October 7, 2005 Hi everyone
After three months of wishy washy thinking and anxiety over money to invest in my biodiesel project, this very moment my dream has been realized. I am now the proud owner of a 1981 Peugeot 505 four cylinder turbo charged diesel vehicle! I know what you are thinking, " What's a American "good ol' boy' doing with a Peugeot?" Well, it is a long story, the short version is: If we live our lives in a spiritually wholesome and environmentally friendly fashion, we can expect good things to come to us. We don't need much and we have patience. Anyway, I said this is the short version right? We now have this car sitting here at the Ranch in northeastern New Mexico. It has only one mechanical problem that I can see; It is very hard to start, when it finally does it bellows blue-white smoke, and the coolant lines slowly begin to pressurize. The radiator hoses balloon up, very scary and we shut it down before they blow. At first glance it looks like a leaking head gasket. It is now sitting in front of my little workshop and I am so excited to finally have a car that I can make my own biodiesel for. Nevertheless, my rash days are past and I am content to ask first before I tear into anything mechanically. I ask for information. I am relatively new to Biofuels, but I do have a fine set of Mechanics tools, much updated from the days long ago when I was a factory trained VW mechanic. Please don't give me the negative perspective. If you do, I can take it. But I still have that wonderful glow a guy gets when he gets a new car to refurbish. How's that line go? "Sing me the bad news!" So far I have zero cash investment in this really cute little car. I have three Mercedes gas powered monsters which have been steadily moving closer to the ranch dump. I toyed with the idea of buying a 1982 300 Turbo Sedan that a friend has offered for $2000.00. I don't like the body style, too heavy, and we couldn't afford it anyway. This Peugeot is almost 1000 pounds lighter than my 1980 480SE. And damn, did I say it is sleek and in mint condition? So yeah that's the good news. Anybody out there have any experience with these? Looks like a very clean engine, but that may be because the radiator already washed it off with a steam bath. I have extended experience with petrol vehicles. My tools are metric and I love to read first then spin nuts after I at least think I understand. Diesel engines, this is only my second. I won't say what I did to the first one. I intend to make this motor sing again! So, I have heard of carbon buildup in the cylinders causing issues in dino-diesel motors. Any ideas? Things I could check. I suppose checking the compression through the spark plug holes is out of the question, lol. I will be looking for the factory service manual, unless it is written in French of course. Nah, I have factory service literature on the Benz and it is not in German. See how wishy washy I have become? Maybe it is the fog this morning, yeah fog in New Mexico, go figure. They have fog in France right? So how did my bio-diesel processing chemicals and WVO collecting go this week? Not well, physically. I talked it up pretty good, whatever that is worth. I think I know what I need to find for the test batches. A couple of little bottles of Heet (methanol). Blue or yellow? There is a bit of confusion in the biofuel group about this, and a jar of Red Devil drain opener (lye.) A five gallon can for transporting the WVO back to the ranch and a 12 volt pump for filling my container at the rear of the Mc Donald's. Oh, and I have to ask Vince, the owner of the local McDonald's, if is ok to use some of the WVO from his business. Ok, I am so excited about our new diesel that I am totally torn between writing and thinking about it and going out into the fog and starting… something, anything… How about learning? Sincerely, Brian Rodgers _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
