GREASE NOT GAS 2001

NEWS FLASH

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GREASE 101: LESSONS LEARNED IN 2001

There are differences between diesel vehicles and gas powered ones. Aside from the type of fuel you put in them, the main difference between these two motors comes from the amount of compression in the combustion chamber. What this means is that as the piston rises up into the chamber it squishes all the molecules of air together to reach a certain pressure, measured in pounds per square inch. In a gas car you’re looking at about 150 - 200 PSI. Whereas, in a diesel car the pressure is just about doubled to around 300 PSI. Picture yourself holding a regular old plastic cup upside down, let’s pretend this is your “combustion chamber.” Now in your other hand, you take another upside down plastic cup and slide it up inside of this one, this represents the piston. If the walls of the two cups match up to each other you’re going to build pressure as you push them further and further together, as long as no, or very little air escapes (this is called blowby). At 300 PSI, a lot of heat is generated from the molecules squishing together in this oxygen-rich environment. In fact the situation in the combustion chamber is so volatile that if you were to spray a tiny mist of oil-based fuel in the air, it would create a tiny little explosion. This explosion is trapped in the combustion chamber with no where to go, so what happens is the piston (second upside down cup) is forced downward by the rapidly expanding air. As the piston is pushed down, it turns the crankshaft, which creates work, so you can drive. We’ll get more specific in later lessons but it’s important to understand this distinct difference between the diesel motor and the gasoline motor.

Some materials don’t get along with vegetable oil. I ended 2001 anxious to find some better materials for handling vegetable oil. My rubbermaid trash cans as fuel tanks weren’t really cutting it and my fuel filter was clogging way more then i would have liked it to. It was a cleanable Racor filter with a small steel mesh disk. After just a few hundred miles of driving, the filter would clog with gunk from the grease, and i would experience a significant power loss. To clean the filter, i’d soak it in degreaser for a while and then blow the gunk particles off with a compressed air hose. It was a pain in the neck and i was over that, so i stared to look for something better, that would last longer. Also, my braided PVC tubing i bought at the hardware store wasn’t working as the best fuel line ever. The vegetable oil made the hose stiff and the ends of the hose would trumpet out, causing air leaks. My sump pump, designed for water, also bought at the hardware store stopped working. I took it apart and found that the rubber impeller wheel was pretty much trashed. The grease was too thick and the rubber didn’t seem to get along with the grease. I’d read that this was a problem with biodiesel but not so much with straight veggie. My experiences were telling me i’d have to find better materials if i wanted to streamline my system and actually make it across the United States without paying for fuel . Last but not least the standard “worm-drive” hose clamps, from the auto parts store, were putting serious gouges into my fuel lines, sometimes causing air leaks, which i wasn’t that into.

Craigslist is a good starting point. I found Bonesaw using Craigslist and have since used the site to buy all my vehicles. The best way to get started with your personal conversion project is to just look around and see what’s available. Just go to www.craigslist.org, click on your closest city and then click “Cars and Trucks” under the “For Sale” category. You’ll see that every car and truck for sale will be listed, from the most recent at the top of the page. To filter out what you need, just type “Diesel” into the search panel and then specify your price range. Over the years i’ve owned beater after beater using this method and eventually i decided it would be smarter to just save up and purchase something that’s going to last a little longer. I wouldn’t go too much less then 5000 bucks for a decent whip.

ON TO 2002