New forum!

[bbbear]

I plan to modify this 6.2, pics: http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=6ct8bbj.9r19ot3j&U y=z06d2g&Ux=0 in essentially the same manner as my MB 300D T. ( Which, BTW, has so far given me about 11,000 flawless miles ) However, at this time I wouldn't burn VO or WVO in a TDI or a Common Rail system. That is, even though Rudolf Diesel first burned peanut oil in his engine which was soon switched to dino, burning VO and particularly WVO is still in the early experimental stages. But, provided that you obtain the very best high quality WVO or VO, insuring that it has been pre filtered at least to 5 microns, and contains no water, then the old IDI engines seem to be more suitable candidates. In fact, I'm not even that sure about biodiesel. Sure, it's said that it meets European ASTM standards, but since there's no real teeth in the US laws governing the production of Bio diesel, I simply don't yet trust it. At anyrate, WVO or VO won't hurt the rubber seals in these old vehicles, but I suspect bio diesel might do a real number on them...

That said, I'll begin at the fuel tanks with a glow plug heated fuel sump chamber and shut off valve, which I'm in the process of building. The body of the heaters are made from black pipe and include a snap on ajustable thermostat. It takes about 2 minutes for them to heat up. ( It's a Kent Bergsma design from mercedessource.com )

WVO will gravity feed into the heated fuel sump chamber, then into a clear inline meshed filter, then into an added electric pump from Autozone, $49.00, part# E 8012 S. ( again, a Kent Bergsma design, but the electric pump info is from an article by Lee Swanger, "Electric Lift Pump and Racor Filter for the Early Diesels" )

The mechanical lift pump will be by-passed because Lee Swanger pointed out in the above article that if the mechanical pump has a diaphram failure, it will pump diesel or in my case, even worse, WVO into the crankcase oil. ( I'll probably leave the mechanical pump in the hole, and simply disable it by connecting the in and out lines in a loop. That is, unless someone has a better suggestion. )

The stock stanadyne filter/water separator will be left in place, but another 2 micron filter/water separator is normally added. Fortunately the original owner added a 2 micron Racor filter/water separator just before the IP, so I'm in luck. ) Yet, I will add another clear inline filter before the Racor, then build another glow plug heater, set the snap on thermostat to 150*, and mount the 2nd gp heater between the Racor filter and the IP.

I'll also build a "boss circuit" simular to another Kent Bergsma design, where each component is controlled by a separate system which is not connected to any of the trucks electronics. A line will run from the battery to a 50 amp fuse in the boss circuit. Another line will be connected to the ignition, so the Boss circuit relay won't activate until the ignition is switched on. That will then power up the fuse board in the boss circuit and, unless the driver has them switched off at the dash, activate the heaters, and electric fuel pump. Obviously dash switches to each component can be added. I have them on the MB 300D T. So far, with the exception of the fuel return switch that I sometimes use to get any possible air out of the system, I haven't needed to use them. Since I don't at this time intend to loop the fuel lines and will leave the fuel return in place, I won't need that particular switch. Besides, if I want to shut down a component, it's easy to pull that particular fuse from the fuse board in the boss circuit. ( Rather than sending heated fuel back to the tank and wasting heat, the fuel is looped back into the IP. I did it on the MB but IMO the heat loss is neglible. On this coming WVO modification, I prefer keeping the stock return fuel lines and let them continue to do their air purging duty. )


I'd also like to add inline fuel heaters to the fuel injector lines.. I haven't measured it yet, but since the lines are connected to the valve covers, I'd guess that only about 3" of fuel line on each injector is available... and I suspect that's not enough to do much good.

I'll take pics of the gp heater building process, and final pics of the entire installation. Any suggestions will be appreciated.