent my bullet-point email to Green Drop Garage, i got back sub-bullet points. So far so good!
I was pretty confident that if they were listed on the Dino Fuels website, they would have the installation chops, my two big qualifiers were their ability and willingness to put up with my questions and to help with local vehicle inspection. The most difficult part of buying a used vehicle remotely, is getting the mechanical inspection and getting an accurate read on the seller as he tells his ownership/ “why i am selling” story (ie, the all important ’seller vibe’).
After a handful if emails back and forth, these guys look like they are the ones for me. They are ready willing and able to act as my “agent” to make sure i am getting a solid truck, their quotes for service and products seem fair to and are in line with what I have seen around and we traded bullets for bullets.
I spent about 5 hours today searching craigslist for F250 trucks. To search the whole US of A at once, i used www.allofcraigs.com which returns results from all of the craigslist cities. The site allows some search filters including a range, but this is not easily applied to the price and seems to key in on mileage, Gross weight numbers as well. In the end, i used the brute force method and powered through.
It looks like $9k will get me the low end of a 1999 F250, i may have to consider getting an in-bed tank instead of the custom, under-bed tank so i can put the $$ towards a better vehicle.
One trend i am noticing about the type of trucks is that near urban centers (LA, Dallas, NJ/NY etc) many of the vehicles tend to be ex-fleet vehicles while less urban areas appear to be primarily from individual tradesmen. The latter is preferable as it is human nature to take care of your own toys, while the company vehicle is more often than not mis-treated.
I am also targeting a truck that has wintered out of the snow regions and is not bordering the hurricane states. This puts me up the west coast, east to Dallas. When i overlay the available installers for Veggistroke, Portland OR seems to come out on the top of my list. Oddly enough, given the high marks for customer service, the Dino Fuels folks never replied to my email request for information about installers that could also help inspect vehicles for a remote buyer.
Time to check out the guys at the Green Drop Garage.
Using the Dino Fuels website, it looks like the closest installers are near Phoenix AZ or San Francisco CA, both of which are pretty big drives from Los Angeles.
As there are no V3 Vegistroke installers (and while mechanically inclined, I am not qualified) in my local area (Los Angeles CA) it appears that i will be traveling for the install. And if i am traveling for the install, i may as well consider widening my vehicle search as well to get me the best deal or at least the best vehicle for my budget.
The most difficult part of buying a used vehicle remotely, is getting the mechanical inspection and getting an accurate read on the seller as he tells his ownership/ “why i am selling” story (ie, the all important ’seller vibe’). So i guess I will have to add that to my installer criteria.
First i need to see how my Ford Powerstrokes are pricing across the US.
After much reading on diesel trucks and available modifications i ended up selecting the best WVO modification system on the market and backed into the trucks that they support.
My research also lead me to the V3 Veggiestroke system by Dino Fuel Alternatives. The primarily selling points for me are the full automation of the system, the very quick switch over time (so that it will be useful on my shorter drives as well) and the high marks everyone gives them for customer service. As i mention in my blog introduction, i am book smart and experience poor. I expect i am the type that asks alot of questions, these folks sound like they can handle it. The system is likely to cost me around $6k including custom tank, gauges and installation.
The Veggiestroke system supports late model Dodge Ram, late model Ford Excursion and Ford Powerstroke from the mid 90s onward. Given my total budget is around $15k, this leaves about $9k for the truck which will push me back to the late 90s Ford Powerstroke 7.3l.
Living in the city (Los Angeles) for the past 10 years, my vehicles tend to be built for speed and easy parking (although i did love my Jeep Grand Wagoneer that i drove for awhile). When contemplating a WVO vehicle i was first drawn to the Mercedes from the late 80’s and early 90’s. Their ability to run on practically any oil was very attractive. If it was just about driving, i probably would have stuck with that plan.
The reality of starting out to collect and process your own fuel dictates that a more work oriented vehicle is required. Collecting is likely to be messy and i am going to have a fair bit of supplies to haul to the WVO preparation system i need to install.
