The project is complete, let the testing begine

Ok, after long last I am now a greaser! I now have my 1992 Mercedes 300D running on waste veggie oil. It's running great and I've put about 1,000 miles on it with no problems at all. So, now I'm eager to see how far I can go on a tank of Diesel. For those that don't know here's how it works. You get in the car and start it up on diesel. As the coolant is warmed up it warms the oil, there are coolant loops in the grease tank and wrapped around the fuel (grease only) filter. Drive till the engine get's up to about 160 degrees F. When that happens you flip a switch, and a few valves under the hood do their thing and you switch from diesel to veggie oil. Then you drive on grease for free baby!! About a mile before you get where you are going you switch back to diesel to purge the lines of grease. So, there is very little driving on diesel and I want to know how many miles one tank of diesel will last me.
Today, on 5-5 I filled the diesel tank 253,172 miles.
Sometime this summer I'm going to install one of these that will allow the coolant to be up to temperature before I even drive off. That way, I figure after a couple hundred yards the combustion chambers will be up to temp and I can switch over that much sooner.

Crap! Just noticed the title. I guess you can tell I went to Detroit skoolz

Wow, no interest at all? I know it's not motorsports, but it's Grassroots all the way. Well, I'll post when I have to fill up the diesel tank even if you don't care

I am interested. What I really want to know is, over time, how is it to live with a grease car? How much effort goes into grease aquisition and preperation?

I am interested, but it hurts a bit. I helped put one of those motors in a Miata with greaser challenger dreams and then sold it.

This thread is useless without pics

aussiesmg wrote: This thread is useless without pics

Here's a few for you:

It's the only car I've ever seen that actually has it's combustion air intake totally sealed off from the underhood air and breaking THROUGH the fender!

Here's the veggie tank in the trunk. This car is just the test bed. I plan on doing a wagon and building two custom tanks under the car so there is nothing inside the car to take up space. This is a simple 15 gallon tank.

Here's the control panel. The switch on the left is to switch between veggie and dino. The injection heater switch isn't used but could be used for a booster heating element nearer the injectors. Then there's the ipod power switch below that, the fuel gauge and the 12V power outlet that used to be in the cig lighter that was in this spot on the dash.

Here's the veg fuel filter. It's the same filter that the car normally uses. There is a copper coil around the filter (actually touching the filter) that has coolant running inside it to heat up the oil that's in the filter.

Basic interior shot

Uh, the car

jrw1621 wrote: I am interested. What I really want to know is, over time, how is it to live with a grease car? How much effort goes into grease aquisition and preperation?

Yeah, you and me both. So far I'd say the living with it is no big deal. When I switch to grease the only thing I notice is that the car runs a bit quieter and doesn't seem to smoke as much when I really get on it. One issue I see possibly is if my wife is driving it on a really cold day and forgets to switch back to dino and it sits for hours. The next start up is going to be a bit rough. But you can get a fully automated controller that handles all that for you.
The filtration isn't terrible. Many places will actually put the old grease in the container they got the new stuff in for you so you just walk in, grab some jugs and walk out (that's what HE said haha). Some places make you suck it out of the grease dumpster, that can get a bit smelly and dirty if you aren't careful. I'll let you guys know what it's like when I have more miles under my belt.

When I had my wagon I was planning on replacing the spare tire with a round tank and putting the cover back over it. I never converted it because I didn't find a reliable source for oil.

I am interested in how this all works out too. It is a great idea if it is not bad to live with.

I thought it was interesting, but I already know all about WVO setups so I didn't have any questions

The innovation I want to see in WVO setups is super fast switching - an electric fuel heater is a good first step, but preheating the fuel before the car starts seems like sort of a hackish fix. I'd like to see a very powerful automatic electric fuel heater - when you start it rapidly heats the fuel to the right temp and allows you to switch quickly, and then powers down as the engine coolant becomes hot enough to heat the fuel.

GameboyRMH wrote: I thought it was interesting, but I already know all about WVO setups so I didn't have any questions The innovation I want to see in WVO setups is super fast switching - an electric fuel heater is a good first step, but preheating the fuel before the car starts seems like sort of a hackish fix. I'd like to see a very powerful automatic electric fuel heater - when you start it rapidly heats the fuel to the right temp and allows you to switch quickly, and then powers down as the engine coolant becomes hot enough to heat the fuel.

The heater element in a normal drip coffee maker is typically encased in a metal tube and heats the water as it passes through to about 180°. Im wondering if something like this could work?

