Ultimate Van ?

[bigneil]

ok so i can run my partner on veg oil, 1.9 bog standard diesel engine. cool : and a quid a litre is still a lot cheaper than the 1.30 or 1.40 a litre at the pump. what about LPG then i assume some sort of engine modifications are needed? maybe i could start looking for something a wee bit bigger than my partner that is already converted.

[bigneil]

perhaps he is getting used oil for that price and filtering it himself?

[MickD]

Originally Posted by Mike Strutter

I reckon you should get one of these

http://www.pinktentacle.com/2007/05/extreme-japanese-custom-vans/

...but do you think anyone would notice you in one of those???

[bigneil]

Originally Posted by MickD

...but do you think anyone would notice you in one of those???

LOL get an Amber beacon lamp fitted on top.

[Matthew77]

Do you lose much performance running your van on veggie oil?

[bigneil]

This thread has diversified from 'Ideal Van' into Alternative fuel solutions. i have been doing a little re-search on the subject because i often take jobs that involve driving a long way, my last job was 120 mile every day.
So ,Bio-diesel is used like ordinary petro-diesel and is safe to use with no modifications to the engine on 99% of diesel vehicles manufactured after 1990 regardless of turbo's and other modern refinements.

SVO (straight vegetable oil) is NOT bio-diesel and cannot be run without modifications unless you want to shorten the life of your engine, injectors and fuel pumps. the reason being, that the viscosity of svo is 11-16 times that of ordinary petro-diesel or bio-diesel. So in order to run it safely and to gain any kind of starting ability in cold weather, the viscosity must be lowered there are two main ways of doing this,
1) heat! 2 tank system, 2 separate fuel tanks, one for SVO which is heated. and one for normal, start on normal switch to SVO when the engine heats up, then switch back again 5 mins before switch off
Or,a 1 tank system, 1 heated SVO tank and some engine mods. enabling true pure veg running

2)Thinners. The SVO can be cut with petrol, white spirit or ethanol among others in order to lower the viscosity and lower the flash point temperature, but, although the fuel is free to move through the fuel lines and filters, without excess pressure on the fuel pumps, it still raises the question of how well the oil will mix with air, or how efficiently it will combust if it is not heated(causing build up of unwanted deposits). also, many manufaturers of fuel system parts specifically do not recomend the use of alchohol blended fuel.

to sum up. . Some engines will run on SVO with no mods, but cold mornings could be nighmare, and you will probably shorten the life of the engine.

sorry for the long droll waffle that was nothing to do with tiles..... i need to get out more. ...and if you made it this far down the page without loosing the will to live, then you have my permission to go down the pub

[grumpygrouter]

Originally Posted by bigneil

This thread has diversified from 'Ideal Van' into Alternative fuel solutions. i have been doing a little re-search on the subject because i often take jobs that involve driving a long way, my last job was 120 mile every day.
So ,Bio-diesel is used like ordinary petro-diesel and is safe to use with no modifications to the engine on 99% of diesel vehicles manufactured after 1990 regardless of turbo's and other modern refinements.

SVO (straight vegetable oil) is NOT bio-diesel and cannot be run without modifications unless you want to shorten the life of your engine, injectors and fuel pumps. the reason being, that the viscosity of svo is 11-16 times that of ordinary petro-diesel or bio-diesel. So in order to run it safely and to gain any kind of starting ability in cold weather, the viscosity must be lowered there are two main ways of doing this,
1) heat! 2 tank system, 2 separate fuel tanks, one for SVO which is heated. and one for normal, start on normal switch to SVO when the engine heats up, then switch back again 5 mins before switch off
Or,a 1 tank system, 1 heated SVO tank and some engine mods. enabling true pure veg running

2)Thinners. The SVO can be cut with petrol, white spirit or ethanol among others in order to lower the viscosity and lower the flash point temperature, but, although the fuel is free to move through the fuel lines and filters, without excess pressure on the fuel pumps, it still raises the question of how well the oil will mix with air, or how efficiently it will combust if it is not heated(causing build up of unwanted deposits). also, many manufaturers of fuel system parts specifically do not recomend the use of alchohol blended fuel.

to sum up. . Some engines will run on SVO with no mods, but cold mornings could be nighmare, and you will probably shorten the life of the engine.

sorry for the long droll waffle that was nothing to do with tiles..... i need to get out more. ...and if you made it this far down the page without loosing the will to live, then you have my permission to go down the pub

Cheers, neil off to the fridge for a beer right now!