GreaseDrive

Its been a long week. But many projects have been completed. Most importantly a couple days ago we finished converting my uncles 240D 4Spd. It now has a two tank system using his stock tank as the grease tank with a 6 gallon fuel cell in the trunk for diesel. The system cost was fairly low considering time forced us to buy quite a few expensive fittings that we could have found much cheaper if we had the time. Here is brief system overview:

Here is inside the engine bay. You can see the Vormax (heated filter housing) the Pollak switching valve, part of the looped return and Vegtherm 12V inline heater. We choose to keep the sacrificial filter inline because I don’t think you can ever have enough filtration and have caught some gunk with mine. We found a source of harder/thicker walled filters that seem to handle the heat much better. they are also completely transparent.

Here is a brass manifold that we use to send heat to the Vormax (filter housing) and a coolant line that we send to the trunk of the car that serves to pre-heat the incoming oil in a hose-on-hose insulated line.

Here is the insulated coolant out and veggie in lines wrapped in insulation and heat tape, with the coolant return and veggie return ran next to it.   Ideally these lines would be less exposed but this car will never go off-road and there is few animals to hit here in the high-desert.  It is also very hard on these cars to find a better place then this (though they do exist) so we took the easy way out and ran them here.

Keep in mind this car is going to be driven near Las Vegas.  Winters here are fairly mild.  I believe Hose IN Hose is a superior way to do run lines.  But it is more expensive, harder to install and requires some fairly special/custom fittings to make it work properly.   If this car was going to be driven in a place that actually gets below freezing with some kind of regularity I would have done it.  But here I believe this will be good enough 98% of the time.

This is the brass manifold that we use to put the coolant back into the system.  You can see part of the ball valve behind the fittings.  That valve constricts the flow of coolant to the heater core.  When you restrict the coolant flow from the heater core it forces it to go through the lines for the WVO system.  It works extremely well.  The brass fittings on both sides of this system cost I believe $75 total.  If we had access to better hardware stores that sold the correct types of plastic fittings we could have built both brass systems for maybe $20.  Don’t get me wrong I like the brass but it isn’t required.

Here is the 6 gallon marine fuel cell we are using as our start/stop diesel tank.  And we bent some aluminum hose around the stock tank to add a small amount of heat to the veggie oil.  It isn’t much but we had the stuff so why not?  Considering this is not a cold climate I believe this is more than enough to keep the oil hot enough to flow after the car is properly warmed up.  Many people in these areas run single tank kits.

And that is it,  the control panel is in the console and I don’t have a picture of it yet!  I will discuss this car more along with posting more pictures soon.   We have a in-line temp sensor just before the Injection pump the WVO gets up to 170F very quickly,  Just a couple minutes after the system is turned on and stays even at 65mph with very little line insulation.   Later on a better fuel tank(s) scheme may be put into action along with more modifications.  This system was intended to work better thank a single tank for little additional cost.  The diesel fuel cell was only $30 for example.

So far it seems to be a very simple and robust system that is easy to understand and follow.  I am very happy with the results!

This morning bright and early we began doing a ‘warm weather’ dual tank conversion on my uncles 240D. The car is virtually identical my 240D I am currently selling on ebay here: 240D Ebay Link Wish me luck on this auction! :)

I say its a warm weather conversion because he lives here in the high desert of Nevada. Now it does get cold in winter. He might even get a few days of below freezing temps. But for the most part he does not have to worry about the kind of weather conditions I do in the mid-west and up north. In the southwest single tank conversions are much more common but I am of the belief that vegetable oil should never be used as a cold starting fuel. My first conversion was a single tank, and I could start it up easily on straight veggie oil even in the low-mid 40’s. Now I had to wait several minutes for the system to warm up enough to give me adequate power but it worked.

The only way to really make single tank work when it gets into colder temps (Lets define colder as mid-50’s or below) is to blend the veggie oil with normal Diesel. (Biodiesel can gel/thicken up too!) Granted unless it was ‘REALLY’ cold outside (below 20’s) a 50/50 blend in a single tank would probably suffice. But see what is happening here… Lots of IF’s and Maybes. That is not good enough for me. I want to be running on pure veggie as long as I possibly can as quickly as I possibly can with no blending. I am not trying to knock on single tank conversions. But the more and more research I do the more and more I become convinced that starting and stopping the engine on the fuels it was designed for is the only way to go. It makes the conversion obviously more complicated. But when it is done right it makes your car more reliable, better in adverse weather and could possibly increase your engine life. Don’t forget veggie oil contains all sorts of acids/compounds/fats etc etc. Not found in normal diesel. It is still unknown what kinds of effects letting that veggie oil sit cold in your engine/injection pump for days/years could have on component longevity.

