Retiring A Truck

[Tom Watson]

I took her papers on in February of 1987.

She was crisp and pretty then. Paint was so red that you could never again think of red without thinking about the color of that truck.

Sure, it was a small six cylinder but it could pull like blazes and the "poor man's four wheel drive" of the limited slip did wonders in the mud and snow.

She was a proud girl and hauled my tools and wood around for fifteen years without complaint.

When my knees got so bad that I couldn't work the shop anymore, she ran commuter duty for a couple of years, until I bought a little car to take up the slack.

I ran her dry on the turnpike one day and busted her head gasket a little bit but KW fixed that up right smart.

She's out in the driveway now and only goes out to pick up wood, or to take us on a camping trip, or a fishing trip. She picks up the odd plant or tree for the yard - something a little too dirty for the regular cars.

That's her retirement, to give us pleasure in our pursuits and not be chained to the day to day responsibilities of back and forth to work.

She only gets fired up on the weekends but this seems to be enough for her.

I would not like to be without a truck.

My old girl has made that possible.

God bless Henry Ford.

God Bless America.

God bless KW.

Regards,

Tom Watson

tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)

[John Emmons]

Get yourself a small diesel pick up and convert it to run on waste vegetable oil. Your fuel costs will essentially disappear. You'll need to do some labor or worse case, you stop by the store and pick up a couple gallons of oil at 2 bucks per.

John E.

[Zz Yzx]

I haven't been as lucky. I put 330,000 miles on my 1991 Ranger. But now there's some blow-by on the No. 5 cylinder. Just when the seat was starting to fit my butt really well.

I feel lost without it.

-Zz

Fri, 02 Jun 2006 21:47:16 -0400, Tom Wats>I took her papers on in February of 1987.

[Odinn]

On 6/4/2006 10:21 AM John Emmons mumbled something about the following:

It's a bit more complicated than that.

To run strictly on WVO (not biodiesel), you'll still have to start it with diesel on cold days (below approx 50F). Plus you need to strain out all the suspended solids before using it (quite time consuming).

To run on biodiesel, you'll have to have something to convert WVO to biodiesel. A small setup can be built for about $500 (producing about

35 gal of biodiesel per week). Your cost for converting that is about $25 for the methanol and lye. You'll also have to figure out how to dispose of the methanol laced glycerine that's left over.

WVO and BioDiesel are more corrosive than diesel, so fuel lines and such need to be upgraded to deal with this as well.

[John Emmons]

It may be a bit more complicated but the OP was talking about the cost of fuel, and for beating the costs of fuel, it's very hard to beat free waste oil. In only 2 attempts, I've already gotten a very good source for my waste oil car. Close enough to be practical and I'm doing a deal with the restaurant chain involved to let them promote their business on my vehicle. Everybody wins.

Depending on where you live you may very well be able to do without using any regular diesel to start the engine.

Biodiesel seems like too much work for too little gain to me. Unless you're driving cross country frequently and most people don't, a diesel converted to waste oil with a small filtering system set up at home or at work would be just about perfect.

Why someone hasn't come up with a city car with a small 4 or 5 cylinder turbo charged diesel set up to run on waste oil is beyond me. The first delivery/transit company to do so could literally start a transportation revolution.

Ethanol still requires gasoline, bio-diesel requires diesel fuel, waste or even pure veggie oil could become a real answer to the ongoing gasoline crisis. I'm not in the business but I'm in the process of acquiring a waste oil vehicle for personal as well as work use. Somebody with a bit of capital and some knowhow could make a fortune if they can find the market that is crying out for these sorts of vehicles.

[Odinn]

On 6/4/2006 1:17 PM John Emmons mumbled something about the following:

Even here in the deep south, we have MANY days below 50F. About the only places I can think of that wouldn't would be southern Florida and portions of southern California

Biodiesel has many gains, approx $.70 per gal vs $2.70 per gal of diesel, cleaner burning, and other benefits.

