Monthly Archives: July 2012

Do I sell one of the kids and purchase an over the top, custom made aluminum tank with fuel sender, return line, baffles, slick fill tube, heated pickup and vent?

Or do I get an old plastic boat tank, retrofit it with a heater and possibly sender and rig up some kind of filler neck?

Well, it's nice to have options.  At minimum I recommend a plastic, aluminum or stainless steel tank.   These materials will have less chance of accumulating polymerized oil.  Also, I see it crucial to have a fuel level sending unit in th

This is my veggie car, a 1987 Mercedes 300SDL.  It is a well built, solid  ride, with more legroom than the predecessor 300sd and a Straight 6 diesel engine.   I have a single tank "conversion".

My veggie mods are:

1.  FPHE

2.  Raw Power Fuel Pump

3.  Injection Line Heaters

4.  Monark Injector tips

I live in Northern California, where the ambient temps rarely go below 30 and I use well processed/cleaned veggie oil, so that really opens up the possibilities of conversion configurations.  I don't need a heated tank, heated lines, etc.   Also, I only use non-hydrogenated oil.

Most of the time I don't even know I'm running on veggie.  I get the occasional whiff, but it's as if I'm driving

I took my car to Brakemasters in a pinch.  I needed new front pads and rotors and figured they could handle the job.    The installed the new rotors and pads OK, but they quickly warped as I was initially sold sub-par parts, especially for the heavy, 3800lb Mercedes 300sdl.   I was able to get a complimentary upgrade to premium pads and rotors.  They also said they would replace any bad "hardware" for free.   That went well.   There was a night and day difference in my braking with the upgraded pads and rotors.

The next week I was finally getting my suspension worked on by local Mercedes Diesel expert Garrett.    As he was removing the wheels and caliper for some suspension work, he noticed the following nominal errors:

-Wheels not spinning freely as locking nut was overtorqued

-ABS sensors covered in grease

And the mistake that put him and I over the top was they used the wrong bolts to hold the caliper on the spin

Diesel is cheaper, Diesel is cheaper!  Well it is, however I'm not hearing this chanted in the streets. I get more of a sense that folks are just waiting for the price to go up again, rather than enjoying the recent relief in prices.   It's like we are experiencing eye of a hurricane.   Drivers have been tormented by high prices over the course of the last 16 months, and they know it's coming again.   Diesel prices are down $.50 from the recent peak in on April 2, 2012.

Still using veggie?  Yes sir.  Lots of us are still using veggie.  It's not only about saving money, it's Energy Independence.   Many of us are immune to the emotional and financial battering of unstable and ever-increasing fuel prices.

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