Sorry for the long-winded paragraph but we are just scratching the surface here. I am not a tribologist, nor a professional diesel/injection pump mechanic. I learn new things every day so do your own research and try to draw upon a large pool of good minds.

System Overview:
We are going to use his stock fuel tank as the veggie tank and add a small 8 gallon fuel cell for diesel to start and stop the car. Fuel cell is going to go into the trunk inside a fender well. We are going to reuse the steel fuel lines under the car and extend them into the trunk essentially keeping the stock diesel system the same just moving the tank farther back. We are going to use a wrap of coolant hose around the stock tank to add a small degree of heat (for the coldest days) and use a heavily insulated Hose-on-Hose line to the stock fuel tank from the engine bay. This will serve to add heat to the veggie oil soon as it is pulled from the tank. We are using a PlantDrive Racor filter housing to pre-heat and filter the oil. A standard Ford fuel selector valve for switching between tanks. A 12v Vegtherm in line heater to add more heat to the system and a looped return on the veggie line. A control panel will be installed where the ash-tray used to be. That is basically it.

Here is the engine bay before we touched anything. Gotta love how simple it all looks, To me anyway!

Here is the insulated Hose on Hose connection that will run from the engine bay to the stock fuel tank. It will be nicely tucked away once it is installed into its final location.

Here I am using a small section of 3/8″ fuel line I cut down its length to act as a grommet to keep future fuel lines from rubbing on the bare metal. This hole will be used for the fuel lines that run to the new fuel cell in the trunk.

Many, MANY more pictures and posts to come on this project.

I am currently in the process of selling on ebay a 240D 4spd that I cannot afford to convert nor have time.   I am at my uncles house near Jean Nevada and we are both absolute Mercedes Diesel nut-cases (as you can tell)  I will be converting his 240D in the next few days.  I plan on documenting the process thoroughly and posting it here.

After having spent a fair amount of time with 300D’s and 240D’s I have some opinions to share.  I feel the 240D is superior in most respects for the reasons why I will go into later.   As you know I am currently driving a 1984 300D.  I have driven around 30k now almost entirely on WVO I know this car very well.  I love my car but I am always on the look out for the next-best thing.

My uncle purchased a 240D a few months ago and has been waiting for me to help him convert it.   They are two VERY different beasts.  Here is a basic run-down comparing both cars.  Assuming we are talking the W123 Chassis Model years.

300D:

-Much more common, Mercedes sold many more 300’s than the other models of the W123 Chassis
-5cyl Turbo charged engine.  124HP roughly stock.
-Power everything (mostly vacuum system).
-99% or more are Automatic Transmission only.
-I personally avg 23-28MPG depending on conditions.
-Heavier by my estimate by 300-500lbs.
-Much more luxurious options packages are common.
-Tight engine bay

240D
-VERY RARE, I generally see 1 240 for sale for every 10 300’s
-4cyl naturally aspirated engine,  77HP?  (can someone verify?)
-Power nothing,  Very simple vacuum system.  manual windows/locks though sunroof is motorized
-Manual transmissions can be found but are even more rare.
-Consider its a lighter car, coupled with a Manual Transmission I frequently hear reports of mid-30’s MPG
-Lighter and all around much simpler car.
-Much more room in engine bay.

Besides these major differences the cars are almost identical.  You can not tell which is which unless you hear them run or see the badges from the outside.  Almost all chassis and body components are the same.  The 240’s are much, MUCH more basic.  Think of it as a base model Honda civic vs the high end model civic.  The 240’s were Mercedes answer to cheaper more economy cars.  As result they are dramatically more simple mechanically speaking.

Being that my primary needs are reliable,affordable transportation.  With ease of repair also topping my list.  I personally feel the 240 has the 300 beat in almost every category.  Granted the 300 is a higher more luxurious class of car and it shows.  But when it comes do it a 240 is the same car with a simpler, more economical engine and much fewer bells and whistles.  They are easier to work on, cheaper to work on and maintain. etc etc.   Just saving me from having to carry 20 gallons of oil on a long trip would be reason enough for me to give up my power windows/locks.

I would like to discuss more differences but I am out of time,  look forward to my futures posts about my uncles 240 conversion and even more thoughts on these cars.

I had to get towed near BakersField CA earlier today.  My veggie filters clogged up pretty bad in a hurry so I was forced to change them at a gas station.   Warning to all,  cheap Supertech ST8A (fram PH8A) filters apparently have a by-pass.   So instead of clogging up tight after they get completely full they start to let particles past.  This is really bad!    Shortly after getting towed off  the high-way I was able to get the car running again after getting a quick jump.   I had worn the battery down a bit trying to start it on the side of the high-way.

I made it to vegas safe and sound.   Vegas is symbolic for me as it is the location my WVO dreams came true and where I bought my beloved 300D.   I am here staying with my uncle in which I am going to do some work on his 240D and do some other work around his place.    I will post more soon!