Diesel

[Typrus]

Alright. The question is, how hard would it be to get Mr. 6-Speed capable of withstanding 150-200 ft/lb of torque? Also, how can I get it to run 120 MPH when the engine reds at 4600RPM?
I've been toying with the idea of a diesel in my Terc for a number of reasons. I can get 4A-GZE power out of a 1.9L 4 cyl in-line without a whole lot of fuss. Just new injectors and an open exhaust. I can get wonderful mileage. My moms 1996 VW PAssat with a Turbocharged 4-cyl inline 1.9L pushes 85 horses and 46 AVERAGE miles per gallon. Thats average highway and city. The Passat has a curb weight of 3207lbs(1455kg) and a GVWR of 3946lbs(1790kg). The Terc has a weight rating of... err.. lemme find out... Well, 775 lbs of occupants and cargo. With a wild guess I'd give the Terc 3000 lbs curb. And our gassers can get, what? 35 on the highway if you are REEEEEEAL gentle with them? And 26 or so in city? Plus we're only pushing on a modest 65 horses and I'm guessing 75-85 ft/lb of torque. With the price of fuels nowadays, is there a better way to go than something that will outlast the body of the car and be much more efficient? With prices for REGULAR UNLEADED hitting $2.189 a gallon in my area, I'd prefer diesel to gas anyday. Besides, I can make Biodiesel in my garage for about $0.40 a gallon. Just get some good vegetable-based oil, some lye, methanol, and the mixing facilities and its easily done.
Of course, there is also the question of, How do I mate a 90's Euro diesel to an 80's Japanese gasser body? Perhaps a custom input shaft? New belhousing is a must obviously. That'd have to be custom as well. This could run me $1500 or more just for custom parts and gears, but how fast will the increased economy re-pay it? Well, assuming I ran 10-20% of this home-made BioDiesel, thats bringing the price down considerably now isn't it. Not to mention that might be a good compromise over having to constantly be laboring over a vat of new Bio. But if I could produce it maybe 55 gallons at a time and store it, that would get me a ways... Then maybe if I sold it to people... lol.
Look at me ramble.. Lol

[Lateer]

Typrus,

Why are you putting lye into biodiesel? The methanol and vegetable oils should be fine.
A friend of mine runs his LandCruiser on biodiesel and apart from the truck smelling like a fish and chip shop, it's fine. He's just got to filter the vegetable oils really fine, else he clogs injectors and the like.

I think you'll find that methanol/ethanol will be the major cost in the biodiesel. The vegetable oils can be sourced from any chippery, whereas you've got to go to a petroleum company to be able to get the amount of alcohols you're talking about. Therein lies the problem. They're not going to sell any mug off the street the 40L of alcohol you need. Especially if you're going to undercut them making biodiesel.

You *could* brew and distil your own, but that'd be really timeconsuming and very energy intensive.

If better fuel economy is what you're after, pump your tyres to the right pressure, tune the engine regularly and take out everything in the car that you don't need. I'd also look at some form of fuel injection conversion. A carburetor is a very inherently wasteful user of fuel, especially the standard carbs on a Tercel. Look at the instant fuel economy difference when you swap from the standard to a Weber. Imagine what'd happen when you go from the carbs to common-rail, sequential multipoint fuel injection... Sure, it'd take a bit to get the electronics set up, but it wouldn't be that hard on the newer models. They're already rigged for computerised engine management anyway.

Personally, I'd look at a fuel injection setup before I'd look at changing the engine to a diesel.
Has anyone else got any ideas about this?

[Gasoline Fumes]

Why are you putting lye into biodiesel? The methanol and vegetable oils should be fine.

<a href='http://www.journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_make.html' target='_blank'>http://www.journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_make.html</a>
It's not really biodiesel without the lye. A two-tank system or real (processed) biodiesel is probably better than just thinning the oil. I plan to convert my parents' truck to heated oil with two tanks. It's cheaper than making biodiesel.

[3A-C Power]

Don't forget the bellhousing and front differential case are one piece, so you can't really swap the bellhousing. That's what stops us from putting the Corolla 1.8 diesels in.

[Typrus]

Well, it could still be custom-made. Unless I could just mate a VW diff/bell onto our setup via an adapter of some sort.
To make the BioDiesel you MUST process the veggie oil. You are lucky your LandCruiser hasn't just stopped. Very few standard diesels will run on veggie oil without significant system mods. The lye/methanol part seperates the methyl esters (BioDiesel) from the crap. The Bio floats on top of a layer of chunky lye-soap-like goo when the processing is done. NEVER put that in the system.
Check out JTF's site. I learned a lot there a few months ago.

[Lateer]

Interesting chemistry.
A trans-esterification reaction using no catalyst. Very, very interesting. Conversion of alcohol to alkali metal salt before attachment by addition of hydroxide. Using distillation, foam flotation, organic reactors, titration apparatus.
I'm impressed.
Well worth setting up as a hobby for a chemist/engineer. And I've got access to all the gear I'll need within the chemistry department.

And I've got a use for the glycerine evolved. Nitrate it...

And the thing is, it'll all work. Or it should from what I can see.
But does the setup costs outweigh the cost of diesel fuel?

I can see we're getting a little off topic here.

[tercel4wdrules]

Exactly what I was thinking about. I think I would use orange peel oil (I've heard it expensive) and my chemistry teacher did a little demostration of how well it burns right off the peel, but I think soot would be a drawback. There is also this plasma thingie using hydrogen to clean up diesel exhaust. I think it's called the Plasmatron. I believe it's used to reduce NOx. What would happen if you were to add pure 2,2,4 trimethylpentane to biodiesel? Or to gasoline? Why not run it off of methanol in the first place?

[Typrus]

Methanol is bloody expensive, is toxic, and is a little volatile.

Come on. A savings of $2 a gallon (in my area) is a very fast recovery from equipment cost. Just don't buy one of those crappy pre-fabbed reaction kits for home. Use a 5 gallonbucket, paint mixer, things like that. Or a 55 gallondrum linedwith silicone or some other HDPE equivalent material and use upscaled production processes. Its not hard to cause the process, just hard to get it right. Its not good to throw crap diesel in your vehicle. It'll clog the filter, eat thru your fuel lines (the lye) and other beautiful things. As long as you adhere to the instructions, you'll be all good.

[Lateer]

From what I was reading, you clean the biodiesel and neutralise it before it hits your tank. Then you don't have to worry about making your fuel lines pH change resistant. And if glycerine is the waste product, then the pH is essentially neutral anyway. If you're forming soaps, then you know you've got high pH. And the soap formation will lower that.

This isn't as daft as it sounds. All the ingredients are easily available and renewable (if you use ethanol, that is)

I think the addition of 2,2,4 trimethyl pentane would be a mistake. Are you simply looking for a power boost?

And you can run a car on methanol. It's just hot and eats all the metal parts. Even if they're hardened. Go look at top fuel dragsters...

The chemistry here is sound. It will work.
From that point of view it's fine.
However, the setup looks to the untutored eye like a big methamphetamine lab. And I'm not sure about the legal ramifications of manufacturing fuels for home use. Or whether the emissions are allowable.

[Typrus]

BioDiesels emissions are far less than that of normal diesel.
The main concern is that you don't let the glycerine settle completely out or that you don't seperate the esters from the glycerine properly when pulling the esters off the top. Like I said, as long as you do it right its all ok. You just need to be patient as the glycerine settles out.

Ethanol can be used? I didn't know about that. Heck, I can get Ethanol 85 (85% Eth, 15% gas) wholesale for about $1.60 a gallon in Denver... That beats the hell out of Methanol prices in my area (at least from "official" suppliers where quality is guarenteed) If I could easily seperate the 2 or just work out a deal for 100% eth, then I'd be set! Heck, if I told the Colorado Comission for Alternative Fuels that I needed 100% Ethanol (an alternative fuel) to make me some BioDiesel (alternative fuel) I'm sure they'd be happy to oblige, or at least tell me how to get the gas out of the E85. I'll try to call them later today.



Top Fuel dragsters use Nitro-Methane fuel. This is a liquid blending of nitrous oxides and methanol (along with other lovely chemicals)
I use the same fuel, in a lesser percentage, in my R/C engines. I use 20% NM while I think Top Fuel is restricted to 90%. That stuff BURNS like a mother!!! It actually, pound for pound, contains less BTU's than gasoline (less energy) but it has a much higher oxygen content, allowing mass amounts to be pumped in to your engine on the same carb or throttle body. So you make it go "boom" better. TF Dragsters use about 21 gallons per mile at throttle. In the quarter they use about 5 gallons of fuel, in all the 1-3 seconds they are at top throttle. Give you an idea?

[Typrus]

Oh yeah. I know the chemistry will work. A friend of mine showed me a little 2 pint sample being made (actually, about 8 2-pint bottles in various stages) and it was a cool process, thats for sure.