Getting Off Gas!

[Doofus McFancypants]

I can see it now......

attending a "GA" meeting ( Gasaholics Annomious)

Ben : Hi, My name is Ben
Group : Hi Ben !
Ben : I have been off of Gas for 4,500 miles now
Group : *Chears and applause*
Ben : But last night... i .. i.. I WENT TO THE STATION ANDF BOUGHT A GALLON OF REGULAR!!!
Group : *GASP*
Group Member 1: Ben - it is ok - Gasoline addiction is a constant struggle - we are always fightint temptation. Did you USE the gas?
Ben : No - i could not use it - i do not have anything that CAN use it.. but.. BUT I JUST HAD TO HAVE IT!!!
Group member 2 : Ben - it is ok - we are here for you - Remember your Mantra.." EV is the way to beeeeeeeee.. EV is the way to beeeeeeee"


Cudos on the goal! -

steve

[bennelson]

Doofus: Too bad you didn't see me with the "gasoline-bong" at Hybridfest!



I don't have a problem!
I can quit anytime I want!

(First stage is denile, isn't it?)

[SuperTrooper]

Originally Posted by bennelson

(First stage is denile, isn't it?)

Um, no. It's a river in Egypt.

[dremd]

Bio-Diesel FTW!

Ben if your ever in my neck of the woods you can stop by and fill up.

Edit: oh yeah, my TDI tows decent; have to pull grill block out to tow though . . . .

[bennelson]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q28uEjeUj0A

[bennelson]

Tomorrow, I am going to look at a couple of older diesel VW Golfs.

Diesel cars cab be run off bio-diesel or converted to run on waste vegetable oil.

These are basic, older cars, and I have always been told that diesels run forever. Any of these cars will need some work, and they still aren't exactly cheap, but they can be run WITHOUT PETROLEUM!

I don't know much about diesel, so Swee has agreed to come with me to look at the cars and offer advice.

Should be interesting!!!

[Coyote X]

If you have access to lots of scrap wood and you don't mind putting a bit of effort into log splitting or whatever it takes to keep a cheap fire going then making moonshine is probably going to be the easiest thing you can do. It won't take much to get your truck to run on it. Maybe just some new seals and a few odds and ends. If you only need a tank of gas every few weeks it will not take much effort to make that much moonshine.

Since you are not concerned with the taste you can make it out of pretty much anything usable and expired from your local grocery stores. Just do a fuel permit from the ATF and you are set. You just have to denature it with a small amount of gasoline added so it isn't drinkable and is legal that way. Use Zeolite to get the last of the water out of it and get it pure if you want.

Around here I have been really tempted to set up a still. But I am lazy and never get around to it despite having basically and unlimited supply of free wood if I just go up on the hill and start dragging it home.

[dremd]

If your looking at VW diesels be sure to check out tdiclub.com there is an IDI section (indirect injection) for the older gen 1+2 vehicles. Don't forget they made a VW golf / rabbit Diesel Pickup.
Be warned the old Diesel VW's they are very slow, I know this is ecomodder; but I said it anyway; just don't expect being able to reliably cruise any faster than 60mph.

A few bits of Wisdom.

Timing belts must run under a ton of strain because they pop a heck of a lot(I personally know 3 people (out of 4 owners) who have broken a belt and all of the valves after having the car sit up) ; if the car's been sitting change it.
(I'm actually on a computer belonging to one of those people right now)
You get to have really cool bumper stickers.

They are very loud (actually sound broken) when cold; I would highly recommend a block heater even if you lived down south.

They can runaway; be careful where you route fuel lines. A buddy's uncle had one run away on the Causeway bridge and couldn't keep it under 85; then it seized.


Also consider Nissan Diesel. I've talked to 2 guys locally who have them and love them.
I've heard great things about Volvo Diesel, But I don't know anything about them.

I do know a die hard Diesel Isuzu fan; If it were up to me I'd avoid them. But my friend thinks it's perfectly normal to overhaul a transmission every 30K, and do a Valve job every 60 k. But he's been driving them exclusively for over a million miles and wouldn't trade them for anything. I personally like to change my Diesel oil about every 30k . . . .



I hope some of that makes sense/ helps you out . . . .

[bennelson]

I got to go look at 3 diesel VW Golfs yesterday.

The first two were a package deal: 2 cars and three engines. All or nothing.

The engines looked pretty good, but both cars were projects and needed plenty of work. Lots of rust, lots of other little things to do on the cars.

I love the idea of having a spare diesel engine to play with. Would be great to make a Bio-Diesel Electric Car Generator trailer with.

After thinking about it a bit, it's too much work. Too many parts, and more of a project than I need right now.

I would just like to get on the road without using any more petroleum.


The other Golf I looked at wasn't bad. It's still an older one (1985) but the body looks suprisingly good for its age.

It's a two-door, which means slightly less room inside, but it's a hatchback, so I think it is big enough for me to carry all the gear I need for work.

The engine compartment was relatively clean. Supposedly, the engine was rebuilt 20K miles ago. Engine sounded very good. LOUD, but good. I don't know much about diesel, but it sounded exactly like every dump truck and big rig I have ever heard.

The interior fabric on the seats is in perfect condition, but the headliner and rear-view mirror are both missing, the radio doesn't work, and it took a few minutes of fiddling to get the front seat to adjust to where I could reach the pedals properly.

This car appears to have been designed by somebody with really long arms, and short legs. I have to lean forward to reach first, third, and fifth gears.

The car also has a towing hitch ball. It's connected to a real frame mount, not just a crummy home-job of welding something on. Being able to tow a light trailer adds to the appeal of this vehicle a bit. I won't be able to tow like I can with a truck, but my motorcycle on a trailer should be no problem.

Since this is a smaller car, with a diesel engine, I expect to be able to hit 50 mpg with it. Perhaps after making a few modifications to it, and we get nice weather again.

Originally, a friend of mine was to go with to inspect the diesels with me. He called in sick, so I was off to the unknown world of diesel-mobiles all by my lonesome.

I talked to him on the phone today. He took a look at the Craigslist ad, and mentioned that with what it said in the ad, and what I told him, it sounded like a good deal.

I also asked about what is actually needed to convert from Diesel to Bio-Diesel. His answer was that about the only thing that really needs to be done is to replace the rubber fuel lines, have a spare fuel filter, and introduce the bio-diesel slowly.

Bio-diesel will degrade rubber fuel lines, and it will clean out all the old gunk in the fuel tank.

Converting to a vegetable oil system is much more involved, but I can drive the car on petro-diesel to start, then introduce Bio-Diesel, and if I want to, I could eventually convert to straight vegetable oil.

Could this be the vehicle that gets me completely off Petroleum? Perhaps.
I still have to think about it a bit more and see about haggling over the price. There are a couple other people I want to talk to first as well.

Stay tuned for more of my continuing Fossil-Fuel Free Adventures.

-Ben

[groar]

Is going off petroleum your goal or an aim to another goal ?

If it's pushed by lowering CO2 then it will depend on so much parameters that you will have to calculate the CO2 cost of each solution. American electricity generates a lot of CO2.

Else it seams biodiesel is a great solution while not everybody is doing the same. In France biodiesel isn't available except for buses and other special cases; and the ethanol isn't available in a lot of pump (a few hundred and I don't know a single one...).

An old diesel can also be run with veggie oil, the main problem is to secure your source of used oil.

Denis.