Selecting a Vehicle

I remember the first grease car I’d seen. It was going uphill on the highway, just north of San Francisco in scenic Marin County. The old, light brown colored Mercedes was certainly dogging it up the hill being passed on the right and left. As I came upon the car, I was intrigued by the dried and dirty streaks of grease running down the car’s body from various angles. Also, somewhat noticeable was the magnificent plume gray smoke trailing from the Mercedes, tainting the views of the ever scenic and pristine Marin Headlands. Upon final approach, it became clear the seeming reason for this oddity and its deficiency. I noticed a large sticker covering the back window stating Powered by Vegetable Oil This would be enough to turn me off from the WVO idea completely until I began to see other cars and even trucks at festivals which were converted to run on WVO. These cars weren’t dirty, some of them were new and it was claimed that they had full power. As soon as I found out you could run a Truck on WVO (I had a landscaping business at the time) I got the bug, the itch, the unyielding and obsessive desire to burn waste vegetable oil!

Dr. Rudolph Diesel developed the diesel engine way back in 1895. Rudolph concentrated on and preferred the vegetable fuels, especially since they could be produced locally. He valued supporting farmers and the agricultural community, and were (and still are) constantly renewable. The fuel we call diesel is actually a by-product of the gasoline production process. The powers that be (and still are), Big Oil, adopted and promoted Rudolph’s engine as it would burn this byproduct and thanks to the adaptability of the diesel engine, the by-product became a fuel was dubbed Diesel.

In theory, any diesel engine can be converted to run on WVO. Some will take to oil better than other and some diesels are more practical to convert.

Factors involved will be:

1. Budget - (for the vehicle and modification process... filtration unit too...) You can generally get a loan for 1996 or newer cars.
2. Vehicle’s primary use – Just as in any car purchase, buy a vehicle suited to your needs. I had a friend convert and restore a VW Truck $$$$$. It is now a permanent fixture in his garage as the truck wasn't big enough to haul around him and his dogs.
3. The Ease of modifying and availability of parts for these cars - You will probably not find a kit for a Volvo diesel; however suppliers can tailor a kit specific to your needs. Some cars and trucks are much simpler to modify than others. Mercedes are the most common conversion and the early 80s MBZ diesels generally the cheapest to modify with many options for conversion kits and parts. There is also a healthy array of truck modification parts on the market today.
4. How the specific vehicle has held up to WVO modifications - Are there any issues that have come up? Does that drive up the cost or does the car require more specified modifications...