I now have my Vw dasher running on vegetable oil

[floydr]

Here is the url to the site where I have been keeping a log of what I have been doing. http://home.comcast.net/~floydr69/vwdas ... eoil1.html
The car is not perfect by no means, I am not totally committed to using justvegetable oil I can easily switch back to diesel it is a matter of filling the tank with diesel and not turning on three toggle switches. The system is crude but so far it works for me. don't know what it is gonna do when it gets colder this winter but it doesn't get too cold here in the sacramento valley.
This is a work in progress there is always room for changes. :)
Mark Floyd

[VW cat]

I like all that room you have around that engine. Where did you buy the injector line wire? I would like to find a source in Canada or adapt an existing product.

[floydr]

I got the injector line heaters from fattywagons.com, they are no longer in business, but on another site the owner of fattywagons.com told how he made the heaters. he used Stainless steel type 316 30 inches long .030? or .031 inches dia for the 80 watt the ones I used on my vw don't remeber the exact measurement now and I can't find the post now. he used .035 dia for the 100 watt ones.
His site is still up if you want to take a look at it.
IF I were doing it again I would use PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) tubing ideal for electrical insulation, Temperature range is -454° to +500° F. and an outer covering of 1000° F Fiberglass Sleeving wrapped with silicone tape.
The wire you may be able to get at a welding shop that does mig welding.
As for the PTFE tubing, and fiberglass sleeving the only place I have found that has it is http://www.mcmaster.com/ I don't know how they are to order from as I have not ordered anything from them yet.

Thanks hope this helps
mark

[floydr]

always forgetting that canada is on celsius most places are expect for the states. the -454to 500 f is -270c to 260c
later Mark

[VW cat]

Thanks, I will follow up on this, I have an old Mcmaster carr book also. I've heard they are really good when shipping to Canada.

[v8volvo]

Floyd,

Just read your whole website. Thanks for putting all that info up on the web, it's very helpful.

I noticed you measured your injector line temps as high as 329F...isn't that considered way too hot? I know people usually say something like 150-175 at the pump input as the minimum. I figure that means that by the time it goes through the pump and unheated injector lines (this is for a more normal 2-tank system) it would be at 120-130. Maybe it rises again to around 170 before being injected because the injectors are so hot from being mounted in the cylinder head...but max oil temp seems like it wouldn't get much over 200F. You're seeing 330F, before the injectors...and who knows how much higher it goes after entering the injectors. What's the temperature point at which little particles of carbonized oil start forming in the fuel--anyone know?

Reason I ask is that I'm looking at adding some of these injection line heaters to my Rabbit, because it looks like the 2-tank Greasecar system is just not getting the oil hot enough and this seems like a good way to jack the final temps up without drawing too many amps (vegtherm) or requiring more coolant system splicing (flat-plate heat exchanger). I just don't want to overdo it...

[floydr]

I am working on a themostat so I can control the temp. these high temps were recorded at idle, it runs much cooler when running at normal operating speeds. I don't know what the affect the ambeient temp will have on it during the summer. My injector line heaters are on a switched circuit so they can be manualy turned off.

What my dad and I came up with was using a capitalary tube off a electric oven having it set for the temp you want. It turns off at a certain temp and back on at a lower temp. Haven't found a donor oven yet.

Vegetable oil has the viscosity of diesel around 302 f so that is what I am aiming for.

I need to have a injecter line temp gauge I can read while the car is in motion.

I need to put some coolant heat on my fuel filter. My electric heater isn't quite cutting it. :( I don't want to cut into the heater hoses.

later
Mark

[VW cat]

Following notes on the biodiesel forum thread, I made the line heater assembly with mcmaster-carr materials. I used one 30" length of ss .032" wire and looped it back and forth on a spare Rabbit line assembly. I didn't use the special crimp connectors, but silver soldered the one end to the line itself and other end to a 10 g copper wire. I bought hi-temp silicone but didn't use it because I taped right up to the end of the wire and unraveled fiberglass was not a problem. Still testing it out.

[v8volvo]

We were talking earlier about some kind of thermostat, or way of controlling the temps of the electrically heated fuel injection pipes. I am planning to install some of those heaters on my Rabbit and have been looking at ways to control the temp so that it is not a black and white question of "heaters on" or "heaters off" and I think I had a good idea. I started another thread about this, please take a look and tell me what you think.

[Fatmobile]

Greasecar's kit lacks a heated section between the vegy filter and the pump. I use another section of HWH.
Is there something restricting coolant flow through the HWH?
I'd think highway driving would heat it up enough to flow well... unless there is a coolant restriction.

[v8volvo]

No, the HIH is definitely getting pretty hot so I don't think there's a restriction. I think the oil's warm enough to flow fine, just not hot enough to atomize properly when it gets sprayed through the injector. I think the problem with highway driving is what VW Cat mentioned, the large amount of air flowing over the engine cools down the injector pipes and the oil inside them. Even though the engine is plenty hot, the Greasecar system just doesn't have enough ability to transfer heat to the VO.

I'll know more after I get these electric heaters on -- if it still has trouble after that, I'm going to have to dig deeper. Maybe internal injector pump problems or something. But I have a hunch that the pipe heaters will do the trick.