aftermarket flexfuel vehicle mods

[erehwon]

they seem to be a wealth of information... but what's with the badly-photoshopped image on their home page pretending to show their "new filling station"? it kinda made me think the whole website was some sort of joke until i read more of their material.

Yeah their website is not all that hot, but I can say the same about a number of up and coming security companies sites too.

Honestly I have been tracking their stuff for about a year, and looking into their competitors, the LoveCraft product hands down is probably the best bet as you don't need seperate tanks as many of the other companies in this field require. The LoveCraft unit uses the same tank as the diesel and you can run diesel in at the same time as filling up at Costco with new veggie oil.

I'd love to find an old diesel station and get veggie oil trucked in, and have some old gearhead named Merle in the back installing these kits on old Mercedes Benz 300TD's.

[skroo]

Yeah their website is not all that hot, but I can say the same about a number of up and coming security companies sites too.

I dunno... If anything, it fits the neighbourhood the station is in :)

Honestly I have been tracking their stuff for about a year, and looking into their competitors, the LoveCraft product hands down is probably the best bet as you don't need seperate tanks as many of the other companies in this field require. The LoveCraft unit uses the same tank as the diesel and you can run diesel in at the same time as filling up at Costco with new veggie oil.

You know, after reading through their site again I have some questions as to what their conversion actually consists of; if they're sticking to a single-tank design, my guess would be that they're replacing the fuel lines, any seals in the fuel delivery system, and possibly ones in the injection pump to cope with biodiesel's higher lubricity.

The thing is, a second tank shouldn't be required anyway unless you're planning on running waste or straight vegetable oil. They don't really distinguish between the different types of fuel, so I'm wondering what it actually is that they're doing there. I think I'll swing by this weekend and do some probing; they're pretty local to me.

I'd love to find an old diesel station and get veggie oil trucked in, and have some old gearhead named Merle in the back installing these kits on old Mercedes Benz 300TD's.

Naw, look for a 1987 190D with the turbo. This was the only year for the turbodiesel in the 190, and the performance advantage is worth it. Also, being lighter it's more economical overall. You'd be lucky to average 22mpg in a 300. 190 turbodiesels can hit the low 30s if driven right.

[Deviant Ollam]

if this truck were being sold for closer to $1,000 instead of $2,000, i'd grab it and turn it into a biofuel project.

[skroo]

I think I'll swing by this weekend and do some probing; they're pretty local to me.

Swung by but they were closed for the weekend. Gah. I'll check into them this Saturday.

[skroo]

I finally got around to swinging by Lovecraft Biofuels this afternoon. To put it bluntly, I'm completely underwhelmed.

- Attitude and first impressions count for a lot. When you're a stinky hippie playing holier-than-thou because <insert media outlet here> paid attention to you, people who bathe will fail to give a flying fuck about you or your business.

- Why an angle grinder would be considered a tool suitable for use in the engine bay of a roadgoing vehicle is beyond my comprehension.

- When someone asks to test-drive a car, telling them that the only way they can do that is by putting down a 50% deposit is probably not conducive towards generating any good-will from them.

- When that car is the least-desirable blue-and-gold plate (read: 1984/5) Mercedes 190D with the 2.2-litre engine and automatic transmission and you want five thousand nine hundred non-haggleable Yankee dollars for it after conversion, that car had better come with hot and cold running blowjobs for a year. I can't even get values on that car from Kelley Blue Book anymore - they only list '86 and up, which had the 2.5-litre engine. And that particular car, in excellent condition, located in ZIP code 90001, and with 100,000 miles on the clock, books at $1250 for a private sale. There is no such thing as a $4650 biodiesel conversion, PERIOD. These people are ripoff merchants, plain and simple.

- At this point, I'm concentrating on getting the guy to sell the $500 Renault Alliance Convertible I found the other day that he doesn't want to get rid of. It's a basket case (rust-free, though), but for another $500 I can get it through smog, and at a 30mpg average it's doing better on fuel than the biodiesel-conversion Mercedes. And by spending six times less on its purchase and refurbishment overall, I don't have to worry about trying to amortise out $5000 in fuel.

I hate people like this - their lack of rationality is basically making those of us who see this as a realistic solution to fuel economy and emissions look like complete and utter fucking idiots by association. Goddamn hippies.

erehwon, if you want a rust-free diesel (or turbodiesel) Mercedes, shoot me an email and I should be able to locate one and trailer it out to Defcon for you if you're serious about it. The conversion will be up to you, but at least I won't be trying to ram you up the ass on the purchase price. Just cover whatever the car itself costs plus a U-Haul trailer and one-way fuel costs from L.A.

[Deviant Ollam]

i noticed on their web forums a number of threads in which people would post things like "you don't really need two tanks for a biodeisel conversion... you can run on straight vegetable oil if you're in a warm climate" etc and then the site admin would often post "no no no! this is wrong! there is no way to run on a single tank! you can't just put your oil right in a stock deisel." etc etc. seemed like they were very serious about doing mods for people as opposed to giving information so folks could play with things on their own.

[skroo]

i noticed on their web forums a number of threads in which people would post things like "you don't really need two tanks for a biodeisel conversion... you can run on straight vegetable oil if you're in a warm climate" etc and then the site admin would often post "no no no! this is wrong! there is no way to run on a single tank! you can't just put your oil right in a stock deisel." etc etc.

Which is funny, because apparently they only do single-tank conversions according to the guy I spoke to yesterday.

seemed like they were very serious about doing mods for people as opposed to giving information so folks could play with things on their own.

This is pretty much the impression that I got. Then again, when they can charge $5000 to convert a $1200 car (which is about four times what it really should cost), it's easy to see that they have a business to protect by selling to those who don't really know what's involved with doing this.

[mfreeck]

Re: aftermarket flexfuel vehicle mods

I have not been following this thread closely, but I thought I'd post this link: http://www.greaseworks.org/

I make no claims about how great they are... I don't know anything about them, other than poking about on the page for awhile, but the seem to be better than the other page you were describing.