Option #2 Mechanical Modification

Mechanical modification – This is fast becoming my method of choice for an alternative fuel automobile.  Like I said before, I think that in order for the trend to catch on and in order for people to make it a viable part of their lives, it’s important that the day-to-day interaction be as simple as possible.  For this to work, we have to make the refueling and maintenance of a vegetable-fuel car or truck as simple as going to the nearest service station as possible.  The reality is that until there’s a vegetable oil vending station on every corner, alternative fuel owners are going to have to operate out of their homebase where they can have ready access to their supply.  I guess in a pinch though, one could always head out to the local Walmart and pick up a dozen bottles of Wesson Oil…

Since we can’t make a veggie-oil distribution system spring up over night, the next best thing would be to simplify the steps they’ll need to take to fuel up.  The biodiesel option mentioned earlier comes with the headache of mixing one’s own fuel.  The mechanical option takes the chemistry out of the picture with a reasonably simple, one time modification to the car.

The concept is again pretty simple: vegetable oil does not have the low viscosity of petro-diesel which makes it harder for the engine to atomize and more difficult to force through the car’s fuel lines.  Not only that, but if left to sit for long periods outside of the tank (in the lines, unburned in the engine, etc.) it will crystalize and corrode the system.

In order to address these issues mechanically, we’ll have to pre-heat the pure vegetable oil before delivering it to the engine (heated vegetable oil has a lower viscosity than room temperature or cold vegetable oil) as well as come up with a way to purge the system of unburned oil before the engine is shutdown.

The sytems sold by greasecar.com consist of the following (taken from their website):

Fuel Valves (2)
Wire Harness & Connectors
Fuse and Harness
Lighted in Dash Fuel Gauge
Lighted 3-Position Switch
Heater Hose
Window Decal
Instruction Manual
5 Micron Bag Filter
Hardware
Hose Brackets
Heated Fuel Line
Fuel Hose
Hose Clamps
T-fittings
Large Hose Clamps
Heated vegetable oil tank
Heated 10 micron fuel filter

The bulk of the hardware includes an auxillary fuel tank with an internal heater and fuel valves to turn on and shut off the flow of the veggie-petrol.  The first addresses the issue of heating the oil while the second allows the unused portions to be isolated from any parts that would deteriorate with time.

The trick to purging the fuel lines is the auxillary tank for the vegetable oil.  By leaving the standard petro-diesel fuel delivery system in place, the driver can start and run the car with regular diesel fuel while it reaches operating temperature and can switch it over for the last few minutes of driving with to purge the line.  Although this makes the operation less than 100% reliant on the alternative fuel method, it’s close enough for me.  If you’re super particular, mix up a batch of biodiesel just for this purpose.

1998 Ford F-150 STX

For those readers that have asked, here’s what I’ve been driving for the last four years or so.  It’s a 1998 Ford F-150 STX with a 4.6 liter V6.  It’s been a great truck – very reliable, comfortable and useful.  I’m going to try to hang onto it for the duration of the experiment so 1) I’ll have a viable vehicle while I’m doing repairs or in case something goes wrong and 2) I’m steering away from the older enormous diesel trucks as a matter of preference and towards passenger cars, but owning a truck still has a very high utility value for me.

1998 Ford F-150 STX with a 4.6 liter V6

 

This truck gets around 16 miles per gallon in the city and 21 mpg on the highway.  With regular driving (mostly back and forth to work) I’m filling up about every two weeks to the tune of $50-$60 a tank.  At an average of $27/week, I’m projected to spend $1404 in gas over the next year – assuming prices stay where they’re at.  My estimate actually sounds a little low, so here is the Ford F150 4.2 V6 Fuel Economy Factsheet from http://www.fueleconomy.gov.

 

Option #1 Biodiesel

Biodiesel – This option really interested me in the beginning.  The starting concept is that a diesel engine will run on vegetable oil with no modification.  The reality is that vegetable oil has a much higher viscosity (10-13 times thicker than conventional diesel).  The effect on your car is the same as the effect of grease on your heart an arteries – it clogs the lines and makes the engine work harder to process it.  This especially detrimental during startup when a car’s engine receives the majority of wear and tear.

Biodiesel addresses the problem by taking vegetable oil, adding a recipe of lye and methanol to produce a more stable, compatible product for the diesel engine.  Once made, just pour the concoction in your tank and go.  The benefits are a homebrew fuel source and reportedly a cleaner burning and more efficient engine (as stated by the good folks at Journey to Forever).

I thought about this for a while and had it pegged as my initial first choice.  The truth is I’m lazy and despite what you may think I don’t want to crawl around under a car doing a fuel modification when I could be playing with my daughter or eating a sandwich.

Ultimately though, my wife convinced me that this wasn’t the way to go.  Her argument was that although the vegetable fuel was a cool idea and had a lot of merit, people weren’t going to do it unless it were easy – that’s pretty much a universal standard (see the above for just how lazy I can be).  She thinks I’m much more likely to convince people to put a weekend’s worth of free time into an engine modification than to making a week-in week-out lifelong lifestyle change.  With that in mind I started thinking about the effort I was going to have to put in – every month – buying dangerous chemicals, mixing them in my garage, carefully storing everything, hoping I measured everything correctly, hoping things hadn’t gone bad, and I had to agree with her.

