Best veggie-oil kit?
 

Whats the best, and most affordable veggie oil kit??

the one you build yourself.


no really, thats a loaded question. there are so many types that you can do, and there are so many variables that make it hard to answer with a definitive one. car type, driving habits, time on road, type of veggie youll use(svo, wvo), climate. answer those, and what type of car you plan on converting.
i have been researching the kits for over a year and would love to go with a frybrid kit, but just cant afford that much. with a few upgrades, people have loved the greasecar kits as well. there are a few members here that have converted their cars, maybe they will chime in soon.

These are my top two:
Good- Frybrid- everything you will need to get the car running perfectly on vegetable oil- the downside is its huge pricetag of $1500-$2000
Best- Greasecar- just about everything you will need to get the car running on veg. The Greasecar kit does not use a heated tank pickup, a flat plate heat exchanger, or aluminum fuel lines. The Greasecar kit is totally coolant based, which is not very good for the winter months. With the addition of a Vegtherm ($99 electric fuel line heater from Plantdrive.com) the system is nearly perfect. It is true that the PEX fuel lines do not transfer heat quite as well as aluminum, but it gets the job done fine. The filter is heated in both cases and both have a water separator. Both sets of switching valves are good, but the GC ones are better by a little. The Greasecar kit is $800 including shipping.

I'm biased because I did this research a year ago and chose the Greasecar kit. The biggest issue for me was cost, and the Greasecar kit plus the one electric heater make the Greasecar kit the best option. I've been running with the GC kit and Vegtherm since last spring without problem (with grease, the car had other issues...). One other thing is that the Frybrid kit is done with electronic switch over from diesel to veg. based on the temperature of the car. The GC kit is a manual switch flip (I mounted it, the fuel gauge, and temp. gauge in the ashtray). I prefer the manual method, but that's just me.

If I were to do this again I would definitely do it myself. I calculated that buying all the gadgets separately (including a flat plate heat exchanger and Vegtherm) would cost a little less than a GC kit.

Hopefully this helped a little!

i have decided to do my own as well, for a LOT less than even the greasecar kit. and thats including a heated fuel pick up and a fphe. once i sort out my acc servo/aux pump,and making sure i can have the tank built up quickly, i will start the conversion. the tank will be the hardest thing to source out on your own, unless youre fine with using a plastic tank. just harder to make a heated fuel pickup on that.

Greasecar is NOT THE BEST I repeat NOT THE BEST... Of the readily available kits Frybrid is the best hands down. I base this on having owned and installed the Frybrid kit before, I have seen many greasecar and DIY conversions, and I have also done several of my own DIY conversions. That being said the best way to go is a DIY as Frybrid is pricey, however if niether of those is viable greasecar is an "ok" way to go.

Zack

I am another who has been researching and reading for several months on this subject.

I must admit that the more I read, the less sure I am that I want to take the plunge with this kit or that.

Not that you can't put together a system that will work very well, I am just stalling so I won't have to do it three times to get it right!

Plus there is that part of me that wants to do as little violence to a nice 24 year old car as possible.

So, I'll keep reading and cyphering. Perhaps one day I will fall off the fence.

retx - what part of town are you in?

Tim

45 and 1960. ...wheres copperfield?

1960 and 290. So we have about 50 stoplights on 1960 between us :D

Zack- he wants to know about affordability too.
Frybrid is the only one that includes everything you will need to get the thing running perfectly, true, but the price differential is huge between that and Greasecar. Just adding a Vegtherm makes the GC kit great. You could even add a FPHE and be a thousand bucks under the Frybrid kit. With some modifications, the cost/benefit points to the GC.

I also run a GreaseCar system with an added VegTherm Mega in my 350SD. It runs great - no real problems other than a pesky little tank vent issue that sometimes creates a vacuum in the tank if I fill it too full. And I'm still way below the price of a Frybrid system. I also prefer GreaseCar's manual switchover to WVO over Frybrid's automated system.

We have a GreaseCar system w/o VegTherm in my wife's VW Beetle TDi and it runs great, too. Switchover just takes a little longer without the VegTherm.

Journey to Forever, A Japanese based environmental group recommends an SVO system and gives the following details. These are all European based companies which seem to be difficult to acquire in the US, but appear to be very sophisticated and built by well established companies:

"Single-tank SVO systems

With professional single-tank SVO systems there is no waiting or switching fuels as with two-tank SVO kits -- start up and go, stop and switch off, just like any other car. The engine starts easily and burns cleanly from the start, even at sub-zero temperatures. (Supplementary heating is available for really cold conditions.)

Single-tank SVO systems are suitable for both Indirect Injection (IDI) and Direct Injection (DI, TDI, PDI) diesel engines.

The "secret" is specially made injector nozzles, increased injection pressure and stronger glow-plugs, in addition to fuel pre-heating.

Journey to Forever uses a single-tank SVO system. They're the only SVO kits we recommend.

They are made by three companies, all in Germany. They are:

Elsbett Technologie, who have more than 30 years at the forefront of using vegetable oil fuel in diesel engines.

VWP, Vereinigte Werkstätten für Pflanzenöltechnologie ("combined workshops for vegetable oil technology"), founded about 12 years ago by former Elsbett employees.

WOLF Pflanzenöltechnik (WOLF vegetable oil technology) have been providing advanced single-tank SVO systems since the mid-90s.

Best veggie-oil kit?
 

One that runs on Diesel.

I'm with the Greasecar guys. I like having manual control of the system. It is true, though, that you need to augment it with some other heater in the winter. I just got a set of injection line heaters, but haven't installed them yet. Those will allow me to cut over to veggie oil quicker. I also have annoying little problems that occasionally cause blips in my fuel delivery, but these problems are not insurmountable. Just requires time, patience, and some troubleshooting skills. I haven't read up on the Frybrid discussion board to see how many of their customers are having problems with the system, but my guess is any of these WVO systems will add to the potential of problems, especially fuel and air leaks.

Not to stir this thread up any, but is a kit REALLY needed? I have been running on really WELL filtered wvo for a year with virtually no problems whatsoever. I run 85% wvo, with a little RUG mixed in, and a bit of kero, and even on the coldest of days (16 degrees so far) I have had no problems starting the car or while driving.

You may not have had problems starting the engine, but the injection pump is sure working hard to pump that 16* oil.