Ever try home made Diesel

Any one ever try home made diesel??? what was your opinion of it. Tryin to decide is it worth the effort of makeing

thanks

Mac Leod

Mac:

I've considered changing a ZC52 or similar engine to Diesel. It's probably harder than we'd think.

The candidate engine would have to be strong enough to handle the higher compression. First, you have to make a new head that plugs the cylinder to give a much higher compression ratio, around 16:1+.

Then you have to find an injection pump and injector that can be mounted to the new head and driven off the timing gears.

The governor, which is an absolute necessity with a Diesel, is the next hurdle. Without a governor of some kind, unlike a gas engine, the speed will be uncontrollable.

It'd be an interesting project that I might do some day. Whether or not it will be successful, I don't know.

If you decide to do it, keep us informed on the progress of the project.

Take care - Elden




Elden's Junky Web Page

I was thinking more along the lines of useing it as a fuel replacement...the pump is expensive so I may try makeing my own fuel for a diesel engine.

What do you think?

Mac Leod

If you're considering converting used fryer oil to Diesel fuel, the process is relatively easy. The problems come in the areas of disposing of the waste products, and exposure to the caustic. By the time you get done paying for waste disposal, you can probably make a gallon for around $5.00. On the other hand, if you're thinking of setting up a small biodiesel plant, making fuel from soybeans, you can probably get running for a million bucks.

I've been running my India built Lister engines on just about anything for the last few years. everything from 5050 used motor oil and diesel, to used vegitable oil from McDonalds. I filter my "home made" fuel thru a paint strainer then thru 2 large diesel fuel filters, the kinds used on semi trucks. These filter's get down to about 10 microns. This is plenly clean enuf for my engines. The only time i have problems is when the tempature is under 40 degrees. The vegitable oil simply becomes too thick.

Running 50/50 motor oil do you end up with any extra smoke when running the engine?

-CJ

Watch out for that used motor oil, Doug!!!! Even microscopic particles of Carbon, which are sure to get thru your filter, will ruin an injector pump rapidly. If you have a lot of this stuff available, you should distill it to remove all particulate matter. Vegetable oil works perfectly fine if you keep it hot enough to remain liquid. If you transesterify used fryer oil, make sure to get all of the caustic out. There are plenty of alternatives to petro diesel, just make sure you use clean and neutral fuel.

You can make your own fuel by fermentation of potatoes or sugar,like they do in poor countires. BTW I remember when I was a kid this "frugal" old German friend of mine that ran free cutting oil,transformer oil,whatever he could get in his 1960 Mercedes diesel. It smoked like hell but was free. Not sure if the PCP's in the transformer oil are what killed him. John.

To awnser CJ's question. Yes it will smoke more on the 5050 oil and diesel. Not as bad as one might think and you would be suprised that once the water temp reaches close to 210 there is very little smoke produced. I really like to run Citronella oil in the summer when the "skeeters" get bad. I'm sure my method of filtering my home made fuel isnt perfect, but i havent had any problems in the 4 or 5 years that i've been tinkering with these particular engines.

engine lubricating oil burns fine in diesels! A friend bought a Volkswagon diesel pick up truck. He took it to the dealer for everything, so as to keep the warrenty intact. He noted that the engine took 3.5 litres of oil in the crankcase, so he took the truck to the dealer for oil changes too. the original warrenty was for 60,000 miles on the engine, and at 59,000 and some he took it to the dealer for what he figured was the last dealer servicing. When sitting in the shop lounge waiting for his truck to be done, he heard an engine start, run for a few minutes, and at first slowly pick up speed. after a few seconds, the engine accelerated rapidly until a loud bang and silence signaled the engine had had enough. UH OH! he thought! He went back to reading a magazine for a few more minutes, when he sensed somthing was near him, and he looked up. The service manager was standing next to him, with a very chagrined young mechanic, and stated Mr ---- we have a problem, we will have to give you a loaner car for a few days. My friend figured that there it was something to do with the truck warrenty, never figuring that the engine destruction he had heard was his own! A week later, he went to pick up the truck, and saw it being driven out of the shop. Suddenly, the engine started to race up, and with the rear braked locked, the truck took off accross the car lot toward the dealers new parked cars for sale. About 20 yards shotr of the first car, the engine again blew up, so violently that the front wheels were nearly lifted off the ground, and the engine's head nearly ripped the trucks hood off the body as it tried to leave the engine compartment. Thankfully the mechanic managed to stop the ruined truck before it smashed into the parked cars! By now everyone in the shop and inside the dealership had come outside to see what was going on, including a mechanic visiting from the home office in germany. The man was standing next to my friend, when my friend asked himself "I wonder what happened this time?", and he said "the same thing that happened last time, and the time before that, and the time before that, in german. As my friend was of german descent, he struck up a conversation with the mechanic, and suddenly realized that they were mixing german and english in their conversation. The both had a good laugh, and then the mechanic went on to explain what had happened. A Litre is a metric liquid measurement. It is a little more than a quart (a quart is .946 L). When that particular engine was filled with oil, you had to pay special attention as to how much oil you put into the crankcase, or else the crank throws would come in contact with the oil. If 4 quarts of oil were put in the engine, along with an empty oil filter, the oil pumped enough oil out of the case to lower the level just enough. In the case of my friends engine though, the filter hadn't been changde. When the crank throws hit the oil, it gets frothed up, kinda like beating eggs with a beater. This froth then gets into the engine breather, and then makes its way into the intake. the rest is history - un restrained acceleration intil engine destruction!

As a PS to my previous post, my friend got a letter of apology from Volkswagon and from the dealer, and a brand new truck at no charge - all servicing free of charge, for as long as he owned the truck. My friend died last year, he still had the VW and although the body was about shot, the truck had 270,000 miles in it, and it was still getting 35 miles a gallon!

Only 35mpg on a VW diesel?? My 1998 TDI Beetle (128,000)is good for 50mpg consistantly. Even the old Rabbits were good for that. John.