WVO has similar benefits, with the exception of trying to burn the glycerine as well, which cokes up the engine (glycerine requires about

1000C to burn cleanly). Certain fuel pumps (Lucas comes to mind) seem to go bad very quickly using WVO. WVO needs to be preheated, where BioDiesel doesn't. Most WVO conversions are dual systems, diesel to start and shutdown, WVO for operation. If you try to run on straight WVO, you'll clog your injectors if the WVO coagulates any.

Wrong, Ethanol doesn't require gasoline and biodiesel does not require diesel fuel. I don't know where you get those ideas, but they are false. WVO engines, OTOH, uses biodiesel or diesel in most applications. You might want to do a little more research before your end up doing a lot of work on your diesel.

[John Emmons]

The only ethanol available that I'm aware of is a blend of ethanol and gasoline, I'd be happy to be wrong. I don't know much about bio-diesel, was under the impression that it required some diesel fuel that was blended with the bio component. I sit corrected. Frankly, the idea of making bio-diesel doesn't appeal to me, filtering waste oil is much simpler and of course, cheaper.

As for the duel tank/ cold weather, the company that I'm working with uses a single tank conversion and have had no problems with over 500 vehicles converted so far this year alone.

The other issues you brought up are all covered in the conversion process. I'll keep asking them questions but I've been impressed with their track record so far.

I'm still amazed that there isn't more work being done in these areas, it seems like a no-brainer, obviously there are issues to be resolved, but given the state of the gasoline situation, where some published comments by the president of Iran can dictate how much we pay at the pump for fuel, the biggest no-brainer is why more people aren't jumping into the market.

John

[Prometheus]

It's not a bad idea by any means- have you done this yourself? I'm really a hack when it comes to working on engines, so it's got to be a fairly straight-forward project if I go this route. More likely, I'll eventually find a cheap junker to park in the backyard for use only when I need to haul something, but the veg. oil trucks have been floating around in my head for a little while now.

[Odinn]

On 6/4/2006 2:16 PM John Emmons mumbled something about the following:

Moonshine is ethanol, there's not gasoline in it. It will power an ICE just fine.

This year. What about the issues that will show up in 2-3 years from those conversions this year? Clogged injectors, deteriated fuel lines, etc.? What's their long term track record? How many conversions did they do 5 years ago? How many of those are still running without major issues?

1 year isn't a track record, it's only a beginning.

1) Do you realize how little WVO is produced per day? Do you realize how much diesel is actually used per day? There's not enough WVO to make up for it. 2) WVO is almost impossible (very impractical at best) to use in the colder climates. 3) A Diesel engine cannot burn hot enough to cleanly burn the glycerine in WVO, causing the engine to coke up, shortening the life of the engine between overhauls, not to mention the coagulating of WVO in the injectors on cool nights/days when not running.

You really need to do some more research before 'WONDERING' about these things.

[Odinn]

On 6/4/2006 10:40 PM Odinn mumbled something about the following:

I just want to say that I'm not trying to talk you out of going WVO, just trying to make you look at all the problems associated with them. I've thought of using WVO or creating BioDiesel for use in my tractor, but I don't use but about 5 gal of diesel a month in it, which, at this rate, would take several years to recoup the costs of any conversion.

[Tom Watson]

That's the sad thing, Leon.

She only has 163,000 miles on her.

She's too young to die.

Even for an East Coaster.

She did great on her fifty mile round trip of fishing yesterday, which is a good sign.

The fact that the nine year old finally started baiting his own hooks was an even better sign.

The fact that he finally took the helm of the mighty 42 lb thrust trolling motor and cozened the 14 foot tin boat to the dock was an even better sign.

The fact that he caught nine while Dad caught none - well, ...

It was a good day, in any case.

Regards,

Tom Watson

tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)

[Rick M]

"Tom Watson" wrote

YOUR catch doesn't need cleaning dockside though! Plus, it will remain with you longer than the 9 lunkers your son nabbed.

Indeed.