That said, I don’t think biodiesel is 100% off the table.  Once I get the car up and running and I’ve collected the data I want, I’d like to revisit this option for the sake of experimentation and report on that as well.  In the meantime, it’s on to option #2 – mechanical modification of the fuel delivery system.

Raising the Bar

I’d like to take a minute to zero in on the point of this experiment.  I’ve had some critiscm so far from people saying things like “Yeah it’s possible, but isn’t it a lot of work?” or “If everyone did it, wouldn’t it just raise the cost of oil?”

Both of those may be true.  I don’t care.  This is about something different.  It’s time for everyone to stop bemoaning the rising cost of gas and our dependence on foreign oil and work towards a solution.  To be clear: it’s not my original idea, but I’m going to write about and I’m going to make it happen for me.  That’s one.  If you’re reading this, maybe you’ll be number two.  I invite you to blog about it.

Hucksters

Research for the project has unturned a lot of hucksters.  It feels like for every legitimate company I find selling a conversion kit or publishing information on the process, there are 10+ others with a snake oil solution.  As is the case with most emerging technology, this is definitely a buyer beware endeavor.

Right now I’m feeling good about http://www.greasecar.com/.  Their website is informative and it’s in English (apparently much of this technology originates from Europe and I loathe ordering parts from overseas).

http://www.greasyrider.com is an interesting documentary about so called greasecars featuring Morgan Freeman.

Also of interest is Willie Nelson’s site http://www.wnbiodiesel.com/.  This site was recommended to me on several different occassion when the conversation turned to the veggieoil car.

Lastly, http://journeytoforever.org/ has LOADS of good information – tips, tricks, methods, etc.  It’s a little much to take in all at once, but definitely a good reference.

Guys at the Auto Parts Store

I stopped at O’Reilly auto parts today for advice on the diesel conversion.  There were several guys who had heard the concept or seen it on TV, but no one had good advice on how to make it happen.  I did get a recommendation for a specialty diesel shop in the area – Diesel injector service I think it was called.  I’ll see if they have any leads tomorrow.  I have some vacation coming up this month, and I’d like to use some of that time to locate a vehicle.

Until then my short term goals are pretty straight forward:

Figure out the mechanical modifications needed to make the car run on straight vegetable oil

Determine the most practical candidate auto for the experiment (a combination of economics and mechanics)

Locate a vehicle.  I’m officially looking for sponsors for the project, so feel free to contact me if you have a diesel you’re willing to donate!

 

What’s the Deal with Diesel?

Note: this is what I know up to this point.  I have a basic grasp of the diesel concept, but have never owned a vehicle with a non-gasoline engine.  For now, my opinions here are going to have to be based on simple observation and not life experience or concrete evidence.  Thanks for understanding.

My current truck has a regular gasoline motor.  I run it on 87 octane which as of today is $2.99 a gallon at the 7-11 on the corner of Main and Northwest Highway in Grapevine Texas (just outside of Fort Worth).  My wife’s car is a jeep with another gas engine.  The majority of the cars at work run on gas (as close as I can tell).  In fact, if you want to buy an automobile with a diesel engine, you severly limit the choices available to you.  Why is that?

From everything I’ve read about diesel engines – running on standard diesel fuel - they’re more reliable,  less prone to failure, and get good overall mileage.  Many diesel owners report that half a million miles on their engines is nothing unusual.  Of the four cars I’ve owned in my life, none of them have come anywhere close to that!  And I’ve always been proud of my car maintenance routine – regular oil changes, tune-ups on the older models, etc.

That’s not to say that there aren’t any downsides to having a diesel engine.  The list is short but logical:

Availability – gas stations that carry diesel oil are not as prevalent.  The 7-11 over there doesn’t carry it for example.

Selection – as mentioned above there’s some extra effort required to find a diesel powered auto that fits your tastes.

Complexity – fewer diesels on the road may also mean fewer mechanics and a reduction in the availability of parts.

Mystery – this one is most intriguing to me and I’m hoping will turn into one of the more interesting discoveries I’m going to make.

With the last point in mind, I wonder if people are looking at the ratio of gasoline:diesel cars on the road and decide on the former because everyone else has one, or if they’re actually weighing the strengths and weaknesses of the two.  I’ll hold my opinion on this until I do a little more research – I don’t want to stray too much further into conjecture-land right now.

So, with the exception of those who enjoy the inner workings of cars, most people who have a basic understanding of what makes a car go wouldn’t be able to you what makes a diesel engine different and the question remains: Why are the majority of automobile owners choosing gasoline engines over the diesel?

 I think it’s time for me to learn a little more about what makes a diesel engine work and how it’s going to affect my life.

Begin at the Beginning

This site is intended to chronolog my adventure into the world of hybrid fuels, bio diesel, and readily available gasoline alternatives.  Why? Because gas costs too much and smog sucks.

Sitting at home, watching one of my favorite shows, Mythbusters, I was stunned and awed when the typical fuel used in their old diesel Mercedes was successully replaced with vegetable oil as a fuel alternative.  The car ran, seemingly with no problems, and I started asking questions.

Why didn’t I know about this before?  Why don’t all cars run on vegetable oil?  Why am I paying so much for gas?

The next logical step was to try it for myself.

My plan over the next few months is to purchase a diesel automobile, modify it to accept a vegetable based fuel and report on the results.