So i’ll be buying a truck and selling the sports car. Who knows, if I make this WVO thing work out, perhaps i can convince the wife to get an old Benz and i can have it both ways! Here’s to wishing!
There are some great forums with smart people and loads of experience. Here are a couple that I am focusing on:
- vegwerks.wordpress.com
- www.webanswers.com
- biodiesel.infopop.cc Check for posts by user “gannamede”
In 1912 Rudolf Diesel stated: “The diesel engine can be fed with vegetable oils and would help considerably in the development of agriculture of the countries which use it” and that “The use of vegetable oils for engine fuels may seem insignificant today. But such oils may become in course of time as important as petroleum and the coal tar products of the present time.”
A brief history of diesel begins with Rudolf Diesel the inventor. Rudolf Diesel was born in 1858 in Paris, France and educated at Munich Polytechnic. After graduation he became a refrigerator engineer, but didn’t enjoy it as much as his true love of engine design.
In 1893 Rudolf Diesel finally put to paper his theory of an engine that had combustion inside a cylinder. This would soon become know as the diesel engine. One of his first attempts at building the diesel engine almost killed him when the engine exploded. However, this explosion also proved his theory, that fuel could be ignited without a spark. After more development and refinement in 1897 he succeeded in running a diesel engine. This led to an 1898 patent #608,845 for the “internal combustion engine”. Rudolf proved that a theoretical 75.6% efficiency was possible, whereas the popular at the time steam engine only was able to achieve 10-12%. Through licensing the patent he was soon able to become a millionaire.
The first diesel engine was powered by peanut oil. It seems like he would have preferred it to stay that way also.
Rudolf Diesel unfortunately met a mysterious end in September of 1913. On September 29th he boarded the “SS Dresden” on a trip to attend the opening of a new factory in Ipswich. He never made it to England, and his body was found days later by the coast gaurd. There are many theories that Rudolf Diesel was murdered. Most center around the French, the Germans, or the burgeoning petroleum industry.
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Brew, Blend or just play it straight
0 Comments | Posted by ccis2cunning in WVO Preparation, WVO Vehicle
That is the question. Either way you must have clean and dry WVO to start with. The question is where to do the work. Do you brew the WVO with chemicals to create Bio-diesel that runs in your un-modified vehicle? Do you blend the WVO with un-leaded gas and other thinners to run in your un-modified vehicle? OR do you modify your vehicle to run on straight WVO?
Brewing Bio-diesel
From my on-line research, brewing bio-diesel did not appear to be the best solution for a city dweller with limited experience. Storing and dealing with caustic chemicals was the biggest negative for me. The initial start up cost of the fuel preparation is a bit higher as well, but likely off set by the elimination of the need to modify your vehicle. My understanding is that many of the chemicals used can be recovered in your post processing and you have a bit of a closed loop. I could see this being the right choice if i was running a fleet of diverse vehicles so as to eliminate the need for diverse vehicle modification. On the plus side I understand that one of the by-products of this process is soap. Free soap.
Blending WVO
There is a fair bit of activity around blending WVO with regular unleaded gasoline (RUG) and isopropyl alcohol (IPA) in a 80/15/5 blend which closely mirrors the viscosity and cetane rating of diesel (D2). Other thinners include stale aviation fuel, turpentine, acetone and kerosene to varying mixtures. Some of the online posts i have read suggest that mixtures of up to 30% non-WVO thinners are possible without negative impact to a diesel engine. I am not sure the neighbors would appreciate my storing barrels of RUG in my garage. The volatile nature of these liquids and the need to dilute my free WVO with up to 30% of costly substances deterred me from pursuing WVO blending.
Straight WVO
This seemed to be the purist solution. I also liked that as a system completely parallel to the existing fuel system in my vehicle, worst case i can not turn it on, purchase bio-diesel at the pump and be no worse off. Other than some barrels, valves and filters, the harshest mechanism i will employ is heat in some of my WVO preparation steps. I will also make sure to use a well trusted and field tested solution for the modifications to my vehicle.
Decision made, time to see what the best vehicle and modifications are out there!
