Defender 90 Dual Tank Veg Oil Conversion

just in case anyone is interested in making sure they don't make the same mistakes that i did (such as connecting the heat exchanger to the air intake) i've taken a video [nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMVOJEs9V3M"]YouTube - ‪Landrover Defender Veg Oil Dual Tank Conversion‬‏[/nomedia] after successfully installing a pollak valve, simple heat exchanger etc. from http://oilybits.com

some instructions and where to get the parts will be at http://lkcl.net/landrover/oilybits when i've written it. i've seen people saying that it's ok to put veg oil directly into the diesel tank, but in cold weather or when starting up i've already found that the engine struggles, and the general advice from sensible people is definitely to warm up the oil (70C) to avoid damage.

the cost of parts was under £250, which is pretty good going. advice from oilybits was not to skimp on the fuel line pipes (£5 per metre!) because the oils are corrosive and will eat standard PVC or rubber hose. i've took a few short-cuts on things like the location of the 2nd tank (passenger footwell) and missing out the pipe insulation, temperature indicator and priming bulb: these will be corrected at some point

i'm amazed that it works: the only thing is i get a drop in power, which to be absolutely honest i genuinely don't care about (except from a technical "purist" perspective), because the waste oil is free.

You are going to need jubilee clips on the hoses that are replacing the bypass hose, araldite just wont do long term, talking of which once the engine is up to temperature the thermostat actually shuts this hose of putting all the coolant through the radiator.
So when engine hot your heating system is not going to be that efficient.
Heater hoses would be a much better bet.
I thought i would just dig out my spare stat housing for a look see, and it looks like i lied, seems that when stat open the bypass then becomes the return for the heater circuit.
But years ago i plumbed a kenlowe hot start into this same bypass hose and it wasnt very good so i moved it over the other side and went straight into the heater hoses and it was much better



Lynall

hiya lynall, thanks for the advice

yes i kinda ran out of bits to get this together and not be stranded 9 miles from the nearest car accessories shop: i live a couple of miles from the penwhirn reservoir [translation: middle of nowhere]

so, um... where are these heater hoses, then?

l.

I don't know whether to take this seriously or not lol

p.s. I love the duck on the bonnet haha

Hilarious a wind up surely?

is this man for real

lkcl said:

i've seen people saying that it's ok to put veg oil directly into the diesel tank, but in cold weather or when starting up i've already found that the engine struggles, and the general advice from sensible people is definitely to warm up the oil (70C) to avoid damage.

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does 50km issue free miles pouring straight in without the expense and fannying about you waffle on about about make me foolish or lucky ?

a tired engine will certainly be somewhat down on performance for the first few miles when using unheated SVO/FWVO - heat imparted via the IP/returns is more than enough to negate the need to add additional preheating systems

The heater pipes are the ones that go to the heater matrix


Lynall

crowmann said:

Hilarious a wind up surely?

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no i'm serious all right. ok, the job's done, so i'm stuck with it, bad bits or not, so yes i might as well laugh about it. especially the huuge clouds of smoke emanating from the exhaust until the temperature guage gets up to 50%, then everything's fine. the reason is that the tank switches over absolutely fine but of course leaves some fuel in the lines... which end up in the diesel tank when you switch back. after testing this about 15 to 20 times i have significant amounts of the other fuel in the diesel tank... which then starts up on cold and whoops, clouds of smoke.

this can't be good, so i'm going to make sure that i a) keep the diesel tank topped up until b) i get two independent single-valves, two switches, flip one, then watch until pure diesel starts coming down the return line to the 2nd tank... and *then* flip the 2nd switch. this will ensure that only pure diesel goes back into the tank.

i've heard of someone else doing this but i thought "naah, that's overkill, it'll be fiiine" and... well... it's not really good enough. ok, if i hadn't done so much testing i'm sure the diesel wouldn't be as polluted as it is now...

1 3 port valve will avoid the wrong fuel being returned to the wrong tank - make sure you use genuine Pollak valves - the fakes look identical (apart from the spelling mistake on the casing)

lynall said:

The heater pipes are the ones that go to the heater matrix


Lynall

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thanks for responding, lynall. you mean the radiator, right at the front? assuming so, those pipes - they're huuge diameter, and i didn't feel comfortable cutting into those....

... oh wait, you mean the thing right at the back, near the bonnet hinge? ahhh yehhs, the one with the metal pipe that goes sideways to avoid a screw. yes, i'd looked at that, thought "hmm, maybe that's got the hot water in it" but i also looked at the length of radiator pipe i had (1 metre) and went "ah. that's not going to reach".

so... yeah, i think this will be an ongoing project, get some more parts. 2 more metres of radiator hose for example

appreciate the advice lynall.

Sean said:

does 50km issue free miles pouring straight in without the expense and fannying about you waffle on about about make me foolish or lucky ?

a tired engine will certainly be somewhat down on performance for the first few miles when using unheated SVO/FWVO - heat imparted via the IP/returns is more than enough to negate the need to add additional preheating systems

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there's lots of people who, on various forums, wish people such as yourself "good luck with that" as in "part X Y or Z is likely to be destroyed fairly soon" - injectors, pumps etc. etc.

i really want a setup where it'll run on pretty much anything (except petrol, meths etc.), so i *definitely* can't take risks - i'm seeing vast amounts of white smoke when cold, as it is (due to accidental excessive polluting of the diesel tank), and that really can't be good.

anyway - thank you for confirming that i appear to be the proud owner of a "tired engine"

Woody3 said:

I don't know whether to take this seriously or not lol

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weell... think about it: i'm messing with £3000 of equipment which, if i screw it up, i can't replace _and_ i'm stranded. so, not taking it "seriously" is a good way to be able to laugh rather than cry or freak out if it all goes horribly wrong. i have to say there isn't a chance in hell i'd do this with any other vehicle, though.

Woody3 said:

p.s. I love the duck on the bonnet haha

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it came with the landy, from two previous ebay owners ago, apparently. someone went to all the trouble of inserting a bolt up a rubber duck's bum and painting it silver.

my partner marie, who is from alaska and has lived in the far east for 20 years, asked if rubber ducks come with landrovers as a standard fitting. i should have said yes. damn, damn...

Sean said:

1 3 port valve will avoid the wrong fuel being returned to the wrong tank - make sure you use genuine Pollak valves - the fakes look identical (apart from the spelling mistake on the casing)

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*lol* yeah that sounds about right.

well, i've just been in contact with mr oilybits, and he's suggested that, because i have the 2nd tank coming into the cab, i might as well put a manual 3-port Lever valve in, instead. i can run the 2nd outlet from the valve baaack to the diesel return, through that hole i cut in the bulkhead. *sigh*. have to make it bigger - the clutch pedal's already in the way...

just an update on the ongoing bodge-it school of engineering...

* the araldite on one of those radiator hoses let fly last week. amazing that it held for nearly three weeks. i put a bit of copper pipe into one (two jubilee clips holding it so far), and managed to get the hose over the connector on the other.

* i found out that not having an air valve in the fuel tank generally tends to affect performance considerably, especially if the fuel filter has one of those buttons on the top that you can press to let in air. a vacuum will turn the fuel filter into an air inlet.

yeah it was great, driving along, watching the temperature guage climb to the higher end of the scale and then "pschrrrr", water and steam comes out the front. met some very nice neighbours who were happy to let me borrow their hose. twice...

i love this stuff. eventually, after enough messing about, it'll be either up to a suitable standard, or it'll be tolerable

lkcl said:

i love this stuff. eventually, after enough messing about, it'll be either up to a suitable standard, or it'll be tolerable

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my money is on option C

a fooked engine