The Beginning:
The problem was and still is good information:
I am a mechanical engineer with 10 years of product development experience for North American Truck Manufacturers and it took me forever pouring through countless forums and websites trying to piece together good information and a robust design for a conversion. I am not saying that there is not good information out there but to quote Cynthia Shelton of the now defunct National VegOil Board:
“The VegOil industry is a fragmented collection of fiefdoms that wage war with one another over the internet. At best the participants are brilliant innovators, articulate, charismatic, intelligent, and excited about the future and their role in it. At worst they are poor businessmen, unclear about the basics of customer service and responsibility to each other to build a strong industry before the professionals come in to take it over at a federal level.”
Sounds kinda harsh but, there is a lot of information out there and not all is good. I know you probably can just put it in and go….but I wouldn’t.
So you want to build your own kit?
Someone has probably already done it. It couldn’t be that hard, right? I have seen pictures, I know this guy that did it….
Enter WVOdesigns.com:
This site, forum, and file exchange center is set up to be built by the WVO community, for the WVO community. Engineering is not about being smart or even being able to invent. Engineering is about being able to document a product so that it can be repeated and improved. Iteration is where a refined design comes from; no one ever gets it right the first time. If you have a design of a kit or even a part of a kit, add it to the Design Forum. If you found a wicked source for jic hose or filter elements, post it on the Forum. I don’t think it will take all that much work to create the resource that I was desperately looking for when I set out to do my kit. I will start the site off with the design of my 2001 F350 and make some special requests to the people who designed kits I have found on the web. The rest is up to the WVO community and I wish it luck.
Leon Griffin, WVOdesigns.com