Making an old Volvo fuel efficient

[RedDevil]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

Gotta hate what Europe is turning into by the so-called environmentalists who seem to ignore the environmental and social benefits from the enhanced resilience to lower-grade alternative fuels in the old Diesel beaters.

The old diesels have an appalling fine particle content in their exhaust gas, many times worse than gassers of their own age.
City centers get closed off for traffic if the rate goes up too high, several cities are seeking to ban lorries and 'old' cars or even all cars just to keep air pollution below the desired max level.

We've seen an import of old diesel cars as a means to evade road tax by the oldtimer law. That now has been stretched to older than 40 for diesel cars; now the old diesel market is in reverse, and the black cloud behind those cars is now a rare sight again.

I've driven an old diesel once, in its last days I tried to kill the engine before arriving and glide into the parking lot. Guess why? Not economy

[Joris]

I think it not a bad thing those old diesels are taken off the road. Especially when theye are driven daily.

Question for RedDevil, do you know if and where I can by coroplast? Getting large sheets of aluminium is quite expensive, although easy to work with.

[Pandaf]

Originally Posted by Joris

I think it not a bad thing those old diesels are taken off the road. Especially when theye are driven daily.

I second that, so do my lungs.

Originally Posted by Joris

Question for RedDevil, do you know if and where I can by coroplast? Getting large sheets of aluminium is quite expensive, although easy to work with.

Do a google search for "polypropeen kanaalplaten".
For example: polypropeen

I could find some for free at my workplace, but maybe you are not so lucky.

BTW Nice to see a "DAF 77" here
DAF 77 - Wikipedia

[RedDevil]

I don't know, frankly. I have bought (& probably ruined) a sheet of Lexan.
I'd like to do some underbody mods with polypropene plates, but have not found the right stuff yet.

I've seen several plates of material in the regular DIY shops but nothing suitable.
I've bought a small welding kit and I will experiment on welding brackets & other stuff just to get a hang of it and find out what can be done and what not. If I ever get some free time on my hands...

[Joris]

Thanks! I'll keep looking. I have some sheets of sheetmetal and thick aluminium, but that is to heavy. Buying large, thin sheets of aluminium is to expensive. So I'll keep looking, keeping an eye on garbage containers

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by RedDevil

The old diesels have an appalling fine particle content in their exhaust gas, many times worse than gassers of their own age.
City centers get closed off for traffic if the rate goes up too high, several cities are seeking to ban lorries and 'old' cars or even all cars just to keep air pollution below the desired max level.

When I went to Uruguay last month I saw many old Diesels and only one was puffing a considerable amount of black smoke, but it was at a mechanic shop to get that issue solved. Anyway, due to their adaptability to cleaner-burning fuels such as biodiesel and vegetable oils (either straight or waste cooking oil) I'd still rather get an old Diesel instead of a hybrid. There is also the higher cetane rating in Diesel fuel nowadays that also reduces considerably the amount of soot.

Anyway, with heavier taxes on old Diesels and the reliability issues from the emissions-control devices in the newer ones, it's not hard to understand why CNG and biomethane are increasing its market share in Europe...

[Joris]

I made some short clips of the tuft testing, what do you guys think, are there areas that I didn't see?

[RedDevil]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

When I went to Uruguay last month I saw many old Diesels and only one was puffing a considerable amount of black smoke, but it was at a mechanic shop to get that issue solved. Anyway, due to their adaptability to cleaner-burning fuels such as biodiesel and vegetable oils (either straight or waste cooking oil) I'd still rather get an old Diesel instead of a hybrid. There is also the higher cetane rating in Diesel fuel nowadays that also reduces considerably the amount of soot.

Anyway, with heavier taxes on old Diesels and the reliability issues from the emissions-control devices in the newer ones, it's not hard to understand why CNG and biomethane are increasing its market share in Europe...

The black smoke is not the same as the fine particle emission, which is invisible. The large particles are heavy so they disappear quickly from the air, making them less dangerous than the fine stuff.

Biodiesel gases also contain fine particles. Yet as biodiesel consists mainly of carbohydrates pollutants containing other elementas are absent.

Also see Diesel exhaust - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[ollobono]

What did you use to cut down fuel use?

[Joris]

Originally Posted by ollobono

What did you use to cut down fuel use?

Not much actually, I am planning a lot though! For now I have raised the tire pressure, a partial underbelly, modern mirrors, and a better driving style. Following the tips on the ecomodder homepage.