100 MPG Biodiesel conversion?

[soulcougher73]

http://www.kansas.com/203/story/229052.html

Interesting

 

[Anubis]

sweet

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Q: Why doesn't it happen now?

A: Money. Sure I'm sure politics plays at least a little role, but there's no doubt that the usage of a V-8 biodiesel in conjunction with electric motors and battery banks add far more price to the car. You simply couldn't do this to all vehicles. A $15,000 F-150 would most likely be upwards of $25,000 or more if fitted with this technology.

 

[FoBoT]

bogus

 

[mordantmonkey]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
bogus

wow, what an astute rebuttal. I only hope i can one day learn a tiny fraction of the great skill you have in using the english language with such efficiency and persuasiveness.

 

[wyvrn]

There are shops in Houston that will transform just about any diesel into a 'grease' car for about $2k. They add an extra small fuel tank, new fuel filter, and control system. Basically, you start the car on diesel and after a couple of minutes of warming, switch over to the restaurant oil fuel. It is capable of running standard diesel, biodiesel, and vegetable oil. Some people have agreements with local restaurants to dispose of their oil (which saves the restaurant money) and they do a quick filter with cheesecloth before filling their engines. It's a win win, and usually pays for itself in about 6 mos to a year in saved fuel costs and better fuel efficiency. But you have to have a diesel for this, otherwise, you have to find a diesel car. Good news is the Jetta TDI is a candidate, as are diesel trucks and diesel Mercedes.

 

[Auric]

I call bogus on an old Lincoln achieving 100 mpg with any practical engine -that is, able to match minimum performance for regular city and highway driving. Only the best purposely engineered compact diesel hybrids manage that and they weigh significantly less.

Also, vegetable oil contains less potential energy so would hurt the MPG rating. I'm not sure about pure biodiesel but then sourcing it would be problematic (small percentage blends are rare enough).

All that said, I would like to mod my TDI (or other) one day but reducing the cargo (or passenger) space for an extra tank is a major drawback.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Originally posted by: wyvrn
There are shops in Houston that will transform just about any diesel into a 'grease' car for about $2k. They add an extra small fuel tank, new fuel filter, and control system. Basically, you start the car on diesel and after a couple of minutes of warming, switch over to the restaurant oil fuel. It is capable of running standard diesel, biodiesel, and vegetable oil. Some people have agreements with local restaurants to dispose of their oil (which saves the restaurant money) and they do a quick filter with cheesecloth before filling their engines. It's a win win, and usually pays for itself in about 6 mos to a year in saved fuel costs and better fuel efficiency. But you have to have a diesel for this, otherwise, you have to find a diesel car. Good news is the Jetta TDI is a candidate, as are diesel trucks and diesel Mercedes.

Yeah, there was a story about a guy somewhere around here, an older farmer who did this. He would go and pick up the used oil byproducts from local restaurants and then he had a filtering setup in his barn (which was simple but effective and didn't cost a whole lot). He had a big container in the back of the truck for when he would go on trips (I think he would visit one of his kids that lived in St. Louis or somewhere).

 

[drnickriviera]

"So he tricked it out with a GM V-8 diesel engine -- diesel engines have several advantages, he said, including greater efficiency and the flexibility to handle a variety of renewable biofuels, from ethanol to simple restaurant grease. By remapping the engine's computer, and applying other tweaks, he easily more than doubled the mileage."

Ethanol in a diesel. I gotta see that. Doubling the mileage with tweaks is BS. Maybe if he cut's out half the cylinders

 

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by: mordantmonkey

Originally posted by: FoBoT
bogus

wow, what an astute rebuttal. I only hope i can one day learn a tiny fraction of the great skill you have in using the english language with such efficiency and persuasiveness.

good luck :sun:

 

[miniMUNCH]

Originally posted by: drnickriviera
"So he tricked it out with a GM V-8 diesel engine -- diesel engines have several advantages, he said, including greater efficiency and the flexibility to handle a variety of renewable biofuels, from ethanol to simple restaurant grease. By remapping the engine's computer, and applying other tweaks, he easily more than doubled the mileage."

Ethanol in a diesel. I gotta see that. Doubling the mileage with tweaks is BS. Maybe if he cut's out half the cylinders

Lot's of diesel buses were converted to run ethanol... it is pretty easy to do.

 

[Howard]

Easily doubling mileage... hahahahaha

 

[91TTZ]

Originally posted by: mordantmonkey

Originally posted by: FoBoT
bogus

wow, what an astute rebuttal. I only hope i can one day learn a tiny fraction of the great skill you have in using the english language with such efficiency and persuasiveness.

It is bogus.

If a modern hybrid with great aerodynamics and light weight struggles to get 60 mpg, how will a heavier, less aerodynamic car with a bigger engine get nearly twice the fuel economy?

And a modern engine that's computer controlled is going to run pretty efficiently anyway. There is no possible way that you're going to double the mileage with simple tweaks. No way.

Think a little.