The Smart Drive

Well, I didn’t really plan on getting two alternate fuel vehicles within a month, but life is funny sometimes.  Yes, after way too many months in the shop, the 2001 Golf TDI SVO vehicle is up and running.  It has become clear to me now that this car was on it’s last legs when I purchased it back in March.  Not only was the engine a 10 mile drive away from blown and injectors hosed, it turns out the turbocharger was destroyed.  On a test drive of the final install the turbo gave way and shredded itself :-/.  So, tack $300 onto the bill for a new (used) turbo and we are done; hopefully this used one lasts for a while, new ones are expensive!

While the car is up and running right now it’s only running on normal petro-diesel to break in the engine and work out any kinks.  I spent the weekend cleaning up the car (it was covered in dirt and crap, but I have to say is in damn good shape) and going over the Greasecar SVO system.  I shouldn’t be suprised, but the SVO install that was done to the car is absolutely horrid.  There are ground wires everywhere, building wire nuts joining wires, solid guage wire crimped to blade connectors, overheated barrel joints, and fuel lines looped everywhere.  Being an engineer I always look at things and try and figure out a better way, this is no exception.  Since I now have first hand experience with what a so-so SVO system can do to a car, over the next few weeks I am going to hook up the ideal SVO system.  Of course I will post my findings here for all to read.

That’s about it, check back soon for some video of the car in action and any updates on the modified Greasecar SVO system.

The engine is done! The short block was re-assembled at the engine shop and and has been delivered to the VW shop to be put back in the car. The VW shop started putting some of the long block together this week and found an issue with the clutch pressure plate. While the engine was being repaired I got it balanced to eliminate vibrations, balancing an engine involves attaching each part and finding any sources of vibration. To eliminate vibration, some weight is either added or removed from the part until it spins evenly. For more info on engine balancing, take a look at this link. It looks like some weight was added to the pressure plate and is now blocking another part when it is assembled to the rest of the clutch components. I’m not too happy about this since it means more time in the shop,

That’s the latest, stay tuned for more info.

Here is an interesting article about the efficiency of converting biomass into liquid fuel, vs using it to generate electricity for EVs. http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/05/biofuels-can-power-more-miles-if-used-to-charge-batteries.ars

Well I finally found a good diesel to run on SVO.  In fact I did one better, I found a diesel that already runs on SVO!

Here is a shot of my new 2001 VW Golf TDI.  This car has a kit from Greascar and has run SVO for over 40,000 miles.  I would have liked to do a custom conversion but the price this one was offered at I couldn’t pass up.  There is quite a bit of work that needs to be done on it.  For about 20,000 the owner was running with a detached air filter, resulting in particulate entering the engine and scoring the cylinders.  Cylinder #1 started to loose compression and needs to be bored oversize and oversized pistons put in.  Since I lack things like an engine lift, engine stand, unique engine tools, etc, etc I’ve found a shop in the area that will pull the engine, and a engine shop that will do the work.  I also plan to have a new clutch and water pump installed as well as have the head re-done.  All in all, it’s damn near a new engine in this bad boy!  I plan for an easy 100,000 after the repairs.

The guy who put the Greasecar conversion in the vehicle did a so-so job under the hood so I plan on fixing it up and make it look good (aka. a good excuse for me to rip it out and do it my way)… hey, in the words of Dr. Emmet Brown, “If you’re going to built a time machine SVO vehicle, why not do it with a little style?” Also, since I am an embedded computer guy, I plan on building a digital temp monitor and computer for the car to know temperature, flow rate, etc.

Check out my new youtube channel and intro video to the Golf and check back soon for more updates.

http://www.youtube.com/thesmartdrive
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcRv1wkvFrs

I am going to try and make quick posts about things I find on the net. That way I can remember the info and you the reader can check out the info!

These forums look like a really cool source for biodiesel and SVO discussion!

http://biodiesel.infopop.cc/eve/forums

I’ve always been interested in powering vehicles using fuels other than gasoline.  Every mile I drive in the electric conversion is more enjoyable because of the energy source. I’ve been a fan of electric vehicles long before I was a fan of vegetable oil (SVO) cars, actually there was a point where I thought SVO vehicles were a waste time and resources.  Here is how I became a vegetable oil vehicle fan and my plans for the future.

While on the 2001 and 2002 Tour De Sol with TeamEV I ran into a few teams with waste vegetable oil vehicles and biodiesel vehicles.  Honestly I have to say that I was less than impressed with the idea.  I was looking at electric vehicles as a new way to drive, they are clean , they are quite, they are efficient, why would someone want to burn vegetable oil?  Maybe it was because I had focused on electric vehicles that I was a little biased, I’ve also never been a huge chemistry guru and mixing chemicals is not my first idea for a good time,  maybe the word transesterification was too scary to deal with, whatever the reason, neither SVO nor biodiesel really interested me.

At the beginning of my career I moved to southern California for a job and ended up commuting 20 miles each way to work.  Driving 20 miles to work isn’t a big deal, got me home in 30-40 minutes.  This was in 2007, right when gas prices shot through the roof and I remember paying over $4.50 a gallon more than once.  Driving 40 miles a day was costing me about $30 a week in my little 28 mpg Jetta. The electric car would have been great to have, $1 a day in energy, top down all year long in SoCal, everything is within a short drive, lots of incentives to own an EV, etc.  However, the car was on the east coast and the cost of getting it out to California would out weighed any benefit from saved gas.  Plus, while work was only 20 miles away and within range, there were major highways on which even the slower lane was moving at 70 MPH,  mix in SoCal traffic and it is not the best.  I think I could have done it but it would have been pushing it.  This really underscored the range limitation of electric vehicles, at least those with lead-acid batteries, and started me thinking about other options.

This is where vegetable oil and biodiesel come in.  A vehicle that uses SVO and or biodiesel can still use regular petrodiesel which means that anything you can do with a diesel you can do with SVO/biodiesel.  Want to drive across the country? No problem.  Biodiesel and SVO also cover some major desires from sustainable energy vehicle owners; the range cap is very high, refuel in a short time, not cost an arm and a leg for fuel (or 100% free), and do not generate much pollution.

These realizations made me start looking into SVO systems and donor vehicles.  I don’t have a SVO vehicle yet, but am looking to replace my main vehicle with diesel modified to run SVO. While I plan on using this site to share results of using an electric car, I also plan on using the site for any developments in my SVO project. Here are some questions I aim to answer with an SVO car:

• Do you get better mileage with SVO?
• What other benefits do you see with SVO?
• Is the fuel really free?
• If the fuel is free, how do you make sure it will run and how much does that cost?
• Is the filter process a mess?
• Is it worth my time?

That last one might be a little hard to answer but I will try, haha.  Most of these questions are ones that I have and figured a few people out there might have too.

For more information on biofuels, check out the Biodiesel and SVO page and also visit again for updates and other info on EV and bio-fuel vehicles!