Thank You

I know the photo I've choosen what will be controversial but we need to remember the sacrifices that are being made. That the freedoms we enjoy come at a great price. To just wrap myself in the flag and think I've done my part would be wrong.

Tomorrow our nation pays homage to those who paid the ulitmate sacrifice in order that we, and others, can live in freedom. I don't wan to get to deep into politics but there is a connection between the use of bio and alternative fuels that will enable us to save the lives of our brave military personnel.

To all the men and women in military service, thank you for your selfless sacrifice.

While I'm searching

While I haven't found a diesel car yet that shouldn't delay me from designing and creating the components needed for my system conversion. That way I'll be ready to install the parts once I find a car. I'll share the fruits of my labor and take any suggestions for improvements as they come in.

I figure the parts I will be making are:

-Fuel Pickup heater for WVO trunk tank
-Filter Heater
-Gather my fuel relays and switches
-In line WVO temperature monitor
-In line fuel filter for last filtration on WVO
-Settling and Filteration station for gathered WVO
-Hose-In-Hose fuel delivery ( this I may save for last as to enure I make the correct length)

This should keep me pretty busy with what spare time I have between work and family.

New kit provider

I just found this new kit from Golden Fuel Systems http://www.goldenfuelsystems.com/. What I like most about thise group are their informative videos on collecting WVO, water testing WVO, engine as the pre-heater, and more!. There's a lot of free informative videos that go a long way of answering a newbies or doubters questions.

Time to wake up

Well I got so wrapped in my excitement of getting a new car that I lost sight of the fact that the cars I was contemplating were out of my budget goals. So, this means I'm back to my original goal and dream of finding an 85-87 Mercedes Benz diesel.

While these cars are heavier and don't get the mileage that the TDI's do they still are a better than a gas car. With gas going for $3.59 here in Indianapolis and diesel still at $2.89 the savings and choice are pretty clear.

Man to only win the lottery and then any diesel I could dream of would be mine! So much for dreams.

The Economics

So if you visited my sight or others, dealing with WVO conversion or just diesel, your probably wondering what are the actual economic savings. So, today I will attempt to provide and overview of just the savings one can gain by just driving a diesel Beetle. Let me start by saying I'm no Harvard economist but I think the numbers and math are pretty simple here. So, lets get started.

I will do my comparison based on 10 gallon fill up that I usually do and based today's current gas and diesel prices.

Dodge Neon- 10gal x $3.19= $31.90 average distance on 10 gallons 310 miles
Beetle TDI -10gal x $2.89= $28.90 average distance on 10 gallons 500 miles

On first glance there wouldn't appear that much of a savings on the same 10 gallons, only $3. But take a look at the distance that each vehicle can go on the same 10 gallons. There's a 190 mile difference and when you break that down that's roughly over 6 additional gallons at a cost of $19.55 for the Neon. So, when you add this additional cost to the it would take $51.45 to get the same mileage as the Beetle.

This would be $51.45 x 4 weeks = $205.80 a month x 12 months = $2,469.60 a year for the Neon!
For the Beetle $28.90 x 4 weeks = $115.6 a month x 12 months = $1,387.20 a year for the Beetle

An overall savings for the Beetle of $1082.40 a year or $90 month. This just strictly based on diesel, next time the savings when WVO is factored in.

TDI Club

Found a great new discussion forum http://www.tdiclub.com/. Had some questions about the clutch and check engine light on the Beetle and members were great in answering my questions. There's a great live chat feature where you can chat with members and get your questions answered fast. To the TDI folks thanks!

Got a phone call from the dealer with the flamed out Beetle and they told me they were considering repainting the car to remove the flames. At first I thought this was great until I heard the $1200 extra it would add to car! I told the guy I would rather keep the flames than pay the extra cost.