Hey gameboy, yeah, fast switching is possible. There are guys out there that have a "one tank system" that's just veggie. There are still LOTS of bugs to be worked out though.
I wouldn't say heating the fuel before the car starts is "hackish" by any means. Now, if I ran a metal tube that was butted up against the exhaust system to grab heat from the exhaust is hackish. Mine is computer controlled and thermostatically controlled to keep the coolant at 170* F. The system I'm using is already on the market to prevent cold starting your engine. I'm just using it for another purpose. Instead of letting the engine start cold and slowly warm the oil up I'm doing it on MUCH less fuel (.06 gallons per hour is waaaaay less then a running engine) and allowing the engine to avoid cold starts. It's a win/win in my book.
That said, I like the idea of super fast heating and the drip coffee element is interesting. With that though, you'll need an inverter to run it. How many amps does it draw I wonder?????

I'm interested in seeing how this turns out as well.

If I could change anything, it would be to change the instrument board...scuff it, paint it and re-decal it....looks like an ad for Ore-Ida.

That is a very nice looking install. Great work! (most installs look like a bunch of hippies did it. Oh...)

furcylndrfoury wrote:

GameboyRMH wrote: I thought it was interesting, but I already know all about WVO setups so I didn't have any questions The innovation I want to see in WVO setups is super fast switching - an electric fuel heater is a good first step, but preheating the fuel before the car starts seems like sort of a hackish fix. I'd like to see a very powerful automatic electric fuel heater - when you start it rapidly heats the fuel to the right temp and allows you to switch quickly, and then powers down as the engine coolant becomes hot enough to heat the fuel.

The heater element in a normal drip coffee maker is typically encased in a metal tube and heats the water as it passes through to about 180°. Im wondering if something like this could work?

VERY cool idea. Also, they're able to rapidly heat water with "tankless" water heaters now. Seems like the technology is there.

Cool project, Boost. It's on my 'list.' May I ask if this was a homebrew setup or a kit?

Greasecar.com sells the kit. They are a reasonably established assembler of these kits and there are a number of them runnign around.

As a TDI and Cummins owner, I've thought about these from time to time... but the time required to collect and filter the WVO has always been an issue for me. Nor do I really have a good place to do this. Were I to go through the effort to collect WVO and set-up a place to process it, I'd rather spend the extra $$$ and time and refine it into BioD since then I could dump it into my home heating oil tank and save even more $.

The thing about WVO kits is they are very dependant on the diligence of the installer and operator. If either are lacking in skill and/or commitment, then it can be a death-nail for the engine. Personally, I am confident in my ability to install such a kit cleanly, but I have to realistic about my commitment to operating it when I won't even pump diesel myself unless I'm forced to and I'm perfectly happy to pay the local Cummins center to work on the truck.

This is the Greasecar kit. You can do homebrew but I found out that you can spend endless amounts of time learning about all the different valves, filters (and the bases they go onto) and flat plate heat exchangers and all and end up buying most of the stuff that's already in the kit. The kits aren't cheap but you get the money back in savings in short order depending on how much you drive. The greasecar kit is right around a grand depending on the options you want the the vehicle you have. Yeah, that sounds like alot but if I drive 100 miles a day I'll save about $30 a day.
I don't think a crappy install will kill the engine (unless you leave a coolant hose loose and don't watch your gauges). It's the filtering that is critical. You need to get all the water out and filter down to 1 micron. There are many ways to skin a cat but the best way to filter is with a centrifuge. I'm working on getting one right now. Another than that there is the "cold upflow" system that is interesting (and I may be building a simple rig just to test it) or the basic filter the oil using a bunch of barrels and filters.

I want to inspect this car. I live in Grand Blanc. Any chance we could meet up sometime. Brad McCredie

Great build Dr. Boost! I've had a hankering for a WVO conversion for a long time.

Where are you sourcing your waste veggie? It used to be easy to come by, but it seems a lot of restaurants are now charging for it.

Yeah, that sounds like alot but if I drive 100 miles a day I'll save about $30 a day.

Holy crap! That pig only gets 10MPG?

Maybe my math is bad (remember my comment about Detroit skoolz?). I get about 27-30 mpg, so that's about 3.5 gallons........ok I guess it'll save about $12 a day. I got that $30 a day from before when I was driving 200 miles per day. Oops.

pilotbraden wrote: I want to inspect this car. I live in Grand Blanc. Any chance we could meet up sometime. Brad McCredie

Sure, no problem at all. I'm available just about any time. I'd love to have you check it out.

In response to Joe Gearin, Right now there is a small pizza place that was delighted to have me take their grease for free. I'm going to approach the three Asian restaurants in town since they have the best grease.

Interesting info... seems like the classifieds section on greascar.com has some cheap already converted cars as well..

Question about the 300D though, all of them seem to run a very long time, how often must you change the timing chain? What are the common areas to look for on them when buying one?

Andrew

Make sure you change you're oil regularly otherwise that vege oil will turn the oil into sludge