Diesel/Veggie oil motorcycle
 

I found this over on a Mercedes Benz forum!

Again, one of those fun project which I am not sure to file it under Motorcycle or Fossil-Fuel-Free!

-Ben



http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/9291/p4120044gx1.jpg
http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/996/p4120043rk4.jpg

"This started life as a 1984 Kawasaki 454 LTD.

It uses a diesel V-twin 22hp
CVT comet 94 "duster"
Twin tank system- one for biodiesel, and the other for vegoil.
Fuel pump and heating element to bring the veg to optimum temp.
Custom color. He gave me a color code and I shot it. Ick. You pay, I shoot, though.
does 75 mph well.

Fabricated parts-
Frame to fit the diesel and transmission
Stainless exhaust headers
Cvt cover
Misc brackets and such
Change out from rear belt drive to chain,
etc, etc"

See the original forum thread at:
contracted bike done and gone - Schuman Automotive /Forums

Around 130 mpg :thumbup:

Hey, it's green.

Booger green, but still green.

Where'd the guy find a v-twin diesel? I see singles and inlines, but never v-twins.

See also:

http://www.tucsonweekly.com/binary/1...urr-25120.jpeg

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...sion-4325.html

This is pretty cool. I would love to have something like this. Maybe I will have to start looking for a bike that I can mod myself. So what is this bike capable performance wise? I'm sure it's likely not really fast, but probably a very sufficient mode of transportation.
Does anyone know anything about delay timers? What are they used for?

This is one of the coolest, cleanest conversions I have ever seen. I want a diesel bike soooo bad.

I was just thinking the same thing

funny you should ask, Christ was just considering sourcing some V twin diesels. They are out there:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...nes-17670.html

You don't even need to convert them.
Royal Enfield actually made them as diesel models ;)

Absolutely Awesome! Would love to have a similar bike, Any mention of what trans used, or was a custom fabbed plate used for a stock tranny??

Looks to me like no trans at all.

Some of the conversions have transmissions, and obviously that would be preferable if it fits your budget and bike. But the torque curves on these is very flat once you are rolling, so you can "get away" without one, by making the same compromises as the no-transmission electric vehicles do.

I would love to see some transmission options, I know the old BSA and any divorced transmissions route, retro-direct doesn't work on a diesel, some folks have converted 2 and 4 stroke bike transmissions (would love to see a build thread on that) by sawing off the cylinders,etc, others have made custom gearboxes...

I'm still working on the 4 stroke gearbox thing.... Figuring out which trans to use, since I have so many.

(Engines, projects, bills, etc...)

V-twin diesels are fairly common: 25 HP V-Twin Diesel Engine Electric Start for instance.... The transmission was mentioned "CVT comet 94 "duster"" . CVT = continuously variable transmission

Wow...I can sell that same engine for less than 70% of that price, if I get enough serious interest.

That reminds me of the Changzuki.

http://diesel-bike.com/Diesel_Bike/G...river_side.jpg
http://diesel-bike.com/Diesel_Bike/G.../Pass_side.jpg

Problem is you throw a lot of efficiency away with a CVT when half the reason for converting to diesel is for maximum efficiency.

I think this efficiency loss with CVT is a bit blown out of proportion, though.

Is it really that inefficient ALL the time, or only while it's actually doing something?

When it is only cruising, shouldn't it be about as efficient as a basic belt drive of the same ratio? How often do you really plan on accelerating?

For some reason I have %75 efficient in my head for that sort of CVT, but unfortunately I lost the trail.

That one has a model that comet doesn't make any more, but it seems to me that 75% wouldn't allow that klr diesel to get up to 60mph+ with a 10hp motor... Let alone 120+mpg.

No, it's less efficient, even at fixed rpm when cruising.
It is a friction-based system, rather than a direct mechanical linkage, so you'll have some slippage.

Yah that wouldn't make sense. But 60mph cruise (8.5hp) doesn't quite add up either. My cb125 says it has 12hp and a top speed of 65 (though I need to fix the front brake and true up the front wheel before I can get close to that). Honda CB125 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The comet is a spring/weight cvt with a drive and driven pulley, like snowmobiles use...in fact, identical to snow mobile drives, not a friction drive.

Did I misunderstand?

CVTs on sleds eat up a lot of power. Even sleds with wheel kits for summer get awful fe.

Numbers?

just googling, nothing real scientific:
CVT efficiency
Manual - 97%
Automatic - 86%
CVT belt - 88%
CVT torroidal - 93%

Only credible thing I found said 80% for the rubber belt.

That 88% is probably for an automotive steel belt.

Maybe we're talking different things ;)

Spring/weight : are you referring to the automatic centrifugal transmissions used in mopeds / scooters and the like ?

To me CVT is the pulley / belt system - the more advanced version of the antique Daf Variomatic .

to me the scooter transmission IS the belt-pully variator, like in the changzuki.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tml#post244431 , I believe that is the "comet" transmission there.

The appeal of the variator with a diesel motorcycle conversion is clear, they are readily available and not too expensive and there are plenty of working examples. But I have been researching suitable gearboxes as well, and personally would rather go through the effort to have a clutch and gears. I can get over 100mpg on my 250 without the conversion (and with plenty of available acceleration and top speed), I have to aim a lot higher than 104MPG to make it worth the effort for me, and I think gears would help, but it is a notably more challenging path at current and not for everyone.

Here you are DieselBike.net • View topic - Jawa / yanmar clone :).

The appeal of diesel for me is being able to make my own biodiesel ,it's not only cheap ...which is always appealing ! but as I'm also very interested in low carbon emission transport .I have an excellent source of good clean used veg oil and 2400 litres stockpiled .My two 4 wheel vehicles are diesel and I'd like to replace my horribly inefficient R80 BMW with a diesel bike ! :)

Some 15 years ago, I tore apart a stuck Honda 360 engine, took it to work and using rod stock, make a shaft to replace the crank.

I cut splines in one end for the clutch gear and on the flywheel side, I single splined it and made it long enough to pass through the side cover. Used two locking rings on the inside of the crank bearings and cut a hole in the side cover with an oil seal.

Added a pulley to the shaft and made a cover for the cylinder holes. All in all it was very easy and took less than 8 hours of spare time. I filled it half way up with oil and it made a very nice go-cart transmission with working clutch, and I'm no machinist. A real one could have done it in maybe two hours.

I know this would be a bit long for a diesel motorcycle, but it's an inexpensive option. Sorry, I don't have any pics of it.

A diesel Enfield , using the standard Enfield gearbox ,a fairly simple setup .

http://pic40.picturetrail.com/VOL282.../398164271.jpg