Skip to main content

Finally


(Wilbert's first blog entry) After much searching and much discussion, we've found the perfect truck for our WVO (waste vegetable oil) or SVO (straight vegetable oil) conversion. As Denise has told you all in a past blog entry, my search was getting pretty specific. 1994-1998 Dodge Ram 2500 Diesel truck, standard transmission, 4 wheel drive in a specific price range. So what you're looking at above is just that. Unfortunately this truck has been sitting about a block away from our house for the last two and a half weeks with a price tag that was too much for this Dutch boy. Every time I would drive by it would stare at me with, what our school custodian calls, "puppy eyes". After offering to drive 4 hours to purchase a newer diesel truck with less miles, for less money and trade straight up for what is seen above, the kind dealers in our hometown dropped their price.


Maybe by now you have a few questions.

Where did you come up with the idea for running a vehicle on waste vegetable oil?

  • my college roommate Andrew Kroeze who asked me about converting my previous diesel vehicle a 1992 VW golf. He converted a VW rabbit to run off of vegetable oil. After seeing it I said to myself "Self, that is amazing! I've got to do that someday."
How does it work?
  • The short answer. . .Diesel engines work by compressing air in their cylinders and then injecting atomized fuel into the cylinder when the air is most compressed. Vegetable oil burns similarly to Diesel so it can be used as a substitute when it is brought to a good temperature. Rudolf Diesel, even thought about vegetable oil as a fuel source while inventing the diesel engine. For more information check this out.
Why this truck?
  • It has the a Bosch P7100 Fuel injector pump which is a mechanical pump that is very "beefy" some people even call it "bulletproof". Pre 1994 the Dodge Cummins used a rotary style fuel injector then in 1994 Cummins switched to a very reliable inline fuel injector pump the P7100. In 1998.5 Cummins switched to an electronically controlled vp44 fuel injector pump which was not quite as reliable and needs constant and consistent fuel pressure to stay running.
Now comes the fun part of making the conversion a reality and there are a number of kits online to make this happen. Stay tuned and I'll keep you updated.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Perspective

I have already mentioned my "Word of the Day" screen saver that I have on my laptop that is hooked up to the projector in my room. I am learning that the words go in cycles a bit, so the same word will pop up in several classes during the day. Today's popular word was "entitlement." A fantastic word to share with teenagers who often think they are entitled to a whole lot of stuff. In fact, we as humans often think we are entitled to a whole lot of stuff when really we are fallen people who deserve nothing but death. We so often miss how wonderful and blessed our life really is and we get caught up on the little things. This video sort of puts that in perspective in a rather humorous way. I am by no means promoting this comedian, but if you take what he says to heart, it is so true. We live in an amazing world, created by an amazing God. We really should be happy with the blessing we have been given.
2 comments
Read more

An Afternoon at the Park

I am not a mom who spends a lot of time at parks and playgrounds with her kids. This is for several reasons.  1) I have to drive to any park and we all know packing up everyone in the car takes a bit of extra effort 2) Joash doesn't have a really good relationship with playground equipment yet. In the past, he has never wanted to go and explore a playground structure on his own, he didn't really like to swing and he didn't really like slides. So, that kind of limits the amount of fun one can have at a play ground. Why would I drive somewhere to have my kid pretty much want to just sit on my lap the whole time. We can do that at home. 3) Joash doesn't do well when there are too many unfamiliar kids around. Yeah, he is a bit shy and timid. So, he doesn't really like to go on anything that another kid is using. And if he is on something and another kid comes over, he gets off right away and runs to me. But, a new year has come and I thought we should try out...
Post a Comment
Read more

American Thanksgiving

One nice thing about being from two different countries is that we can celebrate more holidays. And since there are a few more people from the states here, last night we had our own American Thanksgiving feast. There were six couples and all of the wives and two of the husbands were from the States. So the Americans out numbered the Canadians, which doesn't happen very often. And we had a feast. There was turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans, bread, stuffing and three different kinds of pies for dessert and a pumpkin cake. It was wonderful. And the fellowship was great too. The hosts said there was no assigned seating, so the ladies all sat together at one of the table and guys at the other. It was funny how it worked out, but we had great conversations full of laughter. It was a great way to celebrate a holiday. Hopefully we have started our own tradition here.
1 comment
Read more