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Here are some photos of the SVO conversion recently installed by Fitian (MB300D81) in my ’97 Mitsubishi Triton ute. Once again Fitian has done a very nice job despite severe space constraints, there is certainly a lot less vacant real estate under the bonnet of a Triton compared to a MB300D.
It is a two-tank conversion, with veg oil going in the main tank and bio in a small start-up tank I made to fit against the front bulkhead of the ute back.
There is one 30 plate heat exchanger before the CAV filter and 6 port valve, and a second 20 plate heat exchanger before the injector pump.
The fuel hoses traverse the engine bay to take advantage of the space where the stock air filter used to be. (A pod type air filter was installed by the engine transplanter). And after being warmed by the 30 plate HE and filtered, it travels via the pollak, back across to the IP side of the engine. The stock fuel filter was repositioned to make room for the 20 plate HE, which is buried below the intercooler.
The project was complicated somewhat by the fact that the car has had an engine swap at some period in its life, the replacement engine I suspect is a later model complete with an intercooler, so there has been some cutting and welding to squeeze in an intercooler, together with some butchery of the wiring loom. This caused us several hours of anguish, which was not related to the conversion, but slowed the project down, as we had to track down other faults.
The start up tank is made from two lengths of 150 x 50mm hollow aluminium extrusion with capping plates welded on the ends.
Fittings were drilled and tapped into the end plates. One end has fuel feed and return with a sight tube...
...the other end with the filler neck and breather vent. The sight tube and breather connect the two chambers together.
This makes a good, robust tank for a working environment. It’s a bit on the small side, only containing about 10 liters of fuel, which means it needs to be topped up every couple of days. Maybe I’ll swap this for something larger if frequent refueling becomes too much of a hassle. I would have like to have put the second tank under the tub somewhere, but I crawled under the rear of the ute looking for a suitable space for the tank, with clear access for a filler neck, but in the end drew a blank.
I have only been running on veggie for a couple of weeks, but so far so good. The only teething problem was a CAV filter which preferred to suck air rather than fuel. I never really pinpointed the fault, although I suspect it was the central bolt that sandwiches the element between the top plate and the glass bowl. I reseated the O-ring chamfer, which was a bit rough, and it seemed to work OK after that.
I'd like to invite Fitian to add his perspective on this conversion as he did the bulk of the work and without his knowledge and experience I think I would have kept putting off this project.
It is a two-tank conversion, with veg oil going in the main tank and bio in a small start-up tank I made to fit against the front bulkhead of the ute back.
There is one 30 plate heat exchanger before the CAV filter and 6 port valve, and a second 20 plate heat exchanger before the injector pump.
The fuel hoses traverse the engine bay to take advantage of the space where the stock air filter used to be. (A pod type air filter was installed by the engine transplanter). And after being warmed by the 30 plate HE and filtered, it travels via the pollak, back across to the IP side of the engine. The stock fuel filter was repositioned to make room for the 20 plate HE, which is buried below the intercooler.
The project was complicated somewhat by the fact that the car has had an engine swap at some period in its life, the replacement engine I suspect is a later model complete with an intercooler, so there has been some cutting and welding to squeeze in an intercooler, together with some butchery of the wiring loom. This caused us several hours of anguish, which was not related to the conversion, but slowed the project down, as we had to track down other faults.
The start up tank is made from two lengths of 150 x 50mm hollow aluminium extrusion with capping plates welded on the ends.
Fittings were drilled and tapped into the end plates. One end has fuel feed and return with a sight tube...
...the other end with the filler neck and breather vent. The sight tube and breather connect the two chambers together.
This makes a good, robust tank for a working environment. It’s a bit on the small side, only containing about 10 liters of fuel, which means it needs to be topped up every couple of days. Maybe I’ll swap this for something larger if frequent refueling becomes too much of a hassle. I would have like to have put the second tank under the tub somewhere, but I crawled under the rear of the ute looking for a suitable space for the tank, with clear access for a filler neck, but in the end drew a blank.
I have only been running on veggie for a couple of weeks, but so far so good. The only teething problem was a CAV filter which preferred to suck air rather than fuel. I never really pinpointed the fault, although I suspect it was the central bolt that sandwiches the element between the top plate and the glass bowl. I reseated the O-ring chamfer, which was a bit rough, and it seemed to work OK after that.
I'd like to invite Fitian to add his perspective on this conversion as he did the bulk of the work and without his knowledge and experience I think I would have kept putting off this project.
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