alternative fuel LX450?

[azrider]

Heres one for ya guys. What would it take to convert my 97 LX450 into a vegetable oil burner? I know you need to replace the gas engine with a diesel engine and by the conversion kit and have someone install it all, but what engine would you possible use and what would it cost? Has this ever been done before? I was just watching re-runs of Rob & Big and Big Black did it to a Pinto and it got me thinking. I plan on keeping my truck for quite some time and was wondering if this was even doable. What do you guys think?

 

[CodyRx7]

Its like a hundred billion dollars to convert your truck....

Then you have to collect the oil, process it....

Or you could just drive it less and invest a fraction of that overall cost into a more economical diesel vehicle and enjoy the mileage, or consider converting that vehicle to play with the veg oil....

Either way, I've seen this idea brought up and shot down 1000 times this year alone.

On another note, I was told I'd never be able to drive my vehicle with it's suspension configuration, fit 39" tires, and that my tires would grenade my axles in mere seconds if I tried..

It's my daily driver and has been for 2 years of wheelin and street drivin.

Prove everyone wrong.

 

[MadTripper]

You'd probably have an easier time converting to methane. Feel free to read here:

Bate's Methane Car

There is some great info available on converting to biofuels however like Cody mentioned, very pricey and by the time you were done, it would make more sense to get a 5 cylinder Mercedes or something and use that.

Tripper

 

[IdahoDoug]

Too much money to convert, too little money saved. It would pay off if you drove 100,000 miles a year in about 2020. These are 3 ton pigs and were never designed to be good with a gallon of fuel.

DougM

 

[azrider]

im still gonna explore this option a little longer.....just for fun.

 

[lt1fire]

not really that hard if u got the coin and the no-how. there is a few diesel converts on this forum and one just got done and is documented in the diesel forums here. there is also a recent post about on here about someone making their own bio. basically if you are just doing it to save noney on gas it isnt worth it. but my reasons to do this swap smetime soon are, stop sending my money to the middle east, cheaper gas, more power, greener, diesels last longer, i love the way the sound in off roading rigs and i believe bio diesel and fuel cells are going to be the fuel of the future and i plan on keeping my rig for a long time.

 

[azrider]

I want to do it for a few reasons, the environment, the price of gas, a diesel engine. I dont have a lot of know how, but could most likely pull it off financially. The wife is all for it, she drives a Prius and takes her own bags into the grocery store.

 

[IdahoDoug]

I want to do it for a few reasons, the environment, the price of gas, a diesel engine. I dont have a lot of know how, but could most likely pull it off financially. The wife is all for it, she drives a Prius and takes her own bags into the grocery store.

So three reasons, eh? One of them is merely to have a diesel engine and you can't argue with achieving that. But due to the price of gas you're going to spend MORE than the gas would have cost? Um.....OK. So that reason doesn't make sense. Let's go to the environment reason. You will put far more crud into the air converting this vehicle to diesel than if you continued to operated it as a conforming gasoline vehicle with its gasoline engine and catalytic converter and emission control systems. Unless you plan to convert it to diesel, and THEN spend an obscene amount of money bringing it up to the new diesel standards like the Mercedes Blutec diesels achieve. There's no way you could achieve that, but I'm just saying your goals are not well thought out.

In the end, you'll spend more money per mile, pollute more per mile but will achieve goal #3 - a diesel engine while dissing the environment.

DougM

 

[lt1fire]

he titled the thread alternate fuel so im pretty sure he wants to run bio.

 

[IdahoDoug]

That's true, and supports my point. A vehicle burning waste vegetable oil is perhaps the filthiest vehicle on the street. Compared to now available clean diesel fuel, wvo was not designed for use in an automobile and doesn't burn as clean - not by a long shot. So, he wants to spend a bunch of money to create a vehicle that puts out as much pollution as perhaps 10 gasoline powered 80 Series LandCruisers. Don't believe me - do some google searches on the emissions of a wvo vehicle. They're filthy.

Makes me laugh to see hippies driving around 20 year old diesel Rabbits with wvo stickers on the back bumper and think they're helping the enviro as they leave a cloud of nice smelling smoke. Little Al Gores driving around completely ignorant of the actual facts.

DougM

 

[Hilux]

uh....? corn liquor?.....I'd bumper up to about 10:1-12:1 get a piggy back (a plug in computer for timing that goes through the factory) are you're home free...

YouTube - Steve Earle - Copperhead Road

well.....

 

[IdahoDoug]

I have no idea what you are talking about. 'Splain, please?

DougM

 

[Hilux]

Heres one for ya guys. What would it take to convert my 97 LX450 into a vegetable oil burner? I know you need to replace the gas engine with a diesel engine and by the conversion kit and have someone install it all, but what engine would you possible use and what would it cost? Has this ever been done before? I was just watching re-runs of Rob & Big and Big Black did it to a Pinto and it got me thinking. I plan on keeping my truck for quite some time and was wondering if this was even doable. What do you guys think?

Dirty Jobs did an epose on it a while back, fine if you've got an extra 30 hours a week to devote to it


it is VERY, VERY time consuming and if you're not the "I change my own oil, spark plugs and rebuild my engine while I'm at it" type I wouldn't recommend it.

 

[Bluetribal]

I would be worried about Bears attacking you in the woods going after your fire smelling rig....
And if bears aren't happy then it can't be environmentally friendly...

 

[Atoyot1031]

Try searching. There have been a bunch of threads on this topic.

 

[Hilux]

Try searching. There have been a bunch of threads on this topic.

all with the same ending.....well most. they resemble this & this

 

[lt1fire]

i know wvo isnt exactly the cleanest around but are u saying that bio diesel isnt clean?

 

[IdahoDoug]

Yes I am. Convert an 80 to diesel with an older Toyota or domestic diesel and start running diesel OR biodiesel, OR wvo through it and you're pumping far more crud into the air than if you'd left it as a fully emissioned original gasoline engine. So I guess I'm not specifically saying there's a problem with bio, just that the whole "diesel conversion so I can flash the peace sign and wear hemp" thing is misguided.

DougM

 

[BenMara]

ButylFuel,LLC Main Page

 

[azrider]

Wow, thats all kind of a eye opener!! This is my train of thought(however wrong it might be). I was thinking a cleaner burn of cheap or free fuel, no more gas fill-ups and being able to drive it more without thinking about the price of the next fill up. Then having a diesel engine that lasts forever. I wont lie, to me there is a "cool" factor with driving something different, but if it pollutes like some of you guys say, to hell with that. I havent done a whole lot of research on the subject and now I have some questions to be answered. I was thinking in simple terms, I buy a diesel engine, find a reputable company to install and do all the work and after I plop down the chunk of change im off to a fast food rstaurant to fill up or have some homebrew concoction sitting at home. I never claimed to know a lot about the subject as you can tell. I just like to do my part for the environment. My wife drives a Prius and we take that practically everywhere, recycle, low energy light bulbs, and even take my cloth bags to the stores when we go shopping. Anyway, you guys have some good links to look at on the great debate??