Imo000

I hate to break this to you, but McDonald's DOESN'T USE VEGITABLE OIL. They use vegitable shortening in their friers. A lot of the dielsel sites will tell you this and warn youto stay away form them. What you want is chineese food restaurans and such.

As I said before, go do more research before deciding what to do. Have you priced out the equipment and supplies needed to produce biodiesel? I have and once you add up all the costs and time that it takes to make the fuel every week, it became not worth it to me. Now it might worth you to do it, but it takes considerable amount of time, space and effort to keep you car filled up. Used VEGETABLE OIL needs to be filtered and processed to remove any trapped poisture and other contaminants. Also, if you live in a moderate climate the car needs to be converted to have a heater and an addition fuel tank for the vegetable oil.

Another thing to consider, a 135hp TDI is much much, much stonger than a gasoline powered 135hp engine, the difference is not the hp, but torque. Turbo Diesels make a lot more torque that a gasoline engine and this is why a TDi will have alot more power right off idle. As for the transmission, you might have to change it, casue Diesels don't like to rev. They make 90% of the torque just off idle (1900rpm).

As a comparison, I've raced (just to see how slow I was) a mid 90's Civic hatch and he was barely able to pull on me untill he reached top of 3rd gear. My car is 90hp and his at least 110hp. The Civic is alot lighter too, so now imagine if I had 50% more hp (135) and 50% more torque, the outcome would have been brutal for the Honda.

steve g

You could have the distinction of the slowest 944 if you installed a 57 hp W123 type diesel 2.4 or 3.0 turbo diesel if you wanted slightly more power.
Momentum would be your driving style.
Ask me how I know this - I'm living the dream.

ether_joe

any diesel car can run vegetable oil. There are two approaches.

1. modify the vegetable oil via a process called 'transesterification' - basically, add methanol/ethanol and lye/potassium hydroxide. You can pour that straight into your tank.

2. add a second fuel system and a switchover. Then you can run 'SVO' - straight veggie oil.

check out www.greasecar.com

it's the revolution that isn't being televised, 'cause the oil companies will go into meltdown when it catches on. I almost bought an old Merc diesel wagon as my DD to do this with. then, one afternoon i parked behind a 968 and it was. . . all . . . over. . .

ether_joe

oh, and btw if you make your own biodiesel using transesterification, the cost savings are there but not huge. It's more of a granola thing.

If you go with door #2 and find a good waste source you can save some money. but it would take a lot to recoup your investment.

that being said when we're all complaining about super-premium at $3.50+ a gallon, you'll be laughing your *** off

944J

Yeah I realized that at ~1200lbs it's not an option. The newer diesel mercedes come in at about 300HP, what kind of engine is that?

944J

I'm not talking about biodeisel, talking about straight vegetable waste oil. It runs fine once filtered.

944J

you can also run a single stage (single tank) SVO (straigh vegetable oil if you have the right kind of glow plugs and/or modify your engine to have the right kind of glow plugs and pump. Then you can have the option of biodeisel, regular diesel, or SVO.

thf944

i believe the cummins motor in the dodge trucks is a straight 6, not a v6. they also make 4 cylinder diesel turbos.

for reference, i know someone that has a tdi in a corrado (similar weight to a 944) that is mostly stock. i played around with him on the highway with my gas turbo golf and he always pulled on me. its quite fun from what he says.

ether_joe

I would check up with people more knowledgeable than me about this. My understanding is, sure, a diesel engine will *start* with SVO, but the higher viscosity of SVO at air temperature will wear your engine out fast. This is why some people have complained about SVO ruining their engine, because they were starting with SVO. The kit that Greasecar.com and other places sell, you start with petrodiesel, heat up the SVO so that it flows more freely, then switch to SVO when the veggie oil is at a high enough temperature. The system also flushes petrodiesel back into the car when you turn the car off.

also I would worry about starting the car in lower temperatures.

More power to you. Sounds like a good project. Tons of good resources out there by the way, incl the book 'From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank' by Tickell.

FRporscheman

I dont think a MB engine would suit your needs, they typically don't and can't produce much power. And I would stay away from the Cummins engine, just because it's so damned heavy. In fact, aren't most good diesel engines completely cast iron (for strength), and thus heavy?

Imo000

I think only the V8s are all cast iron. The VW 4cyl TDIs are cast iron block and aluminium head.


I also remember that the Dodge Cummins are straight 6 not a V6.

As for the MB diesels, they only have one late model engine but they are almost not existent. The early ones are slow. A VW transplant is probably the only suitable engine at this time. The main problem with then is they are set up for FWD. To transform them to a RWD setup will cost a heck of a lot more than it's worth. All the accessories brackets need to be custom made and since it's a serpentine belt system it will cost a small fortune to fabricate a bracket that holds all the accessories in line. Then the issue of the hydraulic engine mounts. They also need to be somehow modified to fit into the 944. If you make the mounts solid like the OEM 944 are, you’ll get a ton of vibration. Now the TDI mounts let the engine move quiet a bit so hooking that the Porsche TT will be another huge problem. Maybe even impossible to do at a reasonable cost.

Some things are just not worth doing. If you really want a diesel, buy one that already is or at least transplant it into a FWD car.

Jfrahm

Interesting TDi club thread on a TDi swap. Euro spec 2.5l TDi into an A4 Quattro:

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=131414

I'd forgotten about smog testing. That would be hell to sort out in some areas (like here.)

-J.

944J

I want a more poweful engine. I was excited about the audi win at lemans with the diesel...

Trucho-951

You could also run the diesel on propane, I saw a Toyota 4X4 pickup spank the living daylights out of a bunch of Mustang 5.0's about five years ago at the Wednesday nite drags at Sear's Point 1/4 mile track. The truck would smoke all four tires during burn outs and was running low 14's almost into the 13's, while the Mustangs were runing mid 14's. Noone could believe how fast that diesel truck was, its amazing how propane will wake a diesel motor!!

924Superwagen

Sweet idea... I'm heading off in about an hour to pick up my recently purchased 97 Jetta TD. I put the deposit down 2 days before Sebring, so I was celebrating.

I really want to see this project develop.