Where do I plumb in the coolant line for heating the WVO? I cant get ahold of the old man, anyway he would just pretend to know the answer and delay while he posted the question here.
Also, Do I need to spend the bucks on an in-line fuel heater like the VEG-therm or is thier a cheap alternative? I was thinking about runing the coolant through a copper line wrapped around the fuel line before it goes back to the tank. Would that be enough?
Also, how important is water seperation, and what is the alternitive to spending $250 on the heated water seperator? Can I seperate it cheaper when I filter it before it goes in the tank?

Lots of questions I know but I only have an hour each day at the public library. I might cheat and go to the library in the next town over later, Thanks guys!

Cheeky devil that THing One!

Anyway, I was just thinking about this on the way to work today.

I'd use the line that exits the head on the driver's side and runs to the heater. Plumb in a tee there and go to the SVO heater. THe outlet from the SVO heater should run to another tee placed in the hose that runs from the heater to the recirc pump.

Look on this forum or the BioDiesel forum link I sent you for a slick heat exchanger that someone made from copper plumbing parts. Very nicely done.

Also, search this forum and/or the BioDiesel forums for stuff posted by danalinscot. He's your man when it comes to these conversions.

Later,
Dad

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

Also, I think danalinscot has built a neat inline heater using a standard Autolite brand glowplug that's intended for Ford diesels. Search those forums.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

I ran a HIH from the head, back to my WVO tank. Ran the line through the Heater in my WVO tank then returned it to the heater hook up.

Water flows straight from the head, to my HIH, through my tank heater then back to the firewall and into the input port for the Heater Core.

This works well for me in the winter. When the vehicle reaches operating temp and I get strong heat I switch from diesel to my WVO.

I am running a steel brake line as my fuel line though. Does anyone have concerns or see problems with this? I originally had a 1/4" copper line but it turned green after a few thousand miles.

I also run injector line heaters.

When I first began running WVO I had very little heat and ran a one tank system. After a 300 mile trip for business, and parking the car outside with no way to plug in my little girl, I got about 20 miles home when the whole thing "gunked" up. It took me a long time to run all of that gummed up WVO out of my lines and system.

Since I've been heating, no problems at all!

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1982 240
460,000 miles total
140,000 on Rebuild

You’re going to want to get a flat plate heat exchanger and a heated fuel filter system. You don’t want the WVO getting cold inside the filter. The FPHE, is going to be better than the veg-therm, because once your temp is up to operating temp your good. And please don’t use cooper, it reacts to wvo. You can pick up a kit from Greasecar.com for around $1,000 and be done with it all. It comes with a complete kit, and if you want to really treat yourself for the long run get a co-pilot. They are worth every penny. Remember, don’t spend a dollar on anything until you have a clear understanding of your needs and your cars needs to run WVO. IF YOU DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME, YOU WANT HAVE TO DO IT RIGHT THE SECOND TIME.
You’re going to want to “T” into the coolant line coming out of your engine. That is going to be your hottest spot to get coolant. Then plumb that into your FPHE, and then into your wvo filter, then back to the tank is goes, then it leaves the tank and goes back into the “T” where the coolant goes back into the engine. Remember that the wvo has to be at least 160-180 before it hits your IP. Not just as it hits the injectors. Your IP is attached to the engine so 180 degrees isn’t going to do anything to it.
I wouldn’t spend any money on filters, hoses, or anything until you have a rock sold plan. That way you don’t waste time or money. Check out places like the infopop biodiesel, greasecar.com, frybrid.com and any other sites that you google for.
Good luck and keep asking questions.

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Professional greasecar installer
Austin TX


98 Jetta TDI with grease car kit + veg-therm (totaled)
87 MB 300SDL running on B99 / greasecar kit + 30 fphe
www.austingreaseguys.com

what kind of car is this?

tap the line going to heater core. run hot coolant 1st to heated veg filter housing, then to FPHE, then back to tank. Return it to coolant line exiting the res on its way back to water pump.

use correct heat (heated filter, and FPHE). There is no need for elec heat this side of the artic circle if you do this correctly. as somone else said, do it right the 1st time. good kit like frybrid or greasecar will be all you need.

you can use copper in any location that wont be in contact with air (ie, NOT tank). but i use aircraft aluminum tubing for fuel line run HIH. Plenty of heat, which is very important. make sure to purge properly, always shut down and start on D2.

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Paul
Benz-less
I need an SDL !

This thread got renewed exactly 6 years to the day after the original post date. Interesting.

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'81 MB 300SD, '82 MB 300D Turbo (sold/RIP), '04 Lincoln Town Car Ultimate

Sooner or later every car falls apart, ours does it later!
-German Narrator in a MB Promotion Film about the then brand new W123.

I'm curious to know about the pressure/flow rate going through the newly added lines. If I add a T to the water hose where it exits the engine would there be enough pressure to force warm water through an extra ~20' ft of line? Also, I'm thinking of simply wrapping the WVO fuel filter with the cooling line to heat the filter as Dana suggests. Does anyone have a reccomendation for a good line that will be flexible enough for this use? I'm thinking that if I use a smaller Interior Diameter for the new WVO loop then that should help keep the pressure up. I'm using HOH for this case, planning on spiraling it around the WVO fuel line to heat it.

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1983 300D TurboDiesel

OK, correct me if I am wrong here.....but at any given point in a closed system, the pressure is the same. For water to flow through 5' of hose or 100', it needs to naturally flow from on side of that new extension to the other. The key is to tap into two different parts of the coolant flow.

Smaller diameter does not increase pressure. One could argue that with a great enough drop in diameter, this can be the case, but the coolant will flow slightly faster.

I would recommend using aluminum tubing, warm it, and bend it around your filter. Once you are able to get it close enough such that you can still change the filter, try adding epoxy to hold that shape. Next add a wrap or two of foil backed insulation and a couple zip ties. This will provide greater thermal efficiency.

Funny that this thread was resurrected 3 years to the day.

To anyone else considering this process, read, read, read. There is plenty of info here:
http://biodiesel.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/frm/f/159605551

Google is your friend.

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83 300TD (need rear wiper assembly dead or alive)
84 300SD Daily driver
85 300TD almost 400k miles and driven daily.
98 E300D *sold
86 300SDL *sold and made flawless 10 hour journey to new home.

Ok, here's what I'm thinking for the 300d, please poke holes in my plan so I don't screw this up!
I'm going to T the coolant hose as it comes out of the engine, 5/8 ID i believe, then use that to wrap my WVO filter as seen here, http://voconversionbasics.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=3726199
Then I'm going to continue the coolant line from the filter to my FPHE, then back along the WVO fuel line until it reaches my heated fuel pickup, then back up along the WVO fuel line and finally T it back in to the coolant line before the radiator somewhere? Main concerns are these,
1. where should I T back into the line? It doesn't seem like a good idea to T back in right before the engine b/c then I'm creating a loop where the coolant never goes to the radiator.
2. Is all this (the heated filter, the FPHE, the HOH, the heated pickup) too much for one loop of coolant? Should I somehow break it up into more than one offshoot of the original coolant lines?
3. The FPHE I'm looking at only comes with 2 size fittings which are both hose barbs. Its either 1/2 or 3/4". Which one should I use? Is it a problem to neck down the size of the coolant line or increase the ID of the fuel line right before the FPHE?

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1983 300D TurboDiesel

Use 5/8 brass T's on the hose. The FPHE comes with 1/2 female NPT fittings.

Something like this.....

ok, so can I trust plastic fittings? It doesn't look like I have an option. I'm trying to find an adapter for the coolant hose to the FPHE, 5/8 hose barb to 1/2" male. This is what I found but only in plastic.
http://www.mcmaster.com/#barbed-tube-fittings/=7ykt9j
Will this be ok for hot coolant? Sorry, that link won't take you right to it. Here's the part number from McMaster Carr: 5463K129

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1983 300D TurboDiesel

Don't use any kind of plastic / nylon / pvc / abs / etc.. on coolant flows. Use brass fittings.

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Cheers!
Scott McPhee

1987 300D

Do you know where I can find some? I'm having a hard time finding the neck-down adapters in the needed sizes in brass. McMaster Carr doesn't have them and they have almost everything it seems like.

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1983 300D TurboDiesel

McMaster Carr has brass t's

91355K53

The fittings you listed are the right size but use brass.
Those are the hardest fittings to get at the local parts place. NAPA or Carquest will carry them.

You also need two 1/2 to 1/4 NPT reducers

And then two 1/4 male NPT to 5/16 hose to fit into the reducers.