Video: Mini that runs on veg oil at AltWheels Boston 2007
Filed under: Vegetable Oil, Boston AltWheels
The video above is Grease Car's Mini at AltWheels Boston 2007. The Mini is lime green and converted to run on vegetable oil. The diesel engine they put in the Mini was a little big, so the front of the Mini has an odd look with the tires slightly pushed out. The Mini was in a sidewalk booth but the organizers later had it moved it to the center of the show where more people could see it. Smart move, as the Mini was one of the cooler cars at the show.
The video also includes a look at a device Grease Car sells called the Co-Pilot. Usually, if you want to use vegetable oil effectively in your conversion, you must first heat the oil with the diesel engine's coolant. You can watch the coolant temperature yourself, then use a toggle switch to send vegetable oil instead of diesel to the engine. The Co-Pilot takes care of all that for you by watching coolant temperature and automatically switching the fuel lines.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-03-2007 @ 5:39PM
Chris M said...
An even better ease-of-use solution for the "greasels" would be to equip the engine cylinders with dual injectors, one set for diesel and one for veggie oil. Just like the "co-pilot", the engine could start on diesel, then automatically switch to veggie oil after warm-up, but the driver wouldn't have to purge the fuel system by switching back to diesel before ending the run, and wouldn't have to worry about veggie oil congealing and clogging the diesel injectors.
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10-03-2007 @ 5:49PM
Phil L. said...
Chris M -
Interesting idea, though I suspect the machine work - and two sets of injectors/pumps/whatever else - would be complicated and pricey. And this presumes there would be room in the head for another injector that wouldn't weaken it or interfere with cooling/lubrication systems.
Hmmmm - A Peugeot diesel engine? I wonder how hard it is to find parts for that in the US...
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10-04-2007 @ 7:02AM
TX CHL Instructor said...
Chris, I think dual injectors would add a lot more to the cost of the engine than a simple heated fuel tank. A small auxiliary tank could be fed from the main, and heated (dual heater, electric and exhaust and/or coolant) to the desired temperature quickly enough to eliminate the need for any regular diesel at all.
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10-04-2007 @ 11:01AM
Bill said...
Make sure you dewater the oil completely and filter down to 1 micron as well.
A guy over at TDiForums didn't, and ended up destroying 2 turbos on his Jetta TDi, as well as coking up all his valves.
A much better approach is to convert waste oil to biodiesel - can be done for under US$1/gallon.
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2-06-2008 @ 6:50PM
comex said...
Well, there are another solution to the TDI-problem.
Instead of simply switching between diesel or veggie-fuel, you should provide an well defined mixture of both, depending on the current state of the engine. "LISA" a project of two german students trys it this way. http://www.pflanzenoel-umbau-berlin.de
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