Straight Vegetable Oil conversion

[jcomp]

I've noticed that a few people's sigs mention they are using SVO... I'm planning on installing a second fuel tank to run SVO and I have a few questions that maybe you guys could help me out with.

1. What is your mileage with the veggie oil compared to fossil diesel?
2. Do you notice a power loss when you're running the SVO?
3. Where do you get your SVO and how do you prepare it for use?
4. Do you heat the SVO before you pump it to the engine? If so, how?
5. I've read that SVO has much better lubricity than modern fossil diesel, but have you had any problems with your IP or injectors anyway?
6. Does the SVO affect your idle speed and quality?
7. Do you use it in the winter? Does it get freakin cold where you live?


I realize that there are various websites on the subject, but I would like to hear the opinions of someone who has actually done this to a 6.2L. Thanks.

[gskurka]

I'm thinking about running my 1986 Suburban 6.2L NA on WVO. I'd also like to know if anyone has experience with a conversion. How about winter operation?

[gavio]

Wellllllllll...

It doesn't get exactly "freakin' cold" where I live so I can't speak to that, although I did build my system with the intention of making a system that could run anywhere. Someday I'll drive through somehwere really cold and see what happens - 'course I don't like cold weather, so don't hold yer breath!

My system is a two tank system with coolant heated fuel pickup and electric heat as well. I designed it myself using the best of what was available at the time. It's been working well for a year and a half now - mebbe 10k miles or so.

It does have slightly less power on SVO, but not so it makes any real difference - it's just barely noticeable. It idles fine, runs the same and sounds like usual.

At the time I did my conversion, I replaced my injection pump, lift pump, injectors, glow plug system, all hoses and fuel lines, and upgraded my intake to a 'J' code type, removing the disfunctional EGR setup. All of these things were tired and needed it anyway.

It's been running fine since, except for a filter clogging problem I had with my veggie oil side in the fall, and then a bad batch of diesel fuel trashed a new filter on my startup fuel side in the winter - this gave me fits until I figured out what it was.

The whole thing performed fine through the winter, which did include one trip back and forth through the mountains and high desert (temps below 30) which is where the SVO filter clogging problem reared its ugly head (my filter is located under the floor and I just hadn't insulated it enough for all that 80 mph cold air).

My veggie oil is waste virgin oil from a local oil bottler and is prefilterd to 1 micron - then my SVO system filters again at 10 microns. For my startup fuel, I use a mixture of Biodiesel with a small amount of petro-diesel (mostly during the winter to prevent gelling) and that side also filters at 10 microns.

'Cuz of 4.10 gears and a heavy foot, i don't get the greatest mileage - about 18 or so. Planning to change out both the gears and the foot someday. Mileage seems unaffected by the SVO, but I can't check it accurately without a rather fussy process - mebbe I'll do it someday.

All in all, I'm happy with it - I only just yesterday had to put fuel in the stock startup tank - first time since February

I recommend focussing on veggie oil temps and good quality filtering because these DB2s are kind of fussy. I used an alectric inline heater to make sure SVO gets up to temp right before it goes into the IP.

Hope some of this is helpful. BTW, I have friends who have a 6.5 TD and have well over 20k miles on WVO.

Good Luck!

[jcomp]

Gavio, I appreciate your information, maybe you can answer some more questions? What kind of fuel pump do you use and where is it plumbed into the system? Is your electric heater the factory unit or aftermarket? How do your tank heaters work? What kind of filter do you use? Have you had to start it after you forgot to turn back to diesel and the engine cooled off? How did you connect your fuel return line?

I'm planning on a 2 tank system also, hopefully with an 18 gallon (I think?) GM truck tank mounted under my Blazer (don't know if that's do-able or not) or inside the cab. It gets freakin cold [img]smile.gif[/img] here, overnight temps in December, January and February spend a lot of time in the -10 to -30 degree F range and sometimes lower. I suppose that every part of my veggie oil system will have to be heated and insulated if I want to use it in the winter. Any suggestions as to how I should proceed?

Thanks

[gavio]

OK, lemme see what I can do here.....

My fuel pump is from NAPA - they have a catalog of generic electric fuel pumps - I just got the one that pumped 5-9 psi and had 3/8" fittings - I plumbed it in to replace the mechanical pump and located it so that all my fuel lines run up the back of the engine rather than detouring all the way to the front - remember, though, that I have a van so they are actually easier to get to this way - YMMV!

My filters are located under the passenger side floor and are Racor 400 series filters - one for veggie and one for startup fuel - I'm planning to upgrade my veggie side filter to a Vormax - you can read about these over on the SVO forum.

My electric heater is called a VegTherm and comes from Neoteric Biofuels - it's designed to heat up to 180 degrees and no more - the factory heater is only designed to turn on when it is below freezing and only heats up to 80 degrees or so - it's not enough to work with your veggie oil.

One of my other upgrades was to replace my worn out starter with a newer style gear-reduction starter as used on the 6.5 TD - it's a bolt in swap and maybe the best bang for the buck yet - I had the van die on me once while running on veggie oil (electrical failure-nothing to due with the SVO) - had to have it towed home where it sat for a few days 'til repaired - I plugged in the block heater for a few hours and it fired up with just a few seconds of cranking - I coulda kissed that starter (not really, but you get the idea) - it should be noted that the oil I'm using does not actually solidify at those temps (at the time it was like 40s-50s or so), had it solidified it would have been a differnt story.

Regularly, I can leave the van sit for a couple hours in winter and up to 4 or 5 hours in summer and it starts and runs fine on SVO - YMMV as the van holds more heat in due to the cramped engine area.

My system also uses coolant heat - SVO pickup and return lines are bundled with coolant supply and all that insulated with foil bubble wrap - also the coolant line runs into the tank and heats the fuel pickup itself. You will have to do a very fastidious job of heating and insulating, i expect, 'cuz it is indeed freakin' cold up there - it'll be a good idea for you to heat your filter as well - I didn't and got into probs at a mere 28 degrees above zero (only sorta cool by your standards )

I seriously recommend some heavy browsing time on the SVO forum finding out what other folks are doing - when i did mine, very few folks had done GM 6.2s and almost nobody had done a van, so I had to apply what folks had done with MBs and VWs and the like. Fords are more common as well, and many of the same considerations apply - they use the same injection pump.

'Nuff for now. More later.

Best of luck to you.

[Sawz]

CHeck this site out greasel answers alot of questions im thinking of doing this myself I already have two tanks on truck so with a tank heater and seperate filter system and a good collection sytem and prefiltering should be close they have all kinds of ideas and products there to make it easy . I think im going to make my own system and sve a few hundred bucks

[HANK1948]

I would be interested in SVO or WVO conversion but dont no were to get the oil ? how much is it? how do you guys get ? do you go to resturants for there waste oil?