Ethanol in the News - 09.06.05

[kpaske]

Joe -

Are you considering converting your VX over to flex fuel or pure Ethanol? I'm still keeping my eyes open for an old Mercedes to run bio-diesel, and who knows? If it works out well I might do a diesel conversion on the VX.

[Joe_Black]

I still have the intent to go pure ethanol in the future. I won't try or advocate anything that is at all reliant on petroleum based fuel, which E85 is.

The recent sale of our 2001 Trooper means that my wife is now driving the '99 IronMan, which was to be my ethanol conversion. So that puts me in the spot of either keeping that vehicle within reach of a fuel supply or carrying addtional fuel if we want to drive it any significant distance rather than the '01 Dragon.

So, the current plan is to purchase a pre-1986 Mercedes turbo diesel and experiment with B100 biodiesel. If we find it's simple and economical to make ourselves then we'll look to convert both VX's to diesel. I'll pickle the gas 6VE1 engines for future projects. The Isuzu engine in overseas intercooled turbo diesel Troopers is the 4JG2, and I've gotten a few quotes over the past week averaging around $3000 for a delivered low-mileage long block. But I have seen a 2nd-gen Trooper with a Mercedes OM617 conversion, but at the time took nothing more than passing interest. Wish I had looked MUCH closer now! The Mercedes crowd is getting wild performance out of that engine. Consider that an early 80's 300D weighs about as much as our VX and that people are drag racing their daily-drivers getting 13's in the 1/4. And that's without any intercooling! You can get used, running OM617 engines for around $500 and it's fully mechanical so there's no ECU or electrical companents to worry about. There's a huge community supporting these engines and cars, plus parts availability is excellent and inexpensive.

So the numbers for a bio-diesel conversion look very good, especially since B100 bio-diesel is fully compatible with petroleum diesel. And that means not getting stuck away from your fuel supply, as you can tank up with pump diesel and be just fine no matter how much bio-diesel is in the tank.

We start getting the bio-diesel processing equipment together this weekend, and will hopefully have a Mercedes 300D by month end. So I'll post info along the way as we learn how viable the idea really is.

[kpaske]

Yes, please keep us informed of your progress. I'm happy to hear that you are going the biodiesel route. I'm nearing the end of my military service and will be going through a job transition as well as moving to another part of the country, so I know I won't be embarking on any major projects until next spring at the earliest, but for a long time I've wanted to rid myself of the petrol dependence. I'm hoping to keep the VX, but I'm really looking for a solution that will boost performance as well as decrease fuel costs. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe a turbo diesel could give us the best of both worlds, with the added benefit of being healthier for the environment if we're running a bio-fuel.

As I mentioned in my other post, I want to get myself an old Mercedes also to experiment with while I get the fuel production process down and if it works out well for us, will also consider doing the VX next.

By the way, since California is so darn expensive, I'm considering the great state of Florida in my job search, so who knows? We could be neighbors soon. Where is Winter Haven, anyways?

[Joe_Black]

About the only negative with a diesel engine is weight. Due to the massive stresses involved with the compression cycle everything is quite beefy, so a gas engine's diesel equivalent will be nearly double the weight. But many get wrapped up in comparing horsepower and you can't really do that with diesel to gas comparisons. The way they operate makes driving them somewhat different, especially older non-ECU diesels. The ECU diesels are almost like gas engines. For example, take a drive in a new VW TDi Golf, Beetle, Jetta or Passat and you'd have a hard time believing it wasn't gas.

As for economy, you can make anything inefficient by having an aggressive driving technique. Diesel fuel, petroleum or bio, has significantly higher energy density compared to gasoline. Pretty much the inverse of ethanol, but to a much greater degree. That's why the VW TDi mentioned earlier will get close to 800 miles per fill-up with good driving habits. But with the right gearing diesels really shine with heavy trucks since you operate mostly in the torque band, getting the most economy from the engine.

So how much longer before you rotate out? Hopefully you'll find a job market receptive to your skillset with a spot doing something you'll enjoy or find challenging. As for Florida, as a native it's very disturbing to see how much environmental destruction is being waged to support housing development for the average 900 people per-day moving here. Winter Haven is pretty much between Tampa and Orlando, so we're getting majorly developed. Our county, Polk, is the largest in Florida and used to be the most sparsely populated. Now it resembles the aftermath of a strip-mine from Hell that some demon crapped cookie-cutter houses all over.

Guess that's progress.