mustapha63701
01-04-2006, 08:58 PM
Hello All,
I live in Southeast Missouri and am curious about the whole "home-made" bio-diesel issue. I love the whole "environment-friendly" aspect (though some seem to question this) and certainly am thrilled by the likely prospect of "free" fuel (in terms of recovering "used" vegetable oil from local restaurants, fast food joints, etc.)
I know only some "basics" regarding this topic and would be very interested in converting one of my four diesels to allow the use of such fuel. ("I'll take a Big Mac, fries oh, and some used vegetable oil to go please..." :) ) It would certainly be an "learning" experience! :) Then again, how difficult could it really be?
If anyone else on these forums is also in a "exploring" mood; please feel free to contact me to set-up some sort of an experiment regarding this new, alternative fuel conversion topic.
In the meanwhile; I'd like to ask the following from those who're knowledgeable about the topic:
a. What would happen for instance if I were to just pick-up some used vegetable oil, filter it to remove "impurities" and just "pour" it into the fuel tank?
b. Would there be a reason for special fuel filtering, in such cases? Or would the original primary and secondary filters manage just fine?
c. Spring is fast approaching and it stands to reason that it would be "safe" to run vegetable oil until some time mid Fall? Unless I'm being "naive" I'm assuming I could run vegetable oil until the weather cools off; switch to diesel for cold months and back to vegetable again during warm weather?
I seem to have a natural "talent" for organizing events (in the past I've organized many charity events, fund raisers to support local university gymnastics team, aid to Katrina survivors, etc., etc.) and would be FUN to organize a get-together, here in Mid-West area for some curious diesel/gas Mercedes enthusiast to "discuss" this issue, sometime possibly in Spring. There're a number of cheap hotel/motel lodgings, restaurants, etc., available locally to accomodate anyone needing such arrangements and I think overall, this could be fun. It wouldn't be just for folks who only own diesels but, to all who're curious about the topic in general. It could also be a reason to even take-out your prized toy to stretch its leggs. Would anyone be interested in a small, one-two day get-together to "tinker" with some diesels and maybe even to have a half-a-day drive through the surrounding areas, etc., ending up at in one of our fine local dining establishments? (I once organized a car rally - was a success! - to help in raising funds for our local university gymastics team, to help them travel to Hawaii for a competition.) If there was enough interest, we could even have mini-events set-up; a show-and-tell of sorts to help folks maintain their Merc diesels. I'd certainly be very willing to share what little I know about the old W123's and in fact, I think it could be "loads of fun!" :)
If there're organizations out-there (nearby, mid-west, USA) that are already doing this, please let me know "when-and-where," and oh... directions as well and maybe I can even "snag" a friend-or-two into driving a few more of my vehicles to your location.
Mustapha
I live in Southeast Missouri and am curious about the whole "home-made" bio-diesel issue. I love the whole "environment-friendly" aspect (though some seem to question this) and certainly am thrilled by the likely prospect of "free" fuel (in terms of recovering "used" vegetable oil from local restaurants, fast food joints, etc.)
I know only some "basics" regarding this topic and would be very interested in converting one of my four diesels to allow the use of such fuel. ("I'll take a Big Mac, fries oh, and some used vegetable oil to go please..." :) ) It would certainly be an "learning" experience! :) Then again, how difficult could it really be?
If anyone else on these forums is also in a "exploring" mood; please feel free to contact me to set-up some sort of an experiment regarding this new, alternative fuel conversion topic.
In the meanwhile; I'd like to ask the following from those who're knowledgeable about the topic:
a. What would happen for instance if I were to just pick-up some used vegetable oil, filter it to remove "impurities" and just "pour" it into the fuel tank?
b. Would there be a reason for special fuel filtering, in such cases? Or would the original primary and secondary filters manage just fine?
c. Spring is fast approaching and it stands to reason that it would be "safe" to run vegetable oil until some time mid Fall? Unless I'm being "naive" I'm assuming I could run vegetable oil until the weather cools off; switch to diesel for cold months and back to vegetable again during warm weather?
I seem to have a natural "talent" for organizing events (in the past I've organized many charity events, fund raisers to support local university gymnastics team, aid to Katrina survivors, etc., etc.) and would be FUN to organize a get-together, here in Mid-West area for some curious diesel/gas Mercedes enthusiast to "discuss" this issue, sometime possibly in Spring. There're a number of cheap hotel/motel lodgings, restaurants, etc., available locally to accomodate anyone needing such arrangements and I think overall, this could be fun. It wouldn't be just for folks who only own diesels but, to all who're curious about the topic in general. It could also be a reason to even take-out your prized toy to stretch its leggs. Would anyone be interested in a small, one-two day get-together to "tinker" with some diesels and maybe even to have a half-a-day drive through the surrounding areas, etc., ending up at in one of our fine local dining establishments? (I once organized a car rally - was a success! - to help in raising funds for our local university gymastics team, to help them travel to Hawaii for a competition.) If there was enough interest, we could even have mini-events set-up; a show-and-tell of sorts to help folks maintain their Merc diesels. I'd certainly be very willing to share what little I know about the old W123's and in fact, I think it could be "loads of fun!" :)
If there're organizations out-there (nearby, mid-west, USA) that are already doing this, please let me know "when-and-where," and oh... directions as well and maybe I can even "snag" a friend-or-two into driving a few more of my vehicles to your location.
Mustapha