Here is the update on our conversions

We've now run both vehicles for the whole season (may to september) and are well satisfied with how they;ve worked. initial teething problems were limited to some fuel pipe problems as we dicovered which flexible fuel pipes didnt like vegeteble oil. Unless you decide to change ALL flexible pipes at the outset we suggest carrying some pipe with you (clear plastic with woven reinforcing) so that as leaks develop there's no panic about changing them.

Suggested layout of system is

1. fuel tank for veg oil, it can be original tank or new tank.

2. fuel pump, using the mechanical pump already fitted to the engine for vegoil is best as then the elctric pump can be fitted to the diesel supply which makes clearing the veg oil out of the injector pump for cold starting easier.

3. Puegeot diesel filter with heater element on bottom, £5 from scrap yard

4. Pollack valve for switch over of both feed and return pipes from veg to diesel , it also switches fuel sender units so the fuel guage registers the tank you're running on and switches the fuel pump(s) on and of . £60 from biotuning or a bit cheaper from ebay. Comes with wiring / plumbing diagram

4. conection to heat exchanger for both veg and diesel fuel

5. heat exchanger . see my design further down the page. cost minimal or free if you have 8 and 22mm copper pipe and bits in your scrap pile. NOTE for my system you also need a 15mm stop tap to turn of the heat exchanger if veg oil is not available (ie. on long motoway journeys where time is of importance)

6. short connection from heat exchanger to injector pump

7. also suggest gps navigator with poi (points of interest) download for supermakets to tell u where the nearest veg oil is available.

Weve discoverd that our engine 3.5 mazda tdi and merc 2.4 (OM616) both run quieter because of the slower burn time of veg oil and that we have a very slight power loss due to same, it is very slight. Could advance timing but like quiet engine.

Weve also heard there was an EU court ruling that duty should not be charged on biofuel. But we havent confirmed that with her majesty yet. At present we are running as registered users after filling in an EX103 form ( which is mostly not applicable as it is designed for biodiesel producers) and have to tell HMRC how much we've used.

checked http://www.vegetableoildiesel.co.uk/customs.html and that seems to say no duty on less than 2.500 liters per year???

HAVE HAD A LETTER FROM CUSTOMS SAYING THEY DON'T WANT DUTY FROM ME IF I USE LESS THAN 2,500 LITERS A YEAR.

following is what I put up in May(ish) this year.

Hi I've just finished converting My Landy 110 with Mazda 3.5 tdi engine will update site with running info as available

PICTURES at bottom of page

conversion includes Landy under seat tank for svo (straight vegetable oil),Puegeot 505 preheated diesel filter, Pollak 6 port valve, heat exchanger constructed from 8mm copper pipe in 22mm copper pipe. ( NO svo pump as been told may not be necessary?)

Peugeot filter modified by having the thermostat removed by grinding of the flange and drilling out as large as possible and the hot water outlet drilled out slightly larger than original.

Landy tank mounted on wooden spacers and crossmember as we didn't have original mountings The feed and return from the second tank is taken forward up to the mounting box for the brake master cylinder( space for svo pump on bulkhead on o/s of box if nescesary ) in which I drilled 3 holes on the near side top flange to allow me to bolt on a piece of angle iron as a mounting bracket for a peugeot 505 pre heated diesel filter (£5 from scrappy) on the forward mounting bolt for this I added a strip of alluminium about 1 by 6 x 3/16 inch extending across front/top of filter which allowed me to mount the pollak valve so that the inlet for svo lined up with the outlet from the filter, the outletpipe from the valve continues across the back of the engine tied on to the hot water supply to the filter (3/4 id) and both lagged with 22mm pipe insulation.

At the n/s of the engine these pipes are connected to a heat exchanger running forward below engine air inlet made from 22mm copper pipe with 90deg bends and short pieces of 22mm at each end the forward one linning up with the heater outlet from the engine the rear one pointing at and connected to the svo filter. The 90 deg bends I drilled on the outside radius with a 7mm drill I then used the same drill shaft to bend the holes until they lined up with the long 22mm pipe. then I used a pair of narrow nosed pliers as a mandrel (by pushing the closed pliers into the drill hole and rotating them)until the hole had opened up enough to just accept a piece of 8mm copper pipe which extended about 3/8 inch further at each end than the 90deg elbows this was then soldered in, onto these I soldered a 90 deg 8mm elbows (1 at rear 2 at front ) and short piece of pipe the rear one is parallel to the 22mm bend the front one at about 45deg to rear offside to allow for easy connection to the svo filter and injector pump (ip) inlet respectiveley. The whole lagged in pipe isulation and taped ( cutting holes in pipe insulation done with sharpened 22mm pipe and when soldering clean pipe and fittings with wire wool and use plenty of flux. I also found it helpful to have some thin flux cored solder ).

The heater outlet from engine connects to 22mm T piece with a 15mm reducer fitted to supply hot water to cab heater on T off (pipe running behind injector pipes) and straight through T to front of heat exchanger. the hot water from heat exhanger exits to lagged preheater pipe across back of engine and through svo filter into house type 15mm stop cock then into 15 mm T piece and returns to engine,. the other connection on the 15mm T is also fitted to a stop tap and connects to the outlet from the cab heater. The stop taps allow for turnoing of/on heat exchanger and cab heater.

I decided to fit the pollak valve before the heat exchanger as I had seen some reports of valve failure when hot on biofuel chat forums. This meant I needed to fit stop tap to turn of hot water supply through heat exchanger so that if svo is unavailable the diesel would not be preheated and become to thin for ip and injectors. Also preheating diesel will also cause the ip to warm up faster enabling earlier switch overto svo hopefully.

Pollak switch mounted in cab wired as in supplied wiring diagram. Svo fuel tank sender unit wired one lead to earth. One through new warning light for low fuel to live feed on pollak switch (use meter to find out which lead is which before fitting fuel tank!). Third to pollak valve connection block.

Bought voltmeter with temperature sender. Fuel through heat exchanger running about 7 to10deg C colder than water WITHOUT looping fuel return from pump but HAVE fitted about 0.75mm gas jet into return pipe (just pushed into) as a restrictor before T connection to leakoff pipe

If anything not understood please email and I'll try to edit/clarify marktinkerman@hotmail.com

Just about to try it out!!

Tried it and it does need fuel pump. bought Facet solid state pumps £30 each plus postage

otherwise works well except getting used to fat smell

hole cut for filler neck

rear tank mount wood and camping mat

front tank mount (woodwith spacer block glued on o/s end) sitting on chassiss (right end) bolted to door sill and (visible bolt) bolted through very large washer /footwell /wood /thick camping mat /tank /rubber bush

svo filter andpollak valve mounted on brake master cylinder mountig box. Heat exchanger cut off tap (red handle) and heater cut off tap

connection to heat exchanger (at bottom) from engine (at top) and to heater (center). Fuel conection to injector pump is braided plastic pipe coming out from under heat exchanger

heat exchanger core is 8mm pipe with 1/16 brazing rod soldered at 45 deg angle about 1 inch from end then wrapped in spiral around pipe then allowed to go slightly loose then soldered where it touches

heat exchanger first bend, solder on 90 deg 22mm bend and short bit of 22mm pipe then drill 7mm hole on radius use drill shank to "bend" hole in line with long 22mm pipe then open hole using closed narrow nose pliers (below) rotated in hole until 8mm pipe just fits then solder in and solder on 8mm elbow and extension

second /third bend ( for merc exchanger). solder 90 deg 8mm bend onto heat ex core cut so that it is right length to come in middle of 2nd 22mm elbow solder on then solder in 8mm 2nd heat ex core then remove so that elbow and pipe are left coated in solder then solder on 22mm elbow then refit/resolder heat ex core then solder on next length ot 22mm and repeat for third length

heat ex for merc almost complete. Still needs short lengths or 15 mm soldered into 15mm T piece and then foam pipe lagging and taping. Angled 15mm T lines up with and inserts into hot water supply to cab heater. 22mm end connects to svo filter and exit from svo filter runs across front of engine where it connects via stop tap to another 15mm T inserted into cab heater return pipe

bottom connection (outlet) from jerry can/diesel tank. drill tank at 7mm use drill shank to bend to right angle for pipe then open with narrow nosed pliers to pipe size. Note copper wire wrapped round pipe before soldering to tank to increase area for solder and strengthen joint. T piece allows sight tube for fuel level ( T piece stuck to tank with Gripfill to remove stress from soldered joint)

below is top connection to diesel tank. sight tube top connection is visible going to left and leakoff connection is going out top of picture

fuel out is red pipe, leak off white pipe, sight tube clear plastic. White strip on bottom of tank is several strips of high density draught excluder stuck side by side and later taped over with strong gaffer tape to make cushion where tank sits on bulk head. Three silvery bands on handle are clips that used to hang tent inner in frame tent and were just right to hold tank nicely in place but removable (leakoff pipe stuck to tank with Gripfill to remove stress on soldered connection to tank top)

clips screwed to bulk head and peugeot filter mounted next to diesel tank and injector pump ( would have been better to mount it lower as heat exchanger goes across top of filter and makes it difficult to get spanner on bolt to remove filter).Forgot to take piccy of heat ex in place will do so later. Pollak valve will fit behind jerry can in center of heat ex.

and here is pollack valve and Facet solid state pump fitted remaining connector on pollack is diesel return and pump is diesel supply

Realised conversion on Merc is better than Landy as the longer more efficient heat exchanger means no need to limit IP return pipe and having the diesel on the electric Facet pump means that the system can be flushed of veggy oil without the engine running. think I will eventually add brazing rod finning to Landy heat exchanger and swop the piping on the pumps so the electric pump pushes the diesel not the veggy oil.

I DID GET ROUND TO SWAPPING THEM DEC 08