Hello all!

I have been lurking around for the past few weeks, and I can see that this forum has some great information, and some really experienced people.
I'm currently just wrapping up my first semester of college at Virginia Tech, and iImet a guy down here who converted his GMC pickup to run on WVO a few weeks back... and now I'm hooked on the idea

I told my parents about my idea, and they agreed to keep their eyes open for some sort of diesel vehicle on the cheap. luckily my parents have great connections, and my mom was able to find me a 1984 Mercedes 300D.... for FREE!

...Theres a catch though: there is something wrong transmission-wise (now, as i am in Virginia, and things didnt work out over break, i have not been able to experience the problem). Supposidly, when it shifts into 3rd gear, it acts as though it is in neutral. This doesnt scare me too much as I have located a free replacement transmission and I am not afraid of the work. but if anyone here knows the cause of this that woud be amazing because I have not been able to find anyone with a similar problem on the internet. The car has 170,000 original miles on it, and is in excellent shape, so i feel like it is worth fixing up.
p.s. its a non-turbo

my plan is thus:
1. fix transmission
2. convert to run on WVO
3. stick it to the gas-man

After reading all sorts of posts and other websites, I have made several decisions regarding the WVO setup I want.
I want to use 2 tanks. I will keep the main one for diesel, and add a 20+ gallon tank in the trunk for veggie oil.
I will use one pollack 6 port fuel valve
and the rest I want to be as simple as possible.

so my question to you all is; What is the bare minumum? (in terms of heating the fuel)
this car will be seeing temperatures as low as 15 degrees F.
Ideally, I want to utilize electric heaters and route the lines near (but not too near) the exaust to pick up a little heat, perhaps using some sort of heat shield to be safe (i will do lost of testing with a thermometer first of course)
Now, i have seen glow plug heaters, electric heated filters, injection line heaters, and others. where/how many/what is nessicary to ensure that the fuel is the correct temperture, bearing in mind the engine is the final heat exchanger (i thought that video was awesome)

I want to do this right, but at the same time I am looking to cut corners and save money wherever I can, it doesnt have to be elegant, as long as it works and can be fixed easily.

Thanks in advance for your help
Onto the pics:

Welcome.

That's so cool...a Merc for free!

15F...that converts to -9.4C Fahrenheit to Celsius Converter
....there will be issues with temps that low but not unsolvable. Where I live temps often go below freezing (0 Celsius) overnight during winter.

"Down under" metrics are used as everyday forms of measurements, though many of use older ones understand the US/imperial systems. To make life interesting US and Imperial gallon are different amounts, 3.8 and 4.54 litre respectively. Online Conversion - Volume Conversion
(Just something to be aware of)

The heat from exhaust to warm the vege is one that has been talked about a lot. It's certainly free heat. Without having used it for this purpose, I believe the biggest obstacle will be controlling the amount of exchanged heat, so that it's not too little or too much. By contrast the heat from engine coolant is extremely stable.

Many and varied opinions are posted here, so it's over to you to cherry-pick them.

Please feel free to ask any questions you want. There are many who will be enthusiastic to help.

My thoughts.
Coolant is the best way to go, only because it is a constant temp. Wont get to hot or cold.
Remove fuel tank and clean out, in preparation for it to become the veg tank. (after all on a long trip, you will use lots of veg oil, not diesel, add 20 drum for the diesel tank) Braze heating coils to the front/ back/ bottom of tank. run coolant lines next to fuel lines to keep warm to and from tank, run coolant through the pipes you have brazed to the tank. (I havent done this, but 5dec C is cold here)

Under bonnet perhaps a flat plate heat exchanger or custom made one, and wrap filter in copper hose with coolant in it.

Somewhere on the forum is "tony from west oz" and my cars have some details on how we have done them.

__________________
cheers
Chris.
1990 landcruiser 80, 1HD-T two tank, copper pipe HE+ 20 plate FPHE, toyota solenoids and filters. 1978 300D, elsbett one tank system.

famicom21,
Welcome to the Forum. There is polenty of free advice here, you just need to examine it carefully and decide for yourself which path to follow. I posted my conversion information here a couple of years ago.

Australian members of this forum have never experienced temperatures that you are going to have, so here is my list of suggestions to allow you to cope with these temperatures.

1. Heated fuel tank. If your oil remains liquid at 15°F, don't worry about heating the tank. Otherwise, ensure that you can melt the oil in the tank by adding some form of tank heating, particularly around the fuel pickup.
2. Fuel lines under the car (fuel flow and return). This is where you could have the most problem with the fuel solidifying. Ensure that you heat the fuel lines, either as a Hose in Hose (HIH) or as a Hose On Hose (HOH). Search for both of these terms to get construction details, or come back here later and I will provide them for you.
3. Fuel filter - If the oil solidifies in the fuel filter it could take a long time to melt it. Wrapping the filter canister in small bore copper or rubber hose (fuel line), with coolant flowing through it, will assist in heating the fuel filter.
4. Main fuel heating. A flat plate heat exchanger will provide free heat to the fuel (a GP heater costs power and risks draining the battery if other accessories are in use (rear demister, heater fan, lights, etc) This should be located immediately before the IP.

I also do not recommend exhaust heat, as it is uncontrolled and could overheat the oil.
Coolant heating is the simplest and most reliable heating available and it is thermostatically limited to the correct temperature for the oil.

I am surprised that you have an '84 USA MB 300D which does not have a turbo. I understood that they were a standard fitment from around '82 in the USA, but never here in Aust (pity).
The VIN plate is not clear but it looks like 1976 to me.
Hey, don't worry, it looks good and for the price, if you could afford to throw $2K at it, have most problems ironed out, and still have a great car for the price.

Transmission.

If the tranny has the correct fluid level and the fluids and filter are clean, then you should be planning to replace the transmission soon.

double post... sorry

The 1970 that you see is the gross vehicle weight(I had to zoom in to see ). I think I saw on the registration that it was an 84.. or it was on some other tag, I dont remember.
I doesnt have a turbo because its a grey-market import straight form germany... its missing some other bells and whistles as well (such as A/C, leather seats, center console, etc.). ive been told it has less emmissions stuff, and as a result has 30 more horsepower than the normal non-turbo version.

as far as the transmission issue goes, im probably going to end up taking it out and attempting to rebuild it (or just replace the friction disks).. whats the worst thing that can happen?, its already broken

Regarding WVO.... I don't really know what to do now haha.
If I were to use coolant, what would be the bare minimum needed? 5 feet of HIH and a 30 plate exchanger?

Electrically speaking, what would be required?

At this point I am thinking of combining the two systems, using coolant up front, and electric in the back. Is this a probable idea?

I cant wait to get home this weekend and start experimenting.

The possibilities are endless. Consider it as experimental. What works for one doesn't always work for others.

Determining the gell point is crucial to the direction you will take. If it's liquid at your lowest temps you encounter, you have less problems to wrestle with.

Monitoring the veg temp as it approaches the injector nozzle is very enlightening as to what's really going on. Ideally, you want it somewhere close to engine temp. I suggest something like this probe: Jaycar Electronics=
5ft of HIH and injector heaters is enough for my Hiace. I have a probe permanently fitted.

For some more ideas you are welcome view my blog and use any ideas to your liking: Vege van....Toyota Hiace

TBird - if you are permanently mounting that meter to your dashboard, aren't there any more elegant solutions around? Do Jaycar do a simpler temp probe that has a small LCD (or even an analogue one) you could mount neatly in the dash at all?

__________________
Sean

faircom21,
I operate my vehicle in similar temp conditions using the installation method descirbed by Tony in his reply.
Sorry, I don't have a Merc, I drive another class automobile - Nissan Patrol
My oil tank is under the tray so my biggest problem in sub zero temps is the chilling effect on the tank, the FPHE in the engine bay has overcome this problem. As Tony mentioned the oil in the tanks only has to be liquid so that the HIH & FPHE can bring the oil up to full temperature. All of my heating is by coolant, no electric heating is used at all, including a custon made heater for the CAV filter. This fits between the filter element & the glass bowl and is heater by coolant again.
Before the great crash of '07 I posted a diagram of my setup & have included here again.
The diagram shows a "Loop" of WVO when the engine is operating on diesel. This allows very rapid heating of the WVO components in cold conditions.

Attached Thumbnails

 

cool, thanks for the advice.

I think that when I get home, I will start by tring to fix the tranny, then I will hit up the dump and see what I can find for random parts from toasters, fridges, anything involving heating and cooling (I love to bodge things .... and im cheap), and then ill just do some experimenting with a thermometer and some different ideas.

I think I will look into a glow plug heater also.
does anyone know the flow rate of the fuel pump on this car?
If I'm feeling ambitious, I will do some number crunching here and try to learn something about